Rugged Individualism In Watchmen

The character Rorschach(also known as Walter Joseph Kovacs) from Alan Moore’s Watchmen is a satire of rugged individualism and specifically of objectivism. By day he is Walter Joseph Kovacs,a grimy Ginger with raggedy old sign foretelling the end of the world but by night he is a homicidal masked vigilante that goes by the name Rorschach.Although one might wonder what this pathetic character might have to do with the unrealistically perfect businessmen of Ayn Rand’s schlock or Cowboys the old West?The answer lies in the rantings and ravings of his personal journal,this is where Rorschach reveals his metaethical leanings.from the very first page it is made very clear what end of the political spectrum Rorschach is on  

 “This city is afraid of me...I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whoresand politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper "No." They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father or President Truman. Decent men who believed in a day's work for a day's pay. Instead they followed the droppings of lechers and communists and didn't realize that the trail led over a precipice until it was too late. Don't tell me they didn't have a choice. Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody Hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers..”

This quote clearly shows that Rorschach is not only wingnut but sees himself as morally superior the vast majority society and that the world is being brought down specifically by those who are not willing to pull their own weight within society.He also seems to indicate in the quote that he thinks he might be able to influence society somehow although it is not clear exactly how at this point in the novel since the character has not been fully introduced.This kind of thinking is typically associated with the radical kind of individualism of the Randian kind but it is not implied that he’s a businessman of any kind in fact the handwriting is rather sloppy and businessmen are not really known for sloppy handwriting.

 Although there are many more quotes like this from his personal journal entries that are stunning examples of narcissism and homicidal rage that is a part of the mindset of real-life rugged individualists.I think the clearest and most profound statement of his personal philosophy is brought up during the interview with a psychologist in prison,where he proceeds to describe the first time he “really” became Rorschach.This involves him investigating the case of a girl that was being held for ransom,breaking into the home where he thought the girl was at and then proceeding to find out that the girl was brutally murdered and fed to the dogs of the kidnapper.This would lead him to murder the kidnapper’s dogs in a fit of homicidal rage, burning down his house with the kidnapper inside. Rorschach proceeds to describe what he was thinking at the moment….. 

“Stood in firelight, sweltering. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. Felt cleansed. Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night. Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone. Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else. Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Rorschach. Does that answer your questions, Doctor?”

In this quote Rorschach proceeds to throw away whatever notions of God and morals that he had before, accepting that there is no God and their is no clear morality other than whatever we impose upon the world and each other but he has not given up on morality fully rather he seeks to enforce its own personal moral code upon the world through acts of vigilante violence he has become fully convinced that he can change the world solely through his actions and no one else’s, this is not only delusional but a clear indication that he sees himself it’s an a powerful individual much like like the rugged individuals of the past or the characters of Ayn Rand novels,enforcing his will upon a hostile and amoral world.