MM Nov 29

Megan Gallagher- Notes for November 29th

On Monday, November 29th we began class with Quiz 12. After the quiz, we discussed the final exam, which we will be receiving a take home closed book exam on Friday (Due Monday December 6 in Dr. Mathur’s office between 8:30-11). There will be several questions to choose from and you are to answer two of them.

After Dr. Mathur explained what we were to expect for the final exam, we moved onto discussing Watchmen Chapters 8-10. The first item we discussed was our reaction to finding out that the Comedian was Laurie’s father. Almost the entire class was surprised on finding out the Comedian was Laurie’s father. We then began to talk about the attempted rape (back in Chapter 2) and how Sally and the Comedian developed a relationship. In class discussion, the class pointed out several points:

1. After Laurie’s revelation that the Comedian is her father, it appears that Laurie and Sally will be able to establish a better relationship (later shown in Chapter 12).

2. This situation makes Jon (Dr. Manhattan) recognizes that life is fairly complicated

3. Sympathy for Sally- students discussed that it is common for rape victims to return to their abuser

4. Briefly discussed the stereotypes in the novel that show rape

Next, the class discussed Dr. Manhattan’s claim that human beings are “mere puppets in the hands of fate” and if the masked vigilantes try to challenge fate. The class discussed that the masked vigilantes tried to affect fate, however students came to the conclusion that only Dr. Manhattan had the ability do that, due to his true super powers that none of the other masked vigilantes had. However, it appears that Dr. Manhattan does not want to intervene with fate and rather let fate take its course. From there, the students expressed their opinion that all events in the story were because of fate or they would have not occurred otherwise.

Afterwards, we talked about the perfume “Nostalgia” and it’s symbolic use in the text. Since the beginning, advisements have appeared and we see that Laurie hurls a bottle of Nostalgia to Dr. Manhattan’s creation/building on Mars. Before Laurie throws the bottle, we see that the snow globe breaks, in relation to Sally and the Comedian’s relationship.

For the last few minutes of class we quickly discussed why the author choose a businessman to be the enemy/villain of the story. Rather than discussing why the author choose a business man, the class pointed out that Ozymandias was the only vigilante that was not developed as a character, which made it easy for the author to make him the villain.

11/29/10 - Alex Goldman We started class with quiz 12 on The Watchmen, and after the quiz Professor Mathur talked about how the final exam will be two essays of thorough analysis without any use of quotation (closed book). For this class our homework was to read chapters eight, nine, and ten, and some interesting information was revealed. We discussed how the Comedian is actually Laurie’s father, and how the gang of “knot-tops” killed Hollis Mason. It’s a little surprising that the Comedian is actually Laurie’s father, but a little expected once you think about it. The gang that killed Hollis Mason suspected Hollis of being the Nite Owl that helped Rorschach escape. During chapter nine, Laurie and Dr. Manhattan go to mars and discuss the significance of life and that’s when Laurie soon discovers that the Comedian is her real father. We discussed in class how Dr. Manhattan suggests that fate decides what path human beings take. Dr. Manhattan actually has the ability to know what happens next, but chooses not to do anything about it, which can be seen as selfish and heartless when it comes to foreseeing rape in the future. Dr. Manhattan also mentions the idea of a “thermodynamic miracle”. Any birth in the world can be considered a miracle, but explains that because the world is so populated, miracles become common. We found out in chapter ten that it was a freight coordinator from Pyramid who paid for Adrian Veidt to be killed. Nite Owl and Rorschach go to Adrian’s retreat (Karnak) to confront him at the end of the chapter, and Adrian sees them with his surveillance. When writers choose a villain and don’t want the audience to figure out who it is until a certain point in the story, a lot of information is left out so that no one can easily guess. The reader doesn’t learn a whole lot about Ozymandius up to this point in the story, and having the businessman as a villain worked perfectly because you don’t expect it. We discussed the significance of the recurring bottle of Nostalgia and what it symbolizes. It could represent the past, and the memories that were developed earlier in life. The bottle was seen in earlier chapters and could also suggest the uncertain and possibly dismal future as well as past memories.