Dr. Manhattan is Majorly Misunderstood

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Dr. Manhattan's new calculating mind in Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, forces him to keep his thoughts on the past, present and future. With all of these thoughts, he has to put aside all the emotions he once felt because his thinking capacity is being used for more important things. He knows that his works is more important than other people. Therefore, he has put aside his feelings for humanity and doesn't care what happens to those around him. It can be concluded that he no longer loves those who were once closest to him. At times, it seems as though he doesn't feel anything at all anymore. His lovers think of him as an emotionless monster. However, even though his thoughts are busy with everything that is going on in all of time, he still has feelings towards the people he knows. His worry for those he may have afflicted with cancer proves this. The smile he gives at crucial points in the book give a subtle hint into his mind of emotion. Also, we see into the world of Dr. Manhattan as he thinks about his past. We learn about his connection with his father, his first real lover, and his second. It was with these relationship that Dr. Manhattan revealed his true power of emotion on which he keeps an extremely intelligent tight control. While Dr. Manhattan's lack of reaction makes it seem like he lacks basic human emotions, he gives definite evidence that he still cares about those with whom he interacts. How Dr. Manhattan's emotion even came into question is because his body was disintegrated and reformed from a intrinsic field experiment particle cannon; his brain has been hot-wired to think with almost impossible precision of time and even the most advanced calculations. It is so important to the story that this h... ... middle of paper ... ...ch other again after the incident. It was a rare relationship to see in this book. There weren't many father's present at all. Here we see this relationship build and fall apart just as Jon builds himself up to such a level and science and literally is blown apart. In conclusion, it is understandable for people to not understand the mindset of Dr. Manhattan because they lack his control of their emotions. However, that does not mean that he lacks the ability to feel towards his fellow humanoids. His connection to time, his past, and looking at the future, he interacts with the certainty of what will be. This makes it so that he comes off as cold since he knows the futility of action. It is his knowledge the leads to others' misunderstanding. Still, his reactions to those he loves proves the connection he still believes he shares with them even if it is only subtly.

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