V for Vendetta: altruism behind terrorism

After reading the graphic novel "V for Vendetta", we can state that it has to do with politics themes such as anarchism and facism. However, behind these themes we can observe that some actions and episodes can be taken as altruist actions or  actions that look like they are altruistic but in reality they are because of personal or self-centeredness purposes.We can see this, specifically in the attitudes and actions that V commits during the whole novel. Because beginh terrorism attacks there are some purposes that may look they are altruistic, but in the end they are personal goals, that in some way do benefit other people as well. But he intention of doing some terroristic attacks are because of personal revenge and not necessary because I do care of every one on earth, and these actions most of the time seem to be benovelent, and they are, but it does not mean that you are doing this actions because of the injustice that you see in the world, but because your own experience of injustice.

At the beginning of the novel, we can perceive that V character looks very benevolent, unselfish, humane and kind. The first episode where you can detect this, is when Evey is attacked by the Fingermen while she was looking for somebody to sleep with, and suddenly V comes to retrieve her from the assault as well as from her becoming a streetwalker( Moore, 1988). This episode is a clear example of how V by doing this heroical action, can be considered as an altruistic men. However, as the novel continues, V starts to do some actions that by and large do not seem to be altruistic at all. For instance, when V burned  Lewis Prothero's doll collection(Moore, 1988, page 31-35). In this act, we can see that is not clear why V commited this against Lewis Prothero. Albeit, we can admit that this action does not seem to altruistic at all.

Then, V continues his revenge, this time with Madam Justice. He went on top of the Old Bailey and after changing some words, he blame and condemns her for always having an eye for a man in uniform and not preserved the true justice( Moore, 1988 page 43).

Another thing that V commited during the whole novel, was with Dr. Delia Surridge. She was the Larkhill camp doctor and the creator of the drug that they tested on all the inhabitants at Larkhill. V kills her, even though she does apologize to him as she shows sign of repentance for her actions, still V decides to kill her by putting her an injection, which finallly ended the life of the woman(Moore, 1988 page 78-79). 

Through these actions commited by V, we can say that he wanted to make justice for all the horrors commited in Larkill and that he and the people from there had to face, despite the fact of knowing that all the people who committed horrendous acts were not anymore in Larkhill. However, all these acts seem to be very self-centered, in the way that all these actions are committed because of his self interest of making justice of what he had to live, but yet it can seen as a vedetta for the people of Larkhill e that were affected. However we could think that he had to end the life of more people, cause there were more people involved in the horror they had to live.

 As the novel continues, we can observe that the character of V is in some way altruistic, unselfish and  a truly caring character of the society by opening their eyes to the dangers and evils that are actually occurring there. V creates a broadcast to show to all the people. In the Broadcast, there is V making the general public  responsible for the election of all the “embezzlers, frauds, liars and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions.” (page 151). Beside, here he does not just blame the people, but also persuades them to be against the government and change the oppression of it. Through this episode, we can thoroughly detect that despite this altruist attitude that V shows by opening the eyes of the people, he seems to be doing this in order to achieve a personal goal. 

What is more, there is another event that can be seen as a heroic act but also as an unselfish one. It is when Evey finds herself abandoned by V and alone in the streets, she is taken in by an older man, Gordon Deitrich, who is involved in criminal actions . When Gordon is murdered by Alistair Harper, a Scottish gangster, Evey tries to take revenge, but is herself captured by a Fingerman because he thought that she was going to kill Commander Peter Creedy of the Finger.  After that,  she is thrown in prison and tortured by the police, who know of her connection to V. After being dunked in water several times and thrown in a cell, where she finds some inspiration and a reason to live in a note written on toilet paper by a lesbian prisoner named Valerie about her time in the prison. After much torture and constant interrogation she holds strong and is finally let free. She begins to wonder around the Shadow Gallery and discovers that the whole thing was a fraud and that V was behind it all. When she asks him why he did it, he says, “Because I love you. Because I want to set you free.”( Moore, 1988, page 197-225).  Here we can claim that what V had done to Evey is in some way a egoistic action, because there no point making her live what he had lived. However, we can also take another posture, and say that V wanted to imprison her to set her free from the curses and monotonous ways that society offers. She soon realizes what he is saying and truly embraces it for what it really is, her freedom. Now, we can take for granted that V did this because he does love her and because he knew that this was something that it will benefit her, but on the other hand this does not seem to be altruistic at all, in the sense that Evey had to suffer a lot and by doing this let her know that she has been under restraints her whole life.

All in all, through the different episodes of the novel, we can decide how are we going to consider these actions? Are they fully altruistic actions or are they just self-centered actions?. I believe it is up to us to give it a chance to both options, however looking carefully at the whole idea of the novel, we can say that both options are being displayed by the protagonist V. But also we can say that behind terrorist attacks there is always a personal goal and purpose which at first does not take into account the suffering of the rest but it takes into account the self experience, the things that ¨I¨ had to live first, and then by taking revenge of the injustice that was committed to me, I in some way help the people who also were abused by the great power

 References:

 Alan Moore. V for Vendetta (New York: DC Comics, 1988) pg. 10-11, 31-35, 43, 78,79, 151, 197-225.

http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1366&context=uhp_theses 

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