Not to sound like a broken record, but it seemed like the biggest talking point that we were able to settle on for Little Brother was Marcus, the protagonist. One of the bigger vices AND virtues that he possessed seemed to be just that he was a 17 year old and that was either too convincing or not convincing enough.
So has Marcus aged well?
Admittedly, it's only been two years, but I feel like Marcus has grown up a bit between books. He graduated high school, left college, and is becoming a young adult. He's pretty much in the same stage of life as we are as readers, except for some of the harder economic circumstances that he's in now. Is he easier to relate to now?
I personally think so. I'm not done with the book yet, admittedly, only a little over one hundred pages in, but from what I've gathered, he seems to have developed as a character nicely. I feel like he's still excitable, still prone to spontaneity to the extent that he reminds me of a household pet, but I feel like a lot of that is just the book still being aimed towards a teenage audience and Marcus needing to sound cool.
Specifically, and warning, SPOILERS START HERE:
I thought that going to Burning Man was an admirable "college kid" type action. I last got to the point where he started working on the campaign. He has the flash drive with Masha's information on it, but he doesn't want to stir up trouble again, because he promised the politician he represents not to.
Admittedly, I know that he IS going to get involved and that then I probably won't respect his self-constraint, but I have a fair amount of hope that he's going try and play it smarter from here on out.
But what are y'alls thoughts? Y'all have probably read further than me, and that's totally fine, since I'm finishing the book before checking the comments. But how do you feel that Marcus has aged?
I agree that he has aged well. He's definitely less impulsive, to the point of where he overthinks EVERYTHING, which is in itself slightly annoying.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to sound really cheesy, but I think he looses his passion for life. He accepts that the government is corrupt and Carrie Johnston (Johnson, whatever her name is) is going to get away with everything and continue to make millions while the political system abuses citizens.
He still bugs me, and I personally don't find him that much relatable. He goes out to eat while his parents are home, miserable, to buy burritos and other fast food. He puts pleasure before family. Something about Marcus just doesn't sit well with me.
He has seemed to have grown up between Little Brother and Homeland, but he exhibits some of the same flaws throughout both books. Specifically, his tendency to become obsessed with the cause and his own safety and forget about the reason he got involved in the first place. In Little Brother, his primary purpose (supposedly) was ultimately to rescue Darryl, whom he forgot multiple times throughout the whole Xnet project. In Homeland, he was supposed to release the darknet documents to help Masha and Zeb who had been taken by Carrie Johnstone, he had to be reminded several times that they were still in the custody of Johnstone before he finally took action.
ReplyDeleteI think he's not the ideal hero and he has many flaws, but he is admirable in that he does give himself to the cause rather than sit back and wait for someone else to do it.