Little Brother Literary Elements

Fiction / Cyberpunk

San-Francisco, the nearest future

The author uses first-person narration in the text – Marcus, the main hero, tell the reader his story. This method helps the author to create the atmosphere of the inner world of the protagonist which is opened for the reader. It helps the reader to understand each event and action of characters better.

As the narrator of the story is the teenager, the mood of the text is “youthful” – there are a lot of colloquial and slang words there. The text is overloaded with emotional context. And all this helps the reader to feel the story more deeply, to empathize and support the heroes.

The protagonists of the story is the group of teenagers, the main characters, Marcus, Angy, Darryl, Vanessa and some others, who are brilliant and clever people, who has managed to hack the country web system, to make their own, and to develop a war against the antagonists – the government and DHS in particular.

The major conflict develops between Marcus, his friends and DHS. This conflict is actually between the nation, who wants to be free, to have honest government and their leaders, who want to crush their people in any way. In the end the protagonists, who represent the true justice, win.

The story has two climax points: when Marcus and his friends get into the paws of DHS and the second one takes place when the DHS’ agents “officially” attack the main heroes. These events are Decisive moments in the protagonists lives: first one makes them start the war against their torturers, and after the second one they win this war.

Many problems are raised in the book, and the author has definitely reached her goal to convey to the reader their importance. But all of the issues may be connected in one – the author wants the reader not to be afraid of doing everything for his/her feeling free and happy, to struggle with his/her fears, to be brave and adamant in any situation.

The author intentionally understates the power of Marcus’ organization for him, its effect on young people. Marcus thinks that it’s just a kind of game, hobby. But it’s not so true, since other people are affected by the “spirit” of rebellion, which the organization soaked with, and it’s not enough for them just to sit in the Internet, they start to seek some revenge to their government. It gains the strength of around the whole country, becomes really dangerous. But for Marcus it’s just a “light” pastime.

The story often alludes to the terroristic attack of September 11, 2001 (DHS made people think that Marcus and his “organization” is not better than those terrorists), also there are some allusions to Orwellian warnings, as critics of the book think.

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This method is used in the text, when talking about the DHS. Actually this service is to provide the people of the country with safe and order. But in this novel, the agents of DHS are unrestrained, they sow cruelty in the streets instead of keep them in safe.

The author uses this method when depicting two parallel sides of the narrating –DHS’ system as opposed to Marcus’ system. They are always struggling, showing who is stronger and smarter. And one of them finally wins, the second one.

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