The First Woman and The Last Man
SPOILERS for V for Vendetta ahead
(although we've probably all read it! Thanks, Dr. E!)
from Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta
While reading Part III of 1984, I became increasingly cognizant of the parallels between Evey's (fake) torture in in V for Vendetta and Winston's experiences in the 1984 Ministry of Love. The brutal interrogations, the shaved heads, the broken trust between Evey and Winston and their respective torturers--parts of it seem a little uncanny. Of course, Evey's captivity was fake, controlled, and I'm quite sure that Winston's isn't. However, one of the most intriguing contrasts (to me) lies in the symbolism of nudity during these long, excruciating torture sequences.
After staging Evey's imprisonment in V for Vendetta, V tells Evey to remove her clothes and stand in the rain, thus becoming "transfigured forever." From this momentous scene and onward, he refers to her as "Eve," reminiscent of the Biblical Eve--the first woman. Eve's nudity, in this case, symbolizes the rebirth and renewal of her soul. She is markedly different from before--her youthful blonde curls have been replaced with a shaved head--but afterwards, her road to becoming V's successor is fully paved, and where she has lost her innocence, she finds her power. Now, the ethics of this whole deal are... debatable, to say the least, but there's no denying that the authors of Vendetta wanted this scene to be one of intense catharsis and positive personal growth for Eve.
The same is not true for Winston, when O'Brien orders him to strip, look at himself in a mirror, and recognize himself as "the last man". Winston hardly recognizes his own emaciated appearance, describing himself as a "gray-colored, skeletonlike thing;" and O'Brien's brutal critique hardly helps. The sight of himself naked in a mirror marks a significant breaking point for Winston. He breaks into tears in front of O'Brien, and the shame overwhelms him. Out of many awful scenes in this book, this one hurt a little extra--watching Winston realize just how far he's been degraded and dehumanized was unbelievably painful to read.
What do you guys think? Did anyone else see the similarities between these two works?
-NC
Ooh, what a great contrast. I had not thought of that moment in 1984 in those terms. It's a "rebirth" for Winston, but exactly the opposite of Eve's empowering rebirth. Winston is forced to recognize his frailty, his mortality, his helplessness.
ReplyDeletethough i definitely wasn't thinking about it while I read this part, I totally agree with your comparison. The whole rebirth idea, by the rules of their captor seems to follow similar processes and nudity plays a huge part. I always found V for Vendetta kind of odd, this part especially, and i felt similarly uncomfortable reading the portion of Winston. It will be interesting to see what new "power" or opposite of that Winston exhibits if he remains alive and escapes the torture.
ReplyDeleteI think, in both cases, stripping down one of all clothing exposes a sort of vulnerability that many are not comfortable with seeing. I think this is why in both books, the act is seen as a sort of turning point/large plot point in the story.
ReplyDeleteBig facts. Our socially acquired aversion to nudity is quite significant, and the further emphasis on chastity in Oceania only serves to exacerbate this
DeleteThis is really interesting. I did not remember enough of V for Vendetta to see this connection but now that you've pointed it out I can see how weirdly similar they are. In both cases it's kind of like lowering one last wall but for Winston that wall was his protection compared to Eve who's wall was shown as a barrier.
ReplyDeleteYES! I immediately thought of V for Vendetta during the torture scenes! I wonder how much 1984 ultimately influenced V for Vendetta.
ReplyDeleteI agree that nudity plays a big role in the development of both of these characters, and I hadn't thought about that before. I think Dina is right that it is a very vulnerable act, and I think that vulnerability is necessary for transformation both good and bad. In Eve's case, her vulnerability allowed her to grow outside of herself to a new level that she wouldn't have achieved otherwise, but in Winston's case, because he has nothing positive to turn to, the vulnerability just takes away what self-respect he had, defeating him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comparison of the scenes and it made me think that there is kind of a similarity between V and O'Brien as maybe like mentor figures and how Evey and Winston weren't always sure about whether they could trust them.
ReplyDeletei'm sure 1984 definitely had some kind of mental hand in the production of vendetta, although how much influence is debatable. you put up some excellent points, though! and its interesting to see how the prism of vulnerability is approached from both ends
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting comparison, and I think it's cool you thought to make this connection to a book it feels like we read a million years ago. I agree that Winston's.. torture sequence I guess was not intended to ultimately be positive, which is probably part of why it sucked so much to read.
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