V for Vendetta and McCloud

Is V's mask in V for Vendetta really how he see's himself?

McCloud suggests, "We see ourselves in everything. We assign identities and emotions where none exist. And we make the world over in our image" (McCloud,33).
The images given in McCloud on this page are the front of a car, the top of a Kraft parmesan cheese, and a simple circle, two dots, and a line as a smilie face.
These images all represent how we as human see ourselves in everything.

V chose the Mask he wears as a symbol of who he see's himself as.
The mask itself represents a man from the past who blew up Parliment, who wore the same mask when he did. The man was an anarchist.
V uses the mask to represent not the man who blew up Parliment but uses the mask as a symbol of change.

Does V see himself in the mask as an anarchist then?

According to McCloud, the answer would be Yes.
McCloud says, "You know you smiled because you trusted this mask called your face to respond. But the face you see in your mind is not the same as others see!"
I would say Yes as well. You see in V for Vendetta, what he sees himself as.
V speaks with "Lady Justice", a statue and how he sees her and what represents.
He says, "The flames of freedom. How Lovely. How Just. Ahh, my Precious Anarchy." He says this after blowing up "Lady Justice", while he is wearing the Mask. He then says, "O beauty, 'til now I never knew thee".
This is where V acknowledges anarchy and his connection to it. While he wears the mask he is "V", and being "V" he therefore is an anarchist.

"Reality is the mask of meaning..."

What is Reality?

Art Spiegelman's  graphic novel "Maus" is a great example of Hayden White's statement that "reality is the mask of meaning..." White's statement can be looked as a way to explain that reality of an historic event can "mask" the actual meaning behind the purpose  of a piece of literature. "Maus" depicts the information of the Holocaust through a comic/graphic novel view. But I saw "Maus" as a graphic novel portraying the meaning of family.

What is Family?

The meaning of family can be different then the actual definition of "what is a family?".  This "reality" ,that White explains, "masks" the purpose of Spiegelman's "meaning" of family. Artie who interviews his father throughout "Maus" is a son searching for information of his "family" through his father. His mother killed herself and later in the novel Artie accuses his father of killing his mother. This was in a metaphoric manner because his father burned all of his mother's stuff. Instead of Artie disowning his father and rejecting his father...Artie gets a bit frustrated but in the end still respects him as he leaves. He waits to say to him self...."murderer". I believe that Artie does this because it is his father and in a way teaches us a society to respect your family and who is in it even when things are wrong in many ways. This an example of how "reality" can "mask" the meaning of purpose. 

DeBord + Spectacle

Though separated from what they produce, people nevertheless produce every detail of their world with ever-increasing power. They thus also find themselves increasingly separated from that world. The closer their life comes to being their own creation, the more they are excluded from that life.

This image is a perfect example of this quote from DeBord. The quote explains how people who are removed from society are not in touch with the rest of the world. The Amish people are known as somewhat removed from society and live a very simple life. They might know of the "wheel" as seen in this picture but they rely on minimal necessities to live. Horse and Buggy or a Wheeled scooter examplify the quote from DeBord. The more the Amish people remove themselves from a fast moving society they more they are excluded from society.