Little Brother: Cory Doctorow

I had to read this book for a class, so though it wasn't something I would normally read, it was interesting. I was originally turned off from reading the introduction (I read the free online copy, which I was very grateful for because I would have been disappointed had I paid for it)the author was pouting about TSA and England's version of TSA. The protagonist's voice was obviously that of the author trying to get his point across that DHS is evil. It worked in the story though because the character was a 17 year old boy, so you expected him to be arrogant and self righteous. A boy is a hacker and nearly expelled from school for his deeds and those of his classmates. One day he skips school and happens to be near a terrorist attack on the San Francisco bay bridge. He is taken in for questioning and becomes part of the problem instead of the solution once he is released. He starts a website where kids log in to wreck havick on their community- Marcus's own father gets searched due to Marcus's antics and his peers get tear gassed. Marcus's message is "you can't trust anyone over 25" with the idea being to think for yourself and not take up your parent's ideas. HOWEVER the book pushes his message onto the peers that the government is out to get you, so it isn't really telling people to think for themselves. Marcus becomes a terrorist himself, but the book pushes that you should side with him. You never hear if the bridge bomb terrorists were caught...if it was mentioned I may have zoned out- there were very long sections describing out different systems work and such. There was a part in the beginning that hinted at an amazing show if you put a frozen grape in the microwave. I envisioned a lot of kids blowing up frozen grapes in the microwave and leaving their mothers to clean up the mess. There was also this idea that women are easily manipulated because it is women that support Marcus, his mother, his girlfriend(s) and a teacher. Doctorow warns about a world where government agencies are constantly trying to keep up with technology to ensure the protection of citizens; A world where the teenage population is intent on the disintegration of society. He furthers his message by making the reader think of previous works with ideas he wants to express without having to build too much on those ideas in his story. Doctorow also uses the term "Little Brother" to parallel that of "Big Brother" from 1984 (Orwell) to show an omnipresent government. Marcus's computer name is Winston, the protagonist of 1984, triggering the memory of this book makes the reader automatically believe Marcus is an innocent boy targeted by the government. The reader finds out Marcus is a Hooligan whose cyberbulleying antics get his own father searched and peers gassed. The name "Clockwork Plunder" is to make us think of Clockwork Orange where there is extreme youth violence. The obvious difference is that these youth do not participate in physical violence, but a "cyber violence". Like in Clockwork Orange these characters too take a drug (turkish coffee/caffiene) to "sharpen them up". Marcus several times claims he is working for the Bill of Rights and speaks for freedom, though his actions result in taking freedoms away from others. "I can turn innocent people into suspects and turn guilty people into innocents" (86). Doctorow even states in his story" Let's call these spoiled children Cal-Quaeda.They do the terrorists' work on the home front. When...California gets attacked again, these brats will be as much to blame as the House of Saud" (87). Creating triggers to these other works make the reader confused on who we are supposed to be supporting. This is how the characters around Marcus feel as he rallies them to take action. Though I don't agree with "Marcus the hero", the end of the book leaves us wondering what sort of world we are living in and whether our actions help or hinder our society.