The Last Inch of Ourselves

Can you imagine turning on the news and hearing that the whole continents of Asia, Africa, and the Americas have been bombed and will never see life again? Alan Moore did, and his futuristic V for Vendetta takes us into a demented version of this future. The year is 1990, and the world has become a hellish nightmare. The setting of V for Vendetta is post-apocalyptic Britain. Nuclear war has destroyed most of the world, and out of the panic a fascist, homophobic, neo-Nazi, white supremist government has risen. Yet the most horrifying thing about it is that no one will move to stand against it. Through plot structure, setting, and allusions, Alan Moore and David Lloyd warn us that it is vitally important that we never give up our integrity.

Alan Moore and David Lloyd demonstrate why we must never give up our integrity through plot structure. In the middle of the story, the character Evey Hammond is kidnapped and tortured to an inch of her life. Her kidnappers want one thing: for her to lie and denounce the person who saved her life as an evil man. Only then will they let her free. Evey refuses. When she is losing all hope, she receives a letter that changes her life. The letter is written by Valerie, a lesbian woman who was captured and experimented on in theV for Vendetta Neo-Holocaust. Valerie delivers life-altering words to Evey about integrity, saying, “It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch we are free. “(Moore 224-225). This specific event happening in the middle of Evey being tortured over her integrity is crucial in understanding the author’s theme. For even though Evey has nothing — no hair, no hope for the future, no choice over her life and death— she is still free. Though they control every part of her, they cannot control her if she has her integrity. In the last inch of herself, she is truly free. This message delivered in the middle of her being tortured allows us to understand that our freedom comes from our integrity. If Evey had received this letter at an easy part of her life, it might have seemed like she was free. Yet we would never know, because her integrity was never at stake. In this situation, everything was at stake. This letter is a choice between dying with integrity or living without the last inch of herself. Evey chooses to die with integrity, because at least then, she will truly be free. Thus, Alan Moore and David Lloyd convey that our integrity is our last inch of freedom, and that it is utterly important that we never lose that inch.

It is the setting of Alan Moore’s V for Vendettathat perhaps gives the greatest warning to never give up our integrity. The post-apocalyptic Britain that Alan Moore and David Lloyd create is immoral and evil to the point that it almost reads like a horror story. The perpetrator of this setting is not the evil government. In fact, Alan Moore conveys that it is the people of Britain who caused this reality when they gave up their control and integrity to the government. They were the ones who allowed the government to live, and it was them who watched without action as the government killed off their friends and family. As this fascist government rose, the country of Great Britain gave up their integrity in unison. There was no one who rose to save those being slaughtered; there was no one who stepped up to fight the government’s lies. In the end, it was the citizens giving up their integrity that led to the downfall of V for Vendetta’s Britain. Thus, the setting of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta warns us to never give up our integrity, for the consequences of giving it up are dire.

Alan Moore uses an allusion to communicate the fragility of our integrity. In V for Vendetta, the doctor Delia cites an American experiment that was well known in the modern day. It was known as Milgram’s experiment. In Milgram’s experiment, volunteers are required to press a button. When they press a button, the person sitting on the other side of the glass is electrocuted. This person on the other side is an actor, but the volunteer does not know this. The facilitator requires the volunteer to continue to press the buttons, even if the person being electrocuted is screaming in pain. The results of the test in our world and the world of V for Vendetta were one and the same: “Nearly 80% of those tested carried on administering the shock after the victim begged them to stop. Nearly 60% continued even after they’d believed they’d killed him.” Alan Moore uses this allusion to show us the true fragility of our integrity. Delia sums up his message, saying, “They were ordinary people, and they were prepared to torture a stranger to death, just because they were told to do so by someone in authority.” Alan Moore includes this to communicate that we need to be on our guard. We must never give up our integrity, because if we do, our actions are owned by someone else. In the experiment, if you continue to electrocute the volunteer, you are giving up your integrity, and in doing so giving up your freedom to choose. Thus, through allusion Alan Moore displays both the fragility of our integrity and warns us to keep it.

Using plot structure, Alan Moore further emphasizes the consequences of never giving up our integrity. At the resolution of the story, Evey Hammond, as the new face of V, delivers a speech to the people of Britain: “Since mankind’s dawn, a handful of oppressors have accepted the responsibility over our lives that we should have accepted for ourselves. By doing so, they took our power. By doing nothing, we gave it away.” She says this to wake Britain to the truth that theywere the ones who gave the power to do evil to the new government. Thus, they need to be the ones who step up and choose to accept responsibility over their own lives. Only then can the evil government be vanquished. The ‘power’ that Evey speaks of in this situation is tantamount to freedom. As we have said before, if we have our integrity, we are free and can never be controlled. Thus, Evey’s words to Britain calls them out on giving up their integrity. For if they had their integrity, they would also have had power over their own lives.Alan Moore’s placement of this scene at the very end is especially important, as this speech is the conclusion to the message that the character “V” has delivered through every action he did for the people. This speech is the final part of V’s plan to awaken the people of Britain and inspire them to take control of their own lives and regain their integrity. Thus, Alan Moore uses plot structure to emphasize that we should never give up our integrity.

In conclusion, Alan Moore and David Lloyd use plot structure, setting, and allusions to impress on us the importance of our integrity. The pairing of Evey’s torture and Valerie’s letter allows us to understand that our integrity is our freedom. The setting of V for Vendetta warns us of the horrifying cost of giving up our integrity. We receive warnings about the fragility of our integrity with the allusion to Milgram’s experiment. The plot structure around Evey’s speech communicates that we must hold our integrity and stand up to those who do evil. The idea that we must always be on our guard and hold onto our integrity is especially important in the postmodern era. Alan Moore himself said that it was horrifying how possible the future of V for Vendetta could be. Milgram’s experiment has proven to us that we can be parted with our integrity with startling ease. And if our integrity is so easily lost, there is nothing standing between us and the next Holocaust.

-B. Lit. Group Six

#Postmodern