home

[|Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.](Arnold) A quote stated by Arnold Edinborrow can be looked at as a very good description of two characters from two different novels. Marcus, a geeky, tech savvy nerd from //Little Brother// by Cory Doctorow, resides in San Francisco California and (ARGing) in his free time. While ditching school one day he gets caught in “the wrong place at the wrong time” and gets abducted by the DHS after a terrorist bombing close to where he was. After being released from custody he soon finds out his friend Daryl was never released and does everything in his power to find out where Daryl is being kept and free him. Winston, an older man from //1984//, by George Orwell lives in a city in a “war” and brainwashed by Big Brother, a fake Identity used to scare the people into obeying everything they are told.  Winston starts to think more of [|Big Brother] and the “war” his country is in when he starts to explore more about the unknown to his nation. In the process getting a young girlfriend to come along with him and pay the consequences. When one comes upon the two novels, the thoughts of invasion of privacy, rights of freedoms, and safety provided by the government are put into one’s mind.

From reading //Little Brother// and //1984//, the reader will learn very much about rights and safety. In //1984// and //Little Brother//, Winston lives in communist country, while Marcus lives in a democratic country that has turned into a communist country . Marcus's country, although not completely communist, has total veiw on everyone at all times and is extremely cautious. In both scenarios in the novels, the authority has the “right” to watch people and practically spy on Marcus and Winston throughout the entire books. “By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, Winston was able to remain outside the rage of the telescreen, so far as sight went” (Orwell). From reading __1984__ readers notice how “Big Brother”, and the “government” in __1984__ can view every citizen in the country at all times to supposedly ensure safety. As in __1984__, most governments, as technology is developed, have more safety progressions are made to help the people of the nation safer. Problems one will learn with security is one will never be safe .  If a bad person is going to do something bad, then no matter what, they will do something bad. Along with the “safety” both Big Brother and the U.S.A’s government provide to Winston and Marcus, they also take most rights away from the characters. In Little Brother, in order to travel through San Francisco, people are giving fast passes which are tracked by the [|DHS] constantly. “… We’ve been watching you since you left the BART. Your Fast Pass says that you’ve been riding to a lot of strange places at a lot of funny hours” (Doctorow). When one reads both __1984__ and __Little Brother__, the image of invasion of privacy is constantly put into one’s mind. When the reader starts to think more about their invasion of privacy they also realize they most likely don’t feel safe.

On the other hand, both __Little Brother__ and __1984__ both leave out information that might be essential for one to know about rights and safety. In both novels the characters, although very intellectual, don’t give the reader good “guide lines” needed in order to control the curiosity one might have about the rights of liberty the government gives them. Both Marcus and Winston from the two novels follow the extreme in order to do what they believe. The only problem with that is not every average Joe is equipped with the skills and fearlessness each character acquires. Readers that have read through both of the books will often find themselves unsure with what to do about the curiosity that is put into one’s mind about Liberty rights and safeties because Marcus and Winston show no boundaries. A question raised by __1984__ and __Little Brother__ could be, how is safety with today’s government related to the two governments from the novels? With some research, one might discover they are much more naïve then they thought they were. Upon looking up there research and learning more about safety in today’s modern government, it is quite easy to discover U.S.A’s government is much similar to both Marcus’s and Winston’s. Although it may appear that in today’s modern government there are a lot more freedoms and rights one will think they have, but a lot of the law has ignored laws for the government to get around, and therefore invading our privacy. A prime example of this is at the International airports in the U.S., it has recently been issued that the security guards working there can now see a skewed, blurred image of one’s naked body in order to “protect” the safety of everyone that travels through the airport. One thing the government most likely does not realize is if someone wants to something bad, they are going to do something bad.

After learning and not learning facts from __1984__ and __Little Brother__, thoughts often start to pop into readers’ minds about what’s happening, and where there government is going. Today’s government has some security paranoia problems; some say it is too much, others say not enough. When the average teen walks into a store, are watched by surveillance cameras from the moment they walk in, all the way to the moment they walk out. Most stores have such a stereo-typical view of teens that the stores even go to the extent of keeping guards undercover, and having them follow the teens throughout the store: as if the cameras weren’t enough. Most likely in a teen’s life time stores along with the government will find some obscure reason to watch not only teens and younger adults, but everyone in the store. By the time that teen is dead, the chances that there will be cameras put in every street light to ensure drivers follow the laws and kids are safe. This may seem realistic on some levels, for the children are the U.S.A’s future, but will the government take advantage of these cameras? Most readers, after having their knowledge on governments that have taken it too far, will believe yes. The government will break one of its few laws that hold the nation together, invasion of one’s privacy. The readers of both __1984__ and __Little Brother__ might also believe that all of this personal space violations isn’t exactly safe Sure it will stop people from maybe doing crimes for a limited amount of time, but eventually, those bad people will build up all of their anger and not care whether they break the law, and there crimes will be greater than before. Furthermore, if the U.S’s government follows the path it’s on [|“safety”] will turn into a exact replica of __1984__.

Invasion of privacy, rights of freedom and safety by ones government are often thought of when one reads __1984__ and __Little Brother__. When reading the two novels, one might learn about how corrupted Marcus’s and Winston’s governments. One might notice how they provide no safety and each individual is viewed as a “target” that is unsafe to the country. Questions raised from the reader might include what will our government turn into, if theirs are like that? __Little Brother__ and __1984__ show extreme examples of an overprotective government. When reading the two one might not learn about how censored the books are and how today’s government is related to Both Big Brother and Marcus’s U.S.A. In further research about how close behind ones governments is to the two novels governments, they’ll find out surveillance today is already watching most people way more than actually needed. When thinking about the U.S.A's modern day government, they can almost view it as a more conservative style of government of __1984__ and __Little Brother__.

Work Cited:

Doctorow, Cory. //Little Brother//. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008.

Orwell, George. //1984.// New York: New American Library, 1950

"Arnold Edinborough quotes." //Find the famous quotes you need, ThinkExist.com Quotations.// Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://thinkexist.com/

"Bill of Rights Transcript." //National Archives and Records Administration//. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. .