Analysis of Frightning Fear in "Little Brother"

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Analysis of Frightening Fear in “Little Brother”

Fear is what many of the dictators are made out of and it has now become one of the biggest and most common ways of ruling over people today. The use of fear is being spread across the world quite fast and it is being used as a top technique for many things. Whether it is a mother teaching behaviour to her kid or a bank loan that you still haven’t paid, fear will always do the trick and this is what our world is turning into. Kids that need love and care to have a good upbringing and to be told not to do bad stuff are now being taught off by fear not because they want control of their child but because scaring a child is easier than teaching manners. Some people have begun to question whether the use of fear is justified and if it always leads to everyone being happy and unaffected. In Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother,” a teenage boy taking on the Department of Homeland Security for revenge of being mercilessly detained and interrogated for days. After the bombing in Seattle by unknown terrorists, the DHS suspects everyone in the city and are fully supported by the government on this. The DHS uses fear as a force factor to control the whole city of Seattle so that citizens are scared of them and are under their control. Moreover there are many people out there wanting to take revenge on the DHS for spreading such terror throughout the city and changing many people’s lives. Therefore the DHS’s forced fear on the

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citizens of Seattle in “Little Brother” enforce the fact that using fear is not the right way to protect/control a society.

The drastic change in the city of Seattle after the terrorist attack is a result of how much uninvolved the citizens ...

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...Track passes to know exactly where each person is going and to show any movements that relate to potential terrorist involvement. This shows to what extent forcing fear and terror can have on others leading to making people angry and having the society being fragmented and people being isolated. Forcing fear on others is not the right solution to a problem (terrorist attack) and people like Marcus have shown why. If the DHS had acted in a different manner or had been spying secretly on others then maybe they wouldn’t have gotten taken down, who knows? It may have actually worked or acted differently. Would other people be able to make the same sacrifice Marcus did to get back his freedom if it was the only way to prevent this terrible tragedy of a fear filled city?

Works Cited

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

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