Portfolio essay 3

Mohammad Alherz

Professor Jeff

English 113B

13 December 2013

Confrontation Failure

          Decisions pertaining to government leadership have always been considered a choice of the citizens. Apart from few nations and past regimes where people had no power to decide who would lead them as the system predetermined it, modern systems allow citizens to exercise their democratic right by voting in their leaders. Appointment of such leaders is usually based on majority preference based on promises made to improve the nation. After such considerations, people always hope for the best in terms of leadership. It is however frustrating when the very leadership that has been appointed turns against the people and instead of delivering their promises, they use their powers to manipulate them.  This is a story similar to a scenario in V for Vendetta that highlights the efforts of an individual considered a terrorist to deliver a nation from an oppressive regime. V disguises himself just to ensure he fulfils his purpose of avenging on the government and even leaving behind a successor to carry on with the work of deliverance.

          V has been presented as a terrorist in both the novel and the film, and ultimately saves those who have been oppressed by the government. This is contrary to the attitude held towards terrorist groups that are considered enemies of the people and the government. The movie and the book talk about events that are likely to happen in the near future rather than the present happenings. The setting of the story is Britain and the year is 2020. The main character is a gang that is protesting against the government, which has turned to be a dictator (Moore 83). We are told of imprisonment and killing of people simply because of their personal believes. It is rather ironic that even though the crimes they are convicted for do not affect the economic or political growth of the nation, they are forced to serve sentences.

          The use of a terrorist gang to save a nation from oppressive rule is a symbol of worst things that can happen to the government. Citizens are to trust the government more than the terrorists are but if it occurs that terrorists are considered better than the government, it implies that the country has reached at a desperate state. Many evils that happen in the government are frequently concealed. Most of the people elected into power realise that the responsibilities are more than they can handle. The needs of the people are always at stake if proper measures of governance are not employed (Middleton 43). When the government reaches a point where it cannot effectively meet the needs of the people, it employs a manipulative form of leadership to control the people. This is mostly to prevent them from complaining or even raising their finger against the leaders.

          The story is also a prediction of how powerful terrorism may become in the near future to the world. There have been terrorist threats of nuclear weapons that have the power to destroy an entire nation. As the wars between the Middle East and the west persist, no one can underestimate the amount of damage that is likely to be caused. This is not meant to scare the nations but simply to make them cautious. Technology is something that has been growing at a higher rate with criminals using it for criminal activities (Del 54). For a long time, United States and Britain have boasted of having the best intelligence to curb criminals and criminal activities. However, recent terrorist attacks have proved that unless the nations boost their security measures, a mere nuclear bomb could pull them down and render them useless economically.

          There have been calls for the West to mend its relationship with the East to ensure peace for the people of the nations. However, most western countries are not willing to come down and instead use every form of force just to ensure they remain powerfull. There are however, some desperate measures that are being taken to curb the issues, which are hurting the very citizens they are meant to protect (Moreira 107). For instance, we are told of a seventeen-year-old girl in the novel and the book, Evey who is sexually used by the government’s secret police just because of her desperate state. To make matters worse, they plan to rape and kill her just before V comes to her rescue. The government keeps a number of secret service men to investigate the conduct of the people. There is a possibility that Evey had many secrets about the operation of the group, which prompted her intended destruction.

          Information is usually crucial when it comes to the protection or destruction of a nation. Evey is a symbol of crucial information  between the government and the people. Top government leaders have been recorded to assassinate individuals who got crucial information about its operation that is likely to derail the trust that citizens have towards them. They consider such information crucial and if the vessel concerned can no longer keep the information, then it is slated for destruction (Ott 25). This was the case of Evey, which had become an important tool of information that had to be destroyed. V must have known this very well and knew that by rescuing and helping Evey, he would ultimately be having crucial details that will enable him avenge for the sake of the people.

It reaches a point in a nation where the public needs a messiah that will deliver them from the oppressive rule of the government. This person will give them a voice and expose the evils that are rotten within the systems. V, even though branded a terrorists became the messiah who was ready to die just to ensure freedom for the people (Itzkoff 65). He amazingly delivers Evey from hungry police officers and prepares her for the task of succeeding him. He leads a protest where people are requested to resist the government. The scene reveals a serious issue for V to stand up and order people to resist a government that they elected. It requires a lot of courage, which is accompanied by the risks of being arrested and ultimately killed. This marked the beginning of series events of murder and the official search for V who had proved to be an enemy to the government.

          There is nothing as useless as a government that cannot be trusted by the people. People realise that it would be better for them to be allowed to do whatever they please without any laws rather than be lead by an oppressive leadership. The novel and the film show the fact that V had seen the suffering of such people and decided to paralyse all activities of the government. His aim was to make it toothless and allow people to do what they felt was right (Del 63). The fact that the people were siding with the terrorists rather than the people implies that they had reached a desperate situation where they would rather suffer in the hands of thugs than a government that cared less about them.

          From experience, it is agreed that every intended deliverance has to be accompanied by the killing of the messiah. This however happens after he has accomplished a lot in winning the trust of the people and even having a good number of followers. The death of such a messiah is also considered to be a seed that is planted which people will use it to fight on for their freedom. This has been revealed in the novel by the death of V who had fortunately mentored Evey to succeed him in delivering the people (Moore 74). Before his death, he had managed to paralyse most of the operations of the government and even facilitated the freedom of those who had been imprisoned for not following selfish directives of the government.

          The novel and the movie end by what may be considered a victory for the people. They are now free from the chains of oppression yet they have a decision to choose whether they will remain free or go back to chains. There is however a difference in which this has been displayed with the novel revealing that Evey succeeded V while Finch the only surviving government official resigns. In the movie, Finch joins up with Evey after the death of V and together they watch the government running into shambles. Freedom is expensive and anybody who understand how much it costs will do all they can to guard it. This signifies that citizens have a chance to choose a new government of their choice once again. From what they have learned, Evey, who appears dressed as V cautions them against electing leaders that will oppress them.

Works cited

Del Gandio, Jason. Rhetoric for radicals: a handbook for 21st century activists. New Society Publishers, 2008.

Itzkoff, Dave. "The Vendetta Behind'V for Vendetta.'." The New York Times 12 (2006).

Middleton, Michael K., Samantha Senda-Cook, and Danielle Endres. "Articulating rhetorical field methods: Challenges and tensions." Western Journal of Communication 75.4 (2011): 386-406.

Moore, Stephen. V for Vendetta. Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Moreira, Pedro. "Overthrowing Vengeance: The Role of Visual Elements in V for Vendetta." Spaces of Utopia 4 (2007): 107.

Ott, Brian L. "The visceral politics of V for Vendetta: On political affect in cinema." Critical Studies in Media Communication 27.1 (2010): 39-54.