Castellon 1

Fabian Castellon
Professor Altman
English 115
19 October 2014
Rough Draft #1
The world of V for Vendetta is set in a dystopian London in a hypothetical universe, and
the government keeps watch on the lives of every citizen at every moment of their lives. The
world seems like something ripped straight out of George Orwells 1984 due to the overbearing
government, withholding of information, and constant surveillance on the citizens. The only
light at the end of this tunnel is the anti-hero, V, who although is only one person, can and does
make a difference when it comes to changing the injustices that are going on in his country. The
world of London in V for Vendetta could be seen as an example of what is possible when people
give up civil liberties too easily, the government controls the flow of information in the country,
and how although it seems impossible, a very small group of people could actually have a huge
impact.
The fact that people in London are living the way they are in V for Vendetta is because
they gave up their civil liberties in exchange for safety. This is prevalent right from the first page
of the graphic novel in which there is a camera posted with a sign on it, and this sign does not
say anything threatening or scary, all it says is for your protection(9). This implies that the
people would rather give up a bit of their privacy just to feel a bit safer, which creates the

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snowball effect leaving them with the totalitarian world they are living in at the moment. This
connects back to our real world in many ways. One recent example is with the NSA internet
spying fiasco. We as Americans agreed to give up our privacy just to feel a bit safer about
terrorists and in the end all we did was show the government that it is fine to strip us of our
civil liberties and this is just one stepping stone towards the 1984 like government being put into
place. Another not so recent example is with the Patriot Act that passed after 9/11. In the
hysteria and hatred for terrorists at the time of 9/11, the government utilized this to make itself
stronger while at the same time stripping us again of our liberties. The Patriot act allowed the
government more power in terms of searching for terrorist but at the same time took the
privacy of American citizens everywhere. Not only that, but the extent of what can be done to
Americans citizens under the patriot act also shows how far we have given up freedoms just to
feel a bit safer. If we continue to just accept these outrageous bills and laws put in by the
government just for a little peace of mind, we will soon be in a worse position even than the
citizens of London in V for Vendetta.
Another reason the people live in such a totalitarian world in V for Vendetta is due to the
way the government withholds information from its people. For example, when the house of
parliament was blown up by V (14) and later the government covers it up as scheduled
demolition (16) in order to make the people believe that they were still in control of the
situation. This occurs more than once and it shows not only how far the government will go to
stay in control, but also how easy it is to manipulate information and therefore manipulate
people. We can see how far the government will go to control information with Edward

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Snowden, who was a whistle-blower about top secret NSA documents, and is now forever on the
run from the American government. It is clear that what he leaked was information we were
never supposed to see and it goes to show that already our government is already taking a step
towards the 1984 like world and we are none the wiser that they are keeping information from
us, much like the Londoners in V for Vendetta. When the government begins withholding
information like that to stay in power should be the point that we realize that we may have given
them a bit too much.
Yet in all of this negativity about the government taking away our civil liberties and
withholding information, we forget that it is possible for one individual, or a few, to make a
difference in society. This can be seen throughout the entire novel with our anti-hero, v, who
although can possibly be labeled as a terrorist or criminal does indeed fight for the people
and although his methods can be a bit abnormal at times, he does indeed get results. The idea
that one small faction can definitely fight against their government is not unheard of in our world
too. Anonymous, a group of individuals who call themselves activists and mostly fight against
online limitations of freedom of speech and in general any target is fair game, from a completely
unknown person, to a website like PayPal, or even the United States government itself. They,
much like v, have a purpose in their head and will go to great lengths to achieve said purpose.
Not only that but they also use the Guy Fawkes mask just like V to symbolize that they
acknowledge the similarities between themselves and V and even praise them. Overall these 2
groups of people are just one example of how even when times seem the toughest, it is always
possible to fight back, you just have to know the right way to do it.

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The world of mystery from V for Vendetta can be seen as a warning, much like Orwells
1984. Although some of the thing going on may seem far-fetched or crazy, they could be things
that are going in our world now. The graphic novel could be seen as not only a warning, but also
a call to action. In the novel it is shown what the actions of one person can do, and similar
occurrences have happened in our lives today, and Moore was trying to warn the world while
also trying to spread this message. Yes, we are partially to blame if we allow the government to
get as out of control as it does in the dystopian novels of 1984 and V for Vendetta, but we are
also capable of inciting a change in that same world, even as just one person, because all it takes
is one person to fight back to create a chain reaction.