Analysis of Little Brother is Watching

How effective is the title?

The title is effective. It’s catchy and invites the reader to keep reading, and for
people who read 1984 is more inviting too. It is a metaphor to say that social
media is always watching.
Summary
Technology has corrupted privacy. In this new digital era, nobody has the
guarantee that their private information is secured. With the creation mobile
phones and social media, people began commenting and publishing in these
platforms without realizing the magnitude of the scope. Sometimes they make
conscious use of this, for example to support someone, to fight for a right, to
achieve fame. However, the problem is that people are constantly being judged
for what they do and the risk of going viral, for immoral behavior, or even for a
mistake, always exists. The new technological devices do not differ from the
telescreens in George Orwell's novel “1984”. The only difference is that instead
of being controlled by Big Brother, one singular organization, individuals are
being watched by a great number of Little Brothers, human beings who are
everywhere waiting for something interesting to post.
Textual patterns
Prevailing: phenomenon example. Commonplace technological gadgets have
been increasingly used to store not only our information but others, leading to a
constant stat of vigilance with no necessary purpose, but with real
consequences. Said outcome may be positive, as in the case of the dancing girl
who rose to fame thanks to her viral video. However, it can also be negative,
such as Tyler Clementi’s case; the young man who jumped to his death after an
intimate video of his was unknowingly recorder and released by a peer.
Textual segments
P3 Phenomenon example: “Tyler Clementi”
P4 Phenomenon example: “Take the young man who taped his girlfriend…”
P3 Comparing relations: “a prying roommate, obsessive prying of a dictatorship”
 little brother vs. big brother.
P5 Phenomenon example: “a video emerged that seemed to show an Israeli
soldier dancing…”
P6 Temporal sequence: “This morning…A moment later…”

Macrofunction of language
Directive: the primarily goal of the article is to bring awareness and a
comparison with a dystopian world and our real world. Orwell predicted a reality
so far from reach yet similar to ours these days. The article focuses on several
examples in which the writer talks about how little brother is everywhere and
how people cannot escape him. Because we cannot escape little brother the
writer tells us “You might as well perform”.

Tenor of discourse
a. relative status: with the reader. Not superior nor inferior.
b. social distance: near minimal. (Contractions (world’s), “us”, phrasal verbs
“shrugged off”, colloquial language, rhetorical questions, etc.” Idioms “turn the
tables” Inclusive we.
c. personalization: underplayed. He talks about examples from other people to
put across his idea and also 1984. He doesn’t bring attention that much to
himself
d. standing: authoritative sources, such as Tyler, the girl, the Irani soldier and
1984. Experience too.
Syntactic devices
Allusion: “Big Brother” P2  George Orwell’s 1984
Blending/coinage: YouTube + utopia.
Antithesis: “for better or for worse” P6

Rhetorical devices
P3 Personification: “The walls had eyes” P6 “The telescreens seem to be
working independently, for some mysterious purpose all their own.
P4 Metaphor: “the intruder” hinting at cameras/telescreens.
P5 Polyptoton: “watching the watchers”  ironic – revengeful
P5 Metaphor: “come to light”  appear on social media.
P6 Simile: “I felt like a voyeur”
P8 Metaphor “deadening stability”  really boring and habitual.
Paradox : “invasional privacy”.
Connotative or figurative language
P2 “Democratize”
P1 “Sterilize”
Primary meaning: to make something clean from bacteria
Peripheral meaning: it is essential to remove defected personalities/behaviors
from society to achieve perfection.
P4 “Beningn”  complimentary associations: harmless
P5 “Numb to its abuses”
Primary meaning: to not be able to feel anything at all from your body.
Peripheral meaning: to be tone-deaf or demeaning.
Tone of the writer critical, contemplative, reflective, pensive. concerned
“Ours is a fragmenterian society”
“but I and the countless Little Brothers like me lack any clear notion of what we
´re after”
Floutings of the cooperative maxims
MANNER: P5 “Abu Ghraib” P6 “I.R.A.”
QUANTITY: “Little brother” “Telescreens”.
Floutings of the politeness principles
Do not impose: “If Tyler Clementi had remembered to do this…” P9
Make the receiver feel good: “he might’ve shrugged off the embarrassment he
suffered” P9