Chapter III

Chapter Summary

In chapter 3 of Watchmen, Jon Osterman AKA Dr. Manhattan is having relationship problems with his girlfriend Laurie. We see this when he has too many things to do so he splits himself up into doubles and when Laurie finds this out she becomes very frustrated with him. She feels like Jon isn't paying enough attention to her. Laurie ends up confiding in Dan and breaking down in front of him and proceeds to tell him about her problems with Jon.

That day, Dr. Manhattan had a television interview and someone comments, “your skin tone is far too light for television” in which he turns a darker shade of blue and replies “is that dark enough?” In the interview, Dr. Manhattan was asked if he knew about many of his previous associates being diagnosed with cancer, including Janey Slater and Wally Weaver. When Dr. Manhattan starts getting accused for giving these people cancer, he becomes very frustrated and upset and this ultimately causes him to teleport to Arizona, and then leave Earth for Mars - where he feels more at peace and ends up spending a lot of his time here thinking about the past.  

This is a scene from The Tales of the Black Freighter where the main
character started to bury his shipmates. 

Summary of the The Tales of the Black Freighter 

The main character wakes up on an isolated island surrounded by  the dead bodies of people that he knew and starts to really worry about his family’s survival, which he says he buried his hope for them when he buried the other bodies. He also worries that the pirate ship, the Black Freighter, that killed his shipmates is going towards the port town where his family is located. 

Who was involved? 

This chapter is focused a lot on Dr. Manhattan. We see more of his personal life in this chapter and more of his relationship with Laurie. We find out that there is a lot of stress on their relationship and that Laurie is getting more fed up with Jon and that Jon can not control that he really is no longer human. Also, we see Laurie and Dan begin to build their relationship when Laurie goes to Dan to confide in about some of her and Jon’s issues.  Rorschach also appears in the chapter in Dan’s apartment to try to talk to Dan more about his mask killer theory. 

How does this tie in to what we already know?

Dr. Manhattan can not relate to Laurie on an
emotional level because he is not fully human,
which allows the reader to view their
failing relationship. 

We already knew before this chapter that Dr. Manhattan is not fully human, but this chapter really shows that he can’t control his powers though he is superhuman, even around people he’s close to, like Laurie. We see that problems between them both have a lot to do with his powers and that is why their relationship isn't working out.

 “The comedian murdered, Dr. Manhattan exiled...
two of us gone all within a week.
Who next? Veidt? Juspeczyk? Me? You?”
from page 24

As well Rorschach still has his theory about a mask killer that he might be right about “The comedian murdered, Dr. Manhattan exiled... two of us gone all within a week. Who next? Veidt? Juspeczyk? Me? You?” This quote shows that Rorschach still believes that someone is out to get masked heroes  Even though no one else seems to share his belief, he is still convinced and trying to keep the other heroes safe by trying to convince them too.

How does the chapter set things up for the future chapter.

This is a scene from the movie
Watchmen  involving Dan and Laurie

Laurie doesn't know know that Dr. Manhattan has left earth, so we will see that she will have to deal with things with out him. In the future chapters, Dr. Manhattan not being on earth will cause problems for the whole country, because he was the United States’ major weapon in the war. This will worry the country because they could be bombed at any second and they don’t have Dr. Manhattan to protect them. In chapter 3 we saw a new bond being built between Laurie and Dan. Laurie is building a stronger relationship with Dan because he understands Laurie and knows that Dr. Manhattan isn't easy to get along with.

Character Analysis: Dr. Manhattan 

Background:

Jon Osterman at 16 

Dr. Manhattan was born Jon Osterman in 1929. His father was a watchmaker and he was planning to continue in his footsteps. During the Second World War, when the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was sixteen years old, and his father became so interested that he urged his son into becoming a nuclear physicist. This decision was a turning point in his life as it puts him on the path he is on right now and it impacted every decision he made. It helps to foreshadow about Osterman’s perception of time, emotions, and reactions.

 Later on,

Dr. Manhattan fully formed

he goes down that field of study and graduates with a PhD in atomic physics. A terrible accident happens and Jon is torn to pieces by the generator and slowly his body returns, system by system and he becomes full formed as a hairless, naked, blue man with many powers. Now he is a man that has transcended human limits or has become “god” and works with the U.S government. 

Main focus, Involvement, and Motivation:

One of the main characters is Dr. Manhattan as the reader gets to understand his character better and his value to the government gets clearer in this chapter as the story takes places at the height of the Cold War. He gets involved with the chapter as there is a scene where he is being intimate with his girlfriend, Laurie, the second Silk Spectre, wh
en she opens her eyes and sees he’s become two people. A huge argument followed after with Laurie leaving angrily.

Dr. Manhattan exiled in Mars

 In terms of motivation, it’s quite clear that Dr. Manhattan’s work is very important to him as he works while being intimate with his girlfriend, and because he can. Soon after though, after Laurie storms and a televised interview gone completely wrong, its evident that his motivation to work disappears as he becomes frustrated and leaves everything behind to go to Arizona and then Mars.

Powers, Abilities, and Key Characteristics:

Dr. Manhattan is considered to be “god” and this is for many good reasons. He is extremely powerful, invulnerable to any harm, has knowledge and control over atoms and subatomic particles. He does not need food, water, air and can be called immortal. He can also change his body in many ways, like its density, colouration, and density e.t.c and can travel extremely large distances, an example would be when he went to Mars in a blink of an eye.  

 Some characteristics that he has are; the distance he keeps with others, the lack of empathy and emotions towards people, and his obvious struggle to maintain his humanity and relationships. Dr. Manhattan can not relate to other humans and because of that it’s noticeable that he keeps a large distance between himself and other people, this is shown in his interview; as the interviewer makes a joke, he speaks formally and seems withdrawn and it is clear he isn’t enthusiastic about being interviewed. There is also a huge lack of empathy and emotions towards people because he is essentially “god” and therefore can not understand human folly and emotions. 

Because of this dilemma, its understandable that Dr. Manhattan is struggling to keep his humanity and relationships because he is experiencing a failing relationship with his girlfriend Laurie, and wants to make her happy but it is very difficult when he does not understand human emotions or needs anymore. Its obvious he does care for her but has a different way of showing it. Human problems do not seem sufficient to him because he can understand beyond human capability. These powers are his greatest blessing and it seems like the greatest curse.

Thoughts on Dr. Manhattan:

Dr. Manhattan is one of the more complex characters in this comic, with his struggles to remain human and amazing powers we like his character very much. His struggles to remain human makes him more human because it shows that even while having so many amazing powers; one can never be satisfied and will always have issues to deal with. We feel that it says a lot about daily life because his character can be taken as a metaphor as having everything is not enough to make one as happy as possible.

"Jon Ostermen ." Watchmen Wiki . Web. Web. 9 Apr. 2013. <http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Jon_Osterman

Page Analysis

From page 4 – 5, this scene is the scene we chose to analyse extensively because this page caught my eye the first time I read through the chapter. This page is quite eye catching because the background colours such as the walls and floors are dark and dull, making Dr. Manhattan’s blue skin stand out. Because we see so much of him here, its quite clear the impact he has as when he’s talking to Laurie, she’s wearing a complementary red robe to again help the blue to stand out. This panel also stands out to me because it really moves the plot along; here the reader can understand more about Dr. Manhattan then the average super hero. While Laurie and Dr. Manhattan were in bed, he made a clone of himself to complete his work as well, this demonstrates the powers that he has and with what consideration he uses them with. He does not find anything wrong with doing two things at once, but Laurie obviously has a problem with it. This is because Dr. Manhattan can’t understand how upset Laurie is feeling about him not giving her all his attention.

 To the reader, Laurie’s reaction is obvious, and the contrasting calmness of Dr. Manhattan. This panel really does well to show Dr. Manhattan’s character because the reader gets to see how Dr. Manhattan is during intimate moments to show that Dr. Manhattan does not experiences human emotions which tie into his struggle to remain as human-like as possible for Laurie. This is an example of where his powers are his greatest curse.

The other page analysis I wanted to do was from page 20 – 21 simply because the artwork is breathtaking. The dull yellow of the sand matched up with starry sky creates a nostalgic feeling to the scene; also Dr. Manhattan’s blue skin is complementary with the dull yellow as well. The illustrator creates moods and feelings by using the colouring, in this chapter especially, to emphasize Dr. Manhattan’s presence; the colourist has used completementry colours which highlight the blue. 

All the colours in this chapter have been used to make Dr. Manhattan stand out. In this scene on page 21, when Dr. Manhattan looks at Mars from the night sky and vanishes leaving behind wisps of smoke, it also demonstrates how strong his powers are and how willing he is to leave everything behind. This scene also relates to the feeling of when a person is so overwhelmed that they want to leave everything behind and go somewhere far away to get away from all the problems, Dr. Manhattan does just that by going to Mars. 

Dr. Manhattan teleporting to Mars from Arizona.
From page 21

Key Symbols and Themes:

Key Symbols:

The fallout shelter symbol is a recurring symbol in the chapter, and is the title page for chapter 3. The story is based in a time where there was The Cold War so everyone lived in fear and everyone just wanted to feel safe in their city even though there is so much going on. “In this world, you shouldn’t rely on help from anybody. In the end, a man stands alone.” This is a quote said by the man at the newsstand and this quote relates to Watchmen because as the story progresses we are seeing that everyone is alone and even the heroes can’t protect the people anymore.

The lightening bolt on the garbage can that was shown early in the chapter on page 2 was eye- catching because lightening bolts are usually associated with super heroes and their powers, and to see that sign on a garbage can at this time in the chapter shows how little value the superheros in the story have. It shows how they have gone to the trash, so to speak, and how much the public and the government respect the people who always strived to keep the peace in the city and country.



The third reoccurring symbol was the "Who Watches the Watchmen" quote. This is quite important because it reoccurs throughout the entire book and is a constant reminder to the reader to consider who watches the superheros or the people who were put in charge and how authority should be viewed with caution.

Themes:

ISOLATION: This idea is quite present in this chapter as its represented in the black freighter as the main character wakes up on an isolated island surrounded by dead bodies. He is isolated because he is the last survivor of this horrific attack by the pirates of the Black Freighter. Dr.Manhattan is shown being isolated emotionally after Laurie leaves him and after the interview when the reporter accuse him of giving cancer to his associates he leaves and ends up on Mars. On Mars he is the only living creature there where he contemplates and this is the precursor for the next chapter. Rorscach in a way also because he is the only one so far that has a theory that there may be a bigger plot in order to exterminate the super heroes and the people around him don't seem to believe him and claim him as paranoid and delusional.

FEAR: Dr.Manhattan may fear that he could have given cancer to Janey Slater and Wally Weaver. Laurie is fearful of losing her relationship with Jon, and people in the chapter are becoming more fearful now that more is happening because the Comedian is dead and now Dr. Manhattan is exiled. There is a presence that there might be something bigger working towards the goal of a superhero-free future.

Chapter 3 Prezi Seminar Presentation

Fateha and Olivia