In Cory Doctorow’s dystopian novel Little Brother, the teenage protagonist is Marcus Yallow.
Marcus is a San Francisco high-school student and skilled computer user. After a terrorist attack, the Department of Homeland Security subjects the city to intensified surveillance and authoritarian security measures. Marcus uses technology, secrecy, and activism to resist the erosion of civil liberties.
The novel examines privacy, government monitoring, encryption, civil disobedience, and the way emergencies can expand state power. Its title alludes to George Orwell’s Big Brother while focusing on a younger generation confronting surveillance.
Marcus is sometimes confused with his online identity, w1n5t0n, or with his friend Darryl, whose disappearance helps drive the story. Those names refer to other aspects of the narrative, not the protagonist’s real name.