Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

same time evidently inconvenience individuals within the institution through their work in achieving

a greater purpose. Much like the Cold War, the proxy powers (the Vigils and the teachers) both win,

with the puppet states facing the gravest losses. By the end of the novel, Jerry Renault is truly the

one to lose out – being robbed of all security, even in his own home, before facing humiliation in

front of his whole school. The unjust treatment of Jerry by Archie and the Vigils land an already

vulnerable student who simply refused to sell chocolates in a situation where there is no real victory

for him. The twisted representation of vigilantism in Cormier’s The Chocolate War is one of realism

and an unmediated projection of the Cold War onto a smaller scale.

The Vigils are a secret, coercive society of students who work for both their benefits and those of the

school with little regard to the consequences of their actions on the students. Unlike both Senor

Zorro and V, the Vigil society and its members are all known, yet seldom mentioned out of

trepidation of punishment. Along with this, the Vigils also undertake their task of vigilantism as a

group as opposed to solo vigilantism, once more a reflection of the Cold War.

V for Vendetta is set in a dystopian future, where society has ventured astray under the reign of the

fascist Norsefire party, and V’s mission is to apprehend the regime and to return righteousness and

justice in his world. Through the novel, Alan Moore provides the reader with a more modern outlook

on vigilantism. It must be noted, however, that V’s methods are by far the most violent out of the

three vigilantes with relentless killing and no remorse for his actions. Within the first chapters, V has

already achieved Guy Fawkes’ failed task of detonating the parliament house as one of the first steps

in his aberrant ploy for revenge. This is in fact where the dilemma lies with V for Vendetta – do V’s

motives and actions coincide more with justice or revenge? Quite similarly to The Chocolate War, o n

one hand V is in fact doing the whole of society a service by methodically ridding Britain of their

fascist leaders, yet on the other, his ruthless killing affects individuals within the same society he is

attempting to aid. A prime example of this is the effect of V’s murder of Derek Almond. Whilst V has

in fact provided a service to the people of Britain, Almond’s wife Rosemary now remains a widow.

Desperate and financially compromised, Rosemary’s labefaction throughout the three books is

commenced by V’s personal vendetta against those who tortured him. To V, justice is the same as

revenge; he believes the concepts are not too different and that through his relentless and anarchic

pursuit of vengeance, he is truly cleansing the world. To the people, V has become a symbol, and

thus when the original V is eventually killed and Evey dons the mask, the symbol never dies. Moore’s

portrayal of justice in this novel is as dark and ambiguous as a dystopian Britain under Norsefire. Due

to the general mistrust of the government in 1980s, along with the economic destabilisation of

Britain by Margaret Thatcher, the brand of justice being carried out by V is one which many at that

time may have genuinely connected with and felt necessary to be carried through. That said,