Dr. Manhattan Backstory

It’s hard to pick one thing to focus on in Watchmen because there are so many things happening. Even so, chapters 4 and 6 resonated with me the most. In chapter 4 we get the full backstory of how Dr. Manhattan came to be, and this is done through caption boxes containing his inner monologue. We’ve seen this is in other parts in the book, but there is a lot of repetition in chapter 4. The way that Dr. Manhattan recalls the past, present, and future makes for a chilling and emotional account of his life. I think the way he repeats certain dates, shed light on the way he feels about those dates. The chapter sort of revolves around a photograph of Dr. Manhattan and his ex-girlfriend Janey (for the most part); he mostly recalls moments with her and throughout the chapter recalls the photograph. I thought this was so sad; even though Dr. Manhattan feels distanced from humanity I felt the most empathy about his situation. While the position he is in is very much omnipotent, it’s a bad position to be in term of a relationship. Dr. Manhattan is sort of detached from Janey because he knows that their relationship is going to end inevitably, even if everything is going well it will end. Sadly this is classic ‘the lord giveth and the lord taketh away’ circumstance. Dr. Manhattan is given superhuman power, but for what it’s worth he is left only with apathy.