Knowledge Is Power In Little Brother By Kofi Annan
Knowledge Is Power
“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” This was said by Kofi Annan and is also the main theme of my ISP novel, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. This New York Times Bestseller is set during the aftermath of a terrorist attack in San Francisco and tells the story of a 17 year old boy named Marcus, the DHS and the X-Net. Marcus is your typical geeky teenager devoting all his energy into hacking and outsmarting school technology and authorities and ARGing (Alternate Reality Gaming) with his friends Darryl, Vanessa (Van), and Jolu. That is until the Bay Bridge is bombed, spinning Marcus’s life to total chaos. Throughout the novel, Doctorow …show more content…
Benson. Marcus is called down to the principal’s office after he is suspected to be supplying countermeasures for the school security systems to fellow students. We learn here that this is not the only thing that Marcus has done, he narrates that he can “go through school firewalls like wet kleenex, spoof the gait-recognition software, and nuke the snitch chips they track us with.” This knowledge of his proves useful and gives him power against the oppressing school authorities. In the office, Mr. Benson is yelling at Marcus and threatens to call the police if he does not admit to the crime, however, Marcus notices that Benson does not know for sure that he is the culprit and does not have enough evidence because “Benson settled down behind his desk and tapped his ring nervously on his blotter. He did this whenever things started to go bad for him. Poker players call stuff like this a "tell" something that lets you know what was going on in the other guy's head. I knew Benson's tells backwards and forwards.” Through this, we see how Marcus is very observant to collect information and use it to his advantage. Furthermore, he maneuvers the conversation perfectly, he knows exactly what to say and exactly when to say it. He questions Benson to call his bluff by saying "You have 'reliable intelligence'? I'd like to see it." Marcus
“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” This was said by Kofi Annan and is also the main theme of my ISP novel, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. This New York Times Bestseller is set during the aftermath of a terrorist attack in San Francisco and tells the story of a 17 year old boy named Marcus, the DHS and the X-Net. Marcus is your typical geeky teenager devoting all his energy into hacking and outsmarting school technology and authorities and ARGing (Alternate Reality Gaming) with his friends Darryl, Vanessa (Van), and Jolu. That is until the Bay Bridge is bombed, spinning Marcus’s life to total chaos. Throughout the novel, Doctorow …show more content…
Benson. Marcus is called down to the principal’s office after he is suspected to be supplying countermeasures for the school security systems to fellow students. We learn here that this is not the only thing that Marcus has done, he narrates that he can “go through school firewalls like wet kleenex, spoof the gait-recognition software, and nuke the snitch chips they track us with.” This knowledge of his proves useful and gives him power against the oppressing school authorities. In the office, Mr. Benson is yelling at Marcus and threatens to call the police if he does not admit to the crime, however, Marcus notices that Benson does not know for sure that he is the culprit and does not have enough evidence because “Benson settled down behind his desk and tapped his ring nervously on his blotter. He did this whenever things started to go bad for him. Poker players call stuff like this a "tell" something that lets you know what was going on in the other guy's head. I knew Benson's tells backwards and forwards.” Through this, we see how Marcus is very observant to collect information and use it to his advantage. Furthermore, he maneuvers the conversation perfectly, he knows exactly what to say and exactly when to say it. He questions Benson to call his bluff by saying "You have 'reliable intelligence'? I'd like to see it." Marcus