Little Brother - Little Brother

Well... This will be probably the most reflection-y post to date. This post will be more about a concept rather than concrete facts and events and stuff. The concept that is big enough to be my last post is of course, the book's name. The way I see it, the term is a spoof on the national government. Sometimes, the national government is referred to as "big brother". I think this is meant to portray the government as something that cares for and is always looking out for its citizens. It is supposed to show that, like a big brother, the government is always watching over you. Using "little brother" is like a parody of this. In the same way that a little brother looks after an older brother, Marcus and the X-net look out for the government. A little brother will observe his brother and keep quiet about some of his wrongdoings, but will eventually tell if things get worse. He puts a check on his older brother, keeping him from getting too crazy. In the book, Marcus and the X-net have a similar relationship with the national government. It watches the government and does what it can to keep the government in line. By calling the book "Little Brother", the author successfully shows both contempt for the government (by spoofing it) and the fact that the national government won't be allowed to just sit and do whatever it wants. Rather, it has something looking after it so it had better behave because it would no longer be able to get away with everything. It's like issuing a warning to the government, "we are watching you".

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed in a way that we see their faults as well. The plot, though unlikely, is entirely possible. Although I didn't understand most of the techy stuff, it gave the book more credibility, as most of that stuff is possible. When reading the book, everything seems so far-fetched. But, when you really think about it, this could actually happen. If you look at recent history, in the last few years especially, after every supposed and attempted terrorist attacks, security measures have tightened. It's only a matter of time before we get to the same stage as in the beginning of Little Brother. Then, if there was another huge terrorist attack like that in the book, there's no telling what the government might do. They very well might kidnap and terrorize innocent people if they think that that'll keep the other citizens safe. Though it's a scary thought, this book may prove to be prophetic in at least some ways. It shows a country self-destructing due to paranoia of terrorism. In other words, it shows a country on which terrorism is successful. Then, it shows a "war" through technology, which I think will be the new arena for fighting. This rebellion is led by teenagers. I think it is likely that teenagers would lead the rebellion as they would be the ones most adverse to having their privacy and freedom taken away. Also, they would know more about the new technology than other generations. Of course, they end up winning in the book. I'm not sure about what would happen in real like though. It seems like too much of a fairy tale ending to actually happen. However, anything is possible (supposedly...)

-Lina >.<