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 1984 and Little Brother both share similar qualities and beliefs. The characters' ambition, skills and knowledge, and belief that liberty is the most important thing humans can have, are what helped them to become as powerful and as successful as they were. In 1984, Winston is faced with the issue of being completely suppressed by his government. He couldn't go or do anything without being watched by Big Brother. Winston wanted to know and feel the freedom that the world had once had. He knew that the government had no right to take his freedoms and monitor his every move. Similarly, in Little Brother; Marcus is caught in the middle of a terrorist attack and is picked up by the [|DHS]. With no proof that he had done anything wrong, they kept him for questioning in an unknown location. He promises himself that he will get back at the DHS for wrongly accusing him and treating unfairly. Both of these books stress the importance of freedom and the pursuit of getting individual freedoms. This is demonstrated with Marcus and Winston's ability to fight the system with every bit of ambition they had. This might seem like something that is important to trying to take down a government, but this can also be helpful in everyday life. For example, when facing a problem with a person or system in everyday life, ambition can make a bigger impact and become more successful if you are as ambitious as Marcus and Winston were. Along with ambition both characters shared the same ability to apply their individual skills and knowledge to make themselves more successful. In 1984 Winston was a party member in the [|Ministry of Truth], who had the job of rewriting the history of the world. He took the documents of real events in history and changed them to look favorable in the eyes of Big Brother. So off the bat he already becomes skeptical of the teachings of Big Brother. With the knowledge that the government is corrupt he has all the more reason to start a revolt and give more incentive. Similar to [|Little Brother], Marcus has great capability to use technology. He uses his technology to hack, send messages, and hide and switch identities; making him a very powerful force for corrupting the government. And finally both characters in the book understand the importance of liberty and freedom, they understand that the liberty of the people should not be compromised in order to become more "safe" or productive.

Ambition is something seen in both of main characters in these books. Winston in 1984 showed it by finding places where he could "illegally" meet with Julia and have sex. This was not an act of pleasure but a duty to the party. Even with constant [|surveillance], Winston found a way to meet Julia and break the law with her., and he had many brilliant plans in which he could take down the strong and the almighty Big Brother. He realizes that he there is more he can do to oppose Big Brother. The Proles in his society were on little to no surveillance, he would say "the answer lies in the Proles."(Orwell pg.76 ) This is [|ambition] because he was coming up with these radical ideas on his own and did his best to act on them. In Winston’s room is a small area where his Telescreen can’t see him. A Telescreen is a television with the face of Big Brother as he watches it citizens. In the space where he can’t be seen, he writes in his journal, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER! DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER! DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!” (Orwell pg 17) Winston is committing thought crime, the most inappropriate type of crime. By doing this Winston is at risk of being captured by the though police. Similar is the case of ambition seen in Little Brother, after Marcus is set free from the DHS he promises to do everything he can to cause trouble to the DHS and the American government for failing to give him his [|constitution] and moral rights. Marcus switches the identities of the people that he is walking by, just to cause as much trouble as he can. Marcus ambitiously works on his computer trying to do whatever he can to succeed in his goal, doing everything he can, starting to round up followers that are willing to pass on the word and do their part. After he is released by the DHS Marcus says, "This is me and them, now. I’ll beat them, I’ll get Darryl. I’m not going to take this lying down.”(Doctorow, pg.74) Marcus makes this promise to not rest until he felt he was even. Although neither fully succeeded in getting what they wanted, their ambition and [|determination] showed how much can be done by just one person's idea and ability to act on it. What one could take from this is the amount of determination and grit it takes to do the most that you can do. This can apply to anything done in life, whether that be a job, project or something else; it takes a certain level of determination to accomplish it. Which has to bring up the question; What if there were a group of Winston's in 1984 and a group of Marcus's in Little Brother, and how much they could have done? And maybe the possibility that they got the liberties that they were fighting for. It would seem clear that if there were more than just Marcus and Winston that they would have had a more successful cause. Yet it shows how powerful one person is. One might be able to apply this to their life by realizing how much power and influence they have.

Another important similarity of these books is the ability of Winston and Marcus to use their skills and knowledge to be their greatest assets in pursuing their liberty and freedom. Winston, in 1984 used the knowledge that he had of the real events in history, because of his job, which was to rewrite history. He was instructed to rewrite it in such a way that it made the world empty, harsh, and evil without Big Brother in their lives, in order to have more support from its citizens. So Winston simply had to open up his eyes and realize that the ideas Big Brother had presented and forced upon the world were, for the most part untrue. Like the [|hate] sessions everyday, where Big Brother tells the people that they need to divert their anger towards a random figure that supposedly poses a great threat to their society. So instead of being mad at Big Brother for all of their troubles they send that anger away to a different source, leaving nothing but love for their government. Yet Winston realizes that if all of the history of the world is fabricated then everything else must be too.” He tried to remember in what year he had first heard mention of Big Brother. He thought it must have been at some time in the sixties, but it was impossible to be certain. In the Party histories, of course, Big Brother figured as the leader and guardian of the Revolution since its very earliest days.” (Orwell Pg. 24) He uses the knowledge he has of the real history and realizes that Big Brother has been lying about the beginning of its existence. Knowing that, he can stay above the lies that are being offered and can focus on his own beliefs. Similar to Winston, Marcus uses his knowledge of how the DHS works and his great ability with [|technology]. After being detained at the DHS holding grounds Marcus grew to learn how powerful and paranoid the department really was, having this in his mind he was able to always remember that everything he said, did, or thought would somehow be seen by the DHS. While Marcus was trying to make a group that opposed the government via the Xnet he and Jolu conclude, “Okay you’re right. But let’s at least try to keep this a secret. Tell them that they can bring a maximum of one person, and it has to be someone they’ve known personally for a minimum of five years.” (Doctorow Pg. 155) With Marcus’ great ability to use computers and other technological devices he could unlock blocked sites, chat with people, and put up things where he shouldn’t have been able to. He could find peoples personal information and switch and steal identities. This gave him great power, using the Xnet. One might learn that using all of your resources and skills will make significantly more effective work and result. If Marcus had chosen not to use his knowledge of computers and seek out his personal freedoms with a different method he might not have been as successful and powerful. What might have happened if Marcus and Winston had a different set of skills and knowledge? Would they still have been able to get as far as they did? They seemed to have the perfect set of skills prior to ever having to face government officials, their skills fit well with the problem that they were trying to solve. They would have had less to work with and a harder time dealing with the government. Both Marcus and Winston were fortunate to have the prior knowledge and skills for them to stand a chance against their powerful governments. One could benefit from this by realizing their own strengths and finding an area that will bring out those skills in an effective way.

“They who give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” ([|Benjamin Franklin] 1707-1790) What Benjamin Franklin is trying to say is: freedom and liberty are some of the most important rights that people deserve, and should never be given up for temporary security. Without the ability to think, do, or say as we want is giving up what makes us humans. This was something that Winston and Marcus both felt were most important to them. Winston felt so controlled by Big Brother and knew that it wasn't always like that. Knowing that there was a better time in the past where this liberty existed kept him seeking it out. Big Brother kept people ignorant and un-unique front the world, they were just working people who didn't have to think about what their opinions were, they just had to trust that Big Brother was always going to get them through everything “War is Peace. [|Freedom is slavery]. Ignorance is Strengh.” (Orwell Pg. 5) It kept the people ignorant and hardworking which is exactly what the government wanted. Winston wanted to have an opinion other than the one presented by the government, that is what he wanted most. Marcus had rights and they were supposed to always be practiced. Yet when he was taken in by the soldiers to the DHS headquarters his freedoms given by the constitution had been violated for the temporary safety of the country. Winston thought that no matter how many rights you take away nobody will ever be completely safe from everything. So if nobody will ever be completely safe then taking away rights is unnecessary and unconstitutional. Marcus quotes the Declaration of Independence during class making a point about the significance of liberty and the people’s role as citizens to step in and make right."Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."(Doctorow pg. 180 & U.S [|Declaration of Independence] 1776) Later that teacher is fired because of the conversation she had brought up which related to the terrorist attack. Simply said, liberty is the most important thing that a person has and every person should cherish and use it, and under no circumstances allow it to be taken away. One can learn from these characters the importance of exercising the given liberty, and taking it as far as possible, in whichever direction one pleases. Now many would argue that in some cases that liberty should be given up in order to keep a situation safer. But they who believe that should ask themselves: If one freedom is taken, then who is to say government and authority will respond with taking of more and more freedoms? This seems very plausible, because most of the time government has an easier time getting done what it wants when its citizens aren’t questioning its motives and ethics. And if the government were to see that its people were willing to sacrifice its liberty, then it would feel motivated to exploit the citizens weaknesses.

1984 and Little Brother both displayed very important messages of ambition, skills, and the importance of Liberty and freedom. Learning from these two characters one can see all of the lessons and themes that can be taken away. The ones who don’t believe Liberty is the most important thing that is given to us consider this: Why would our founding fathers risk their lives to give us the freedoms we have today, if they knew we would simply say that we don’t want to use them?


 * __Works Cited__**

Doctorow, Cory. //Little Brother. // New York: Tom Dougherty Associates, 2008.

Franklin, Benjamin, United States 1707-1790

Orwell, George 1984. New York: New American Library, 1950

//Department of Homeland Security | Preserving Our Freedoms, Protecting America//. Web. 04 Mar. 2010. [].

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