From: Alex David Groce <Alex_Groce@gs246.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
Subject: (urth) WATCHMEN (spoilers)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 12:07:17 


I finally got around to reading Moore's WATCHMEN yesterday, and this morning
got an email from a friend 2/3 through CLAW asking if the House Absolute is
the "Satan's castle."

This brought to mind a comparison I made last night.  Veidt's plan, I think,
marks him as a diabolical monster, arrogant and "evil" (not in the comic book
sense of a man who thinks of himself as evil and glories in it, but in the
sense that one might call Mao or Hitler evil).  The others who say "well, it
wasn't nice but it did the job" seem similarly tarred.  However, Severian's 
similar "renewal of the Earth" from (apparently) less immediately threatening 
circumstances kills far more people but doesn't bother me morally.  Severian
is still very much a good guy, in my book.

Does anyone else who's read WATCHMEN agree with my assessment of Veidt, and
if so, what precisely (I think I can say in general) make Severian's case so
different?  (Or, since I know there are some on the list who see things
differently, what makes Severian the same?)

Also, I'm assuming that between the TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER and the 
Ozymandias comparison, Moore at least strongly implies the same judgment,
although I think it's (nicely) ambiguous.


"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (agroce+@cs.cmu.edu)
Ph.D. Student, Carnegie Mellon University - Computer Science Department
8112 Wean Hall (412)-268-3066
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~agroce

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