Sunday, September 16, 2012
San Francisco setting
So, did anyone else find it strange that Little Brother only really discussed what was going on in San Francisco? I know that was the site of the attacks, but it seems strange that the government surveillance issue was only about the problems there. Surely Homeland Security must have had similar surveillance all across the country, right?
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That is a bit odd. I mean, after 9/11, the government stepped up airport security everywhere. Of course, a plane can fly to just about anywhere in the country.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing while reading. I ended up telling myself that there were probably similarities happening all over America, but on a smaller scale and not as drastic. I also think it was for consistency reasons that Doctorow only focused on one location. It allowed you to connect more with the characters than it would have if we were constantly being told about different parts of the country.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same, that Doctorow chose to focus entirely on San Francisco because it put more focus on the characters we're supposed to connect to. We can assume that the entire nation was reacting to the attacks similarly, but that the city of San Francisco itself would be most affected, both in terms of increased security and emotional reaction of the citizens.
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking while I was reading that San Francisco was a very good setting for a story like this- not only is it a big city, but it's a big city that relies heavily on tourism and people being willing to visit. It's also a really big tech city; it's believable that high school-aged kids living in the San Francisco Bay area would be interested in and have access to the kind of technology discussed in the book. San Francisco also has a lot of history with the civil rights movement, which they discussed a bit in the book.
I remember one part (Pg. 136-7) that contained a news report announcing a 300 percent budget increase for the San Francisco DHS office. If I had to guess I'd say that other cities might have had a few security measures but the reason it got so bad in San Francisco was because Marcus and the other XNetter's jammed the city. Plus it was the location of the original attack that sparked this whole thing off.
ReplyDeleteYes! I was wondering the same thing throughout the entire story. I was curious to know what was going on in other places. Did they have the same security measures but on a lesser scale for instance. I think it's interesting that Marcus and the other characters involved could bring about such a response from the government that they did.
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