Barrett 1

Emily Barrett
English 115
October 26, 2014
Altman
Norsefire: Fiction or Reality?
People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their
people. (V for Vendetta) In the graphic novel, V for Vendetta, written by Alan Moore, V is a
masked character who centers his life on taking down the leaders of the government, called
Norsefire, by murdering them in various ways. The mask he wears is the face of a hated man,
Guy Fawkes, who blew up the English Parliament building. Throughout the novel, government
control is shown heavily, through Norsefires six branches of government: The Head, The
Finger, The Nose, The Eye, The Mouth, and the Ear. These branches are used to manipulate, spy
on, and control the citizens in V for Vendetta. While V is spending his life focusing on
destroying these branches in the novel, he also inspired real life groups, such as Anonymous to
protest the government and its sneaky and conniving ways. Norsefire is a reflection of real
governments who try to control its citizens through surveillance, propaganda, and police control.

One of the main ways that governments control their citizens is through surveillance. In
V for Vendetta, the main branch of Norsefire, called The Head, is responsible for overall
monitoring of the citizens, through a supercomputer called Fate. This supercomputer monitors
citizens 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Unfortunately, there are plenty of real-life examples of
The Head and Fate. The NSA, established on November 14, 1952, is the National Security
Agency. They are responsible for monitoring the citizens of the United States of America, and
monitoring people globally. However, they are now allowed to listen into peoples phone calls,

Barrett 2

track people and phones, read peoples texts, it can even fake a USB drive thats actually a
monitoring device. (Bamford) While all of these things sound very unrealistic, and like they are
coming from a novel such as V for Vendetta, it unfortunately is very realistic. It is also very legal
for NSA to hack into your computer, or any electronic device that anybody has. The NSA is
watching you at all times, just like The Head and Fate. It is extremely frightening that the
government has such control and such extreme access to your person life, and V for Vendetta
brings this horrific problem to light.
The more well-known type of surveillance is the cameras in plain sight. The branches
responsible for this are The Ear and The Eye. These two branches worked closely together, as
The Eye oversaw the visual surveillance of citizens, while The Ear oversaw the audio
surveillance of the citizens. This is similar to the NSA, but mainly mirrors the general
surveillances of the government. Cameras are stationed throughout the streets of our country,
supposedly watching for traffic violations, but also can be used to watch criminals or any
average citizen while they take their daily stroll down the street. The government can record you
through your phones microphone, and believe it or not, actually record through the streetlights
lining your neighborhood. (Bamford) This violates and limits our countrys freedoms because it
means zero privacy. We Americans are supposed to be living in the land of the free, not living in
the land of the watched. American citizens are not only being watched, but most are unaware of
it. It limits our freedom by watching our every move and hearing our every word, watching and
waiting for a possible threat against the government. In V for Vendetta, the citizens are watched
through cameras scattered throughout the country, and are constantly monitored in order to keep
the peace and to watch for criminals, such as V. While The Eye and The Ear closely monitored

Barrett 3

the citizens, the country was also in need of someone to control the citizens, therefore
establishing two more branches of Norsefire.
Another form of government control is through police control of the citizens, led by The
Nose and The Finger. The Nose is responsible for tracking down criminals, such as V, and The
Finger are the secret, and very corrupt, police. The Nose was in charge of finding V, but the
responsibility was later transferred to The Finger. However, The Finger, as said before, were
extremely corrupt men. At the beginning of the novel, they almost raped and killed Evie after she
sexually solicited them. Compared to the real world, The Nose is more like the police: hunting
down criminals who have wronged the government. Just like the regular police in our world, The
Nose can use street cameras and audio recordings in order to track down a criminal. The Finger,
however, are more relatable to Nazi Germanys Gestapo. They were allowed to arrest people
purely based on the suspicion that they were doing something wrong, even if they had no
evidence. The Gestapos rule was, if you said nothing, no harm could come to you. If you had
doubts about the way the country was going, you kept them to yourself - or paid the price.
(History Learning). This simply was a warning to not question your government. Nazi Germany
was obviously a very twisted government, and did hundreds of twisted things to its people. The
Gestapos rule was meant to force people to not question their actions by threatening its citizens
if they do. The whole idea is basically, if you dont question our actions, youll be fine. If you do
question our actions, keep it to yourself, or else consequences will be enforced. So, if someone
did question their actions, they were arrested. Once you were arrested, you were sent to a
concentration camp, another similarity to the novel. Basically, the Gestapo had the power to do
whatever they want, to whomever they wanted. They were a horrible, violent, and corrupt police
force. In 1936, a Gestapo Law was also established to secure the Gestapo the freedom of any

Barrett 4

review in German courts. In the novel, The Finger was led by a very corrupt leader, Peter
Creedy, whom went to extremes in order to manipulate situations, such as manipulating another
leader, Eric Finch, to hit him, and therefore be sent away. However, Norsefire moved onto more
manipulative ways in order to control its people, and truly defined government control.
The last and most historical form of government control is through propaganda. This is
carried out by the last branch of Norsefire, The Mouth. It was run through a television station,
which relayed news to the citizens, but through a very manipulative and controlling way. In the
novel, V breaks into the station and threatens the workers by wearing explosives and threatening
to blow them up if they cross him. He forces them to allow him relay a message to the citizens
about the government, but a worker films and edits him in a way that suggests V has died,
therefore announcing that the public is safe once again. This relates to the news in American
manipulating stories to add ease to scared citizens, or to hide government mistakes from us. If
threats are made against America, it is hidden from American citizens for as long as possible, in
order to avoid chaos. This is because ignorance is bliss. If people think that there is nothing
wrong with our country, then there is a less likely chance for protests, rebellion, and again,
chaos. It is extremely manipulative, and just isnt right. Both in V for Vendetta and in reality,
people deserve to know the truth of what is happening in their country, and what their
government is really doing.
V for Vendettas Norsefire is clearly very relatable to our worlds governments, in many
terrifying ways, but it is not the only thing that relates to our world. In fact, V has been the
inspiration to an anti-government group called, Anonymous. Members of Anonymous are known
for hacking into government websites and databases, protesting multiple sites, even dressing up
as young girls in order to lead on pedophiles and send their information to the police.

Barrett 5

Anonymous was not only inspired by Vs actions, but also by his mask. Anonymous members
are known for also wearing the Guy Fawkes mask, in order to remain, well, anonymous.
Anonymous is well known for responding to wrong-doings by the government or large
companies by hacking into their websites, shutting them down, or releasing information. One
example of this was in 2010, when large credit card companies, such as Visa and Mastercard,
stopped funding WikiLeaks after government information had been released. In protest of this,
Anonymous organized Operation Payback, which involved the shutting down of all of the
companies websites. After the conclusion of Operation Payback, the act ended up costing
companies over 5.5 million dollars (New York Times). This act was considered such an act of
rebellion because not only did it affect the major companies, but it affected American citizens as
well by cutting access to their accounts. It caused such uproar; it was recognized across the
nation. This act was a shout to the government, basically saying that the citizens could take
power back from the government just as easily as it is given to them. In addition to this act,
Anonymous is responsible for hundreds of hacking attacks and protests across the country, all
while still wearing the Guy Fawkes mask.
In conclusion, V for Vendetta, while it is a novel about heroism disguised in evil, is also a
novel about evil disguised in heroism by the government. The government, whether it is in a
graphic novel or in the real world, is extremely manipulative and controlling. They watch us
constantly, even when we are unaware. The ironic thing is, while it is perfectly legal for them to
hack into our computers or phones, and watch us without our knowledge, it is a crime for
citizens, such as Anonymous, to do the same. V for Vendetta is written to reveal to readers just
how manipulative the government can be, whether it is through the police or through media.

Barrett 6

Citizens need to start questioning their governments, because if no one does, who know how far
the government will go to manipulate us and control us.

Barrett 7

Works Cited
Moore, Alan. V for Vendetta. New York: Vertigo/DC Comics, 2005. Print.

Anonymous (Internet Group). The New York Times. N.p., 15 Aug. 2014. Web.

"The Nazi Police State". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2005. Web.

Bamford, James. The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping
on America. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Print