Little Brother

I finished reading Little Brother this past weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the story very interesting and engaging and it was one of those books that I wanted to read again immediately after finishing it. I thought that the main character Marcus was created in a way that made it easy to relate to him. I felt sympathetic towards him throughout his struggles in the book. Even faced with extreme opposition, the U.S. government, he accomplishes something that no one could imagine a teenager capable of. I also appreciated how even though he accomplishes all of these amazing tasks, he still leads several aspects of a normal teenage life. These include going to school, having a girlfriend, and playing video games.

I did find comparing my high school with Marcus's somewhat disturbing though. We may not have had gate recognition soft ware, but we did have cameras that were constantly monitored for strange faces. We also had bars on all of our windows and were subject to constant car searches when we chose to use the schools provided parking lots. Finally, we were subject to a dress code. This made outsiders stick out like a sore thumb but also crushed our creativity and further suppressed our freedom. When I look at how close some schools are to becoming like the ones in Little Brother I worry about my 12 year old brothers high school future. Perhaps he will have a restricting computer and facial recognition software in the hallways.

Contextual Analysis

For my contextual analysis paper I chose to keep the same topic from my first paper. This was the texting video that was banned in America due to its graphic nature. For my contextual analysis I discussed the bias shown in picking all young, female actresses. Seldom have NOT heard that "men are better drivers" and "teenagers can't drive", so by casting young females in the role of the crash instigators I thought that the PSA was playing to an unfair bias. In fact, women tend to get in less wrecks than men and even have lower car insurance rates because of it.
I also talked about how in today's society violence has become so prevalent that we are desensitized to gruesome images. The police officers who created this commercial used this fact throughout the making of the film by adding in overly violent and dramatic scenes around every corner. Had this video been aired twenty years ago people would have been so shocked by the violence that they would have missed the point that the PSA was trying to make. But when people watch it today they hardly notice most of the violent scenes. Yes people still find it disturbing to see brain matter splattered on a windshield, but not as much as they would have in the past.
Another key point in my paper is the advance in technology that cell phones have seen in the past few years. It is now easier than ever to text, especially while on the move. Even with "no texting while driving" laws in place many people still choose not to follow them. With the result being an increase in the number of automobile accidents and deaths.