Sunday, September 19, 2010

Possible Paper Topic

I'm very interested in writing a paper on Little Brother. While I was reading it I was very forcibly reminded of 1984 by George Orwell. Considering the blatant reference in the title, I believe that Cory Doctorow wanted his readers to draw on the collective knowledge surrounding that work and all the implications of a highly monitored world. Therefore, I think I would like to write a topic discussing Little Brother and 1984, concentrating on the influences the latter had on Little Brother while also examining the similarities and differences of the societies (and the government's interaction and interference) in both books.

Any suggestions, ideas, criticisms?

5 comments:

Drew said...

This sounds cool. You should have A LOT to work with between the two texts, as Little Brother is so obviously influenced by 1984. It seems like you could run into the problem of having TOO much... in which case you might need to narrow your field of discussion. Otherwise, it should be a really interesting study.

AmeliaLinne said...

I really like the idea. I think Little Brother is kind of about preventing 1984 from happening.

Caleb Weeks said...

I think this is a great paper topic. Both books are very similar when it comes to the government becoming too powerful.

Bailey Carpenter said...

I really like the idea too because the whole time I read Little Brother I was thinking about 1984. It is sort of like Marcus is presenting 1984, but I think an interesting way to look at each other is by the similarities/differences in the "Brother" technology. I don't think Orwell ever anticipated that technology would be so far advanced in terms of surveillance.

Andy Duncan said...

Orwell's novel is much more about politics than technology; there's not really much tech in it. Doctorow's novel is a stark contrast there.

Also, Orwell's novel is set in no specific place or time. Even the protagonist is unsure of what year it really is. Doctorow's novel, in contrast, is set in a really specific place at a time that seems, if not the present day, at least a year or two on from the present day. Doctorow's setting is immediately recognizable in a way that Orwell's isn't.