Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in V for Vendetta, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Anarchy
Bigotry
The Power of Symbols
Vendettas, Revenge, and the Personal
Fatherhood, Mentorship, and the State
Summary
Analysis
As the prelude begins, V sits at a piano, playing “For every heart on Broadway.” As he plays, we see people walking through the streets of London, as well as a close-up of a letter to Rosemary Almond, explaining that she’s been denied benefits after her husband’s death. We then see the Leader staring at the Fate Computer with a look of rapture, and finally, Evey staring at a photograph of her father. As Evey stares, V sings about how “a girl” would rather live in the land of “Do as you please” than in the real world.
As the second part of the graphic novel begins, we see the characters trapped in their own illusions. The Leader is trapped by his love for a computer—a love which, by definition, can never be returned. We also see Evey trapped in her nostalgia for her family, and in particular, her love for her father. Evey’s need for a father figure will play a key role in her actions in this section of the text.
Themes
V continues to sing. The “real world,” he claims, is full of “puppets strangled by their strings.” This world seems inviting, but in fact it’s been cleared of all homosexuals, blacks, and other minorities. This, V concludes, is the “vicious cabaret.”
The image of puppets strangled by their own strings is an apt one: it describes the Norsefire government we’ve seen so far. Although Norsefire seems powerful and omnipotent to the people of England, we’ve seen that Norsefire’s bigotry, cruelty, and bureaucracy actually make it weak and fallible. V seems to relish the challenge of dismantling Norsefire step-by-step.
Themes
