History Literature / LittleBrother

* SocietyMarchesOn: Despite taking place in the near future, it seems that the most modern, technically adept trendy teenagers in San Francisco still use flippy cell phones with hard buttons, rather than touchscreen-based smartphones of the kind everyone and their cat now have. Also, UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden is still alive as the leader of Al-Qaeda, which is still a big threat to the US. This is especially apparent in the sequel, Homeland, featuring references to the Occupy movement and {{Twitter}}, which became ''much'' bigger after the release of Little Brother.

* SocietyMarchesOn: Despite taking place in the near future, it seems that the most modern, technically adept trendy teenagers in San Francisco still use flippy cell phones with hard buttons, rather than touchscreen-based smartphones of the kind everyone and their cat now have. Also, OsamaBinLaden is still alive as the leader of Al-Qaeda, which is still a big threat to the US. This is especially apparent in the sequel, Homeland, featuring references to the Occupy movement and {{Twitter}}, which became ''much'' bigger after the release of Little Brother.

* NextSundayAD: The 17-year-old Marcus mentions being into [[SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] games when he was 7. To be fair, he doesn't say the Dreamcast was ''new'' at the time, but the Xbox Universal and Paranoid Linux are the only blatantly futuristic elements.

''Little Brother'', and its sequel ''Homeland'', are PostCyberPunk novels by Creator/CoryDoctorow. They follow the story of Marcus Yallow, a high school student who forms [[LaResistance a movement]] against the San Francisco [[PoliceState Department of Homeland Security]] [[ItsPersonal for kidnapping his best friend]].

''Little Brother'' can be downloaded or read online [[http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ here]], ''Homeland'' can be downloaded or read online [[http://craphound.com/homeland/download/ here]].

* {{Defictionalization}}: An actual "Paranoid Linux" project has been launched. Sadly, it's now defunct.

* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: ''Homeland'' ends up taking this path. [[spoiler:Marcus gets "fired" from his job with idealistic "perfect senator" Joseph Noss and gives up on "his little fantasy of democratic change" and on trying to work within the system altogether. It is unknown whether Joe Noss won the election in the end, and he gets dumped by Ange (Although they re-unite and get back together in the Epilogue).]]

** ''Homeland'' makes reference to issues very relevant as of its release (early 2013), with political commentary that tends to be critical of [[BarackObama a "progressive" president that allows torture and illegal imprisonment.]]

* [[TheWarOnStraw Strawman]]: Pretty much every adult other than Marcus's Mother, Ms. Galvez, and Trudy Doo [[spoiler: and eventually Marcus's Father]] in ''Little Brother''.

Can be read online [[http://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_Brother.htm here]]; other formats are [[http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ here]].

** Ultimately subverted, after Marcus finally tells everything, Barbara solves the plot in a matter of days.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Marcus gets away with lots of terrorism-related charges, but gets sentenced for stealing a mobile phone.

''Little Brother'' is a PostCyberPunk novel by Creator/CoryDoctorow. It follows the story of Marcus Yallow, a high school student who forms [[LaResistance a movement]] against the San Francisco [[PoliceState Department of Homeland Security]] [[ItsPersonal for kidnapping his best friend]].

* [[spoiler: BigDamnHeroes: Barbara saves Marcus at the last minute near the end of the book.]]
* BittersweetEnding
** [[spoiler: The sequel to Little Brother, Homeland, sort of takes this path as well. Marcus gets "fired" from his job with idealistic "perfect senator" Joseph Noss and gives up on "his little fantasy of democratic change" and on trying to work within the system altogether. It is unknown whether Joe Noss won the election in the end, and he gets dumped by Ange (Although the two may have reunited in the epilogue.). He forsakes living a normal life to live a life of "violence, secrecy, and poverty" with Masha.]]
* BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: the replacement Social Studies teacher, Mrs. Andersen, is described like this.

* ChekhovsGunman: Masha, the girl with the pink hair.
* ComingOfAgeStory
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: The Judge who seems to be the most concerned about stealing the phone.

* CrapsackWorld

* DownerEnding: {{Subverted}}. The police arrive and arrest [[spoiler: Carrie Johnstone]] and the rest of the DHS personnel running the HellholePrison on [[spoiler: Treasure Island]] at the last minute.

** Carrie Johnstone (known for most of Little Brother as "severe haircut lady") essentially is exposed as this and even further becomes this once Marcus decides to not release Johnstone's d0x to the internet in the sequel, Homeland.
* LastMinuteHookup: The last few pages imply both [[spoiler: Darryl/Van and Masha/Zeb]].
* LeetLingo: both of Marcus' nicknames.
* LewdLustChasteSex: The most explicit actions get the least explicit descriptions.
* LoveTriangle: Marcus/Vanessa/Darryl and Vanessa/Marcus/Angela.
* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:Darryl]] takes to muttering "I'm sorry" repeatedly after being held in Gitmo-by-the-bay.
* MoodWhiplash: Done masterfully with the first few chapters. When it begins, it's all about Marcus, the smart kid surrounded by stupid adults and teachers who has the system around his fingertip, and his small band of cool, funny friends and their Alternate Reality Games and their geeky hobbies. Then, just when you start seriously wondering if you might have accidentally picked up one of those young adult books, in a few terrifying and confusing paragraphs everything changes and suddenly Marcus is in prison and his friend is gone and his parents are alienated and the world is changed. Essentially, the reader experiences the same MoodWhiplash Marcus does.

** Interestingly, Tor itself takes on a larger role in the sequel to Little Brother, Homeland.
* [[spoiler: NoNameGiven: Subverted - severe haircut woman is revealed in the epilogue to be named Carrie Johnstone.]]
* ObliviousToLove: Marcus to Vanessa.
* PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher: Two social studies teachers, on very opposite sides of the political spectrum.
* [[spoiler: PreClimaxClimax: Subverted.]]

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Ange exists pretty much so that Marcus would be able to have some booty after Van left him. She falls madly in love with him at first sight, never disagrees with him on anything, is pretty, smart, and sleeps with him after knowing him for about two weeks.

** The sequel, Homeland, devotes several paragraphs to cold-brewed coffee, and begins at the Burning Man Festival.

* [[TheWarOnStraw Strawman]]: Pretty much every adult other than Marcus's Mother, Ms. Galvez, and Trudy Doo.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Though never explicitly stated, the novel is supposed to take place a few years into the future (as of 2008, when it was published). As the author noted in an interview, 95% of the technology in the book already exists, and the other 5% could be developed within five years.
** The sequel makes reference to issues very relevant as of its release (early 2013), with political commentary that tends to be critical of [[BarackObama a "progressive" president that allows torture and illegal imprisonment.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: This is how Vanessa and Marcus' friendship ends. For a while.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: Extreme Haircut Lady and her coworkers are perfectly fine with [[spoiler: water boarding a minor.]]

* [=Strawman=]: Pretty much every adult other than Marcus's Mother, Ms. Galvez, and Trudy Doo.

* TheSmartGirl: Vanessa for the Harajuku Fun Madness game, [[InformedAttribute according to Jolu]].
* StrawMan: Pretty much every adult other than Marcus's Mother, Ms. Galvez, and Trudy Doo.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVillified

''Little Brother'' is a PostCyberPunk novel by CoryDoctorow. It follows the story of Marcus Yallow, a high school student who forms [[LaResistance a movement]] against the San Francisco [[PoliceState Department of Homeland Security]] [[ItsPersonal for kidnapping his best friend]].

* AntiHero: Marcus can be viewed as one.

** [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted, after Marcus finally tells everything, Barbara solves the plot in a matter of days.]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[spoiler: Marcus gets away with lots of terrorism-related charges, but gets sentenced for stealing a mobile phone.]]

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding]]

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The photo of Marcus and his friends cutting class.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Masha, the girl with the pink hair.]]

** [[spoiler:Carrie Johnstone (known for most of Little Brother as "severe haircut lady") essentially is exposed as this and even further becomes this once Marcus decides to not release Johnstone's d0x to the internet in the sequel, Homeland.]]

* ProductPlacement: [[ExaggeratedTrope entire chapters are dedicated to (mostly publishing) companies.]]

* ConversationalTroping: the social studies class is basically this.

* HollywoodHacking: Thoroughly averted.

* SocietyMarchesOn: Despite taking place in the near future, it seems that the most modern, technically adept trendy teenagers in San Francisco still use flippy cell phones with hard buttons, rather than touchscreen-based smartphones of the kind everyone and their cat now have. Also, OsamaBinLaden is still alive as the leader of Al-Qaeda, which is still a big threat to the US.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Justified, Marcus is a 17-year old after all.

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: The Xnet seems to be based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group) Anonymous]].
** No, XNet seems to be based off the DarkNet, networks like Tor, Freenet and I2P. They were connecting onto Tor from what I remember of the novel using a Linux distro for Xboxes.

* SocietyMarchesOn: Despite taking place in the near future, it seems that the most modern, technically adept trendy teenagers in San Francisco still use flippy cell phones with hard buttons, rather than touchscreen-based smartphones of the kind everyone and their cat has now. Also, OsamaBinLaden is still alive as the leader of Al-Qaeda, which is still a big threat to the US.

** Actually a monologue, but Marcus researching Jack Kerouac biography can also count.