V for Vendetta

In V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore, the themes of vengeance and revolution plays a critical role in the whole story. V’s vendetta appears to be on the faculty that overlooked the events at Larkhill. However, his revenge on those people appears to be a revenge for the people that were victims in the government’s change and the citizens that are living in the “prison” that the government created. This microcosm of his revolution eventually overtakes the whole country. In one passage, Finch explains to the leader that V’s actions can have two intentions. One was for himself and what they did to him at Larkhill and the other one was something bigger. The way the novel reflects revolution is that it takes a great turning point to stir the heart of the public. For Evey, she had to go through the horrifying torture that V set up for her in order for her to understand the reason V was doing all of it. For the public to be stirred and brought to actualization, V had to broadcast his video and audio, bomb parliament, and kill many people. The novel illustrates that revolution is in everyone’s heart but it takes something big to bring it to life.


The novel’s illustration served the imagination to visualize the events that were happening. Each scene setting and section had a certain color tone to help construct moods and feelings in the passages. The pictures were not always vivid or clearly drawn, but they captivated the important details. For example, in the passages when Evey was kept in the cell by V, we saw the dark gloomy colors interrupted by Valerie’s story which was in brighter colors. This suggests that Valerie’s story was the only highlight and good part of the whole imprisonment. Later on, we see Evey’s tired face and hollowed cheeks that showed how she endured the starvation and torment. In another passage when Prothero’s dolls were being thrown into the oven, the vivid picture of the dolls melting face and Prothero’s screaming red face makes that moment pop out of the page. It feels as if the reader can hear the scream and fire burning. Sometimes a drawing or simple expression in the face can tell the viewer things that cannot be put into words. It is interesting to see the effect of words with images on perception of the novel. Like the cover of the book, the smiling mask already intrigues the reader before the title does. After all, they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words.