Previous
Section 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Minority Report, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Security vs. Liberty
Fate and Free Will
Trust and Paranoia
Summary
Analysis
Anderton and Witwer walk past the Precrime outer office. Inside, Lisa—Anderton’s “slim and attractive young wife”—engages Page in an animated debate on policy. Witwer’s eyes flicker as he sees Lisa. Worrying about his impending apprehension, Anderton begins to think he is being set up: someone in Precrime may have planted the card, or perhaps the data itself was manipulated. In any event, he has 24 hours before the army receives its duplicate copy of the data.
Just as Witwer’s confidence and youth immediately put Anderton on his guard at the beginning of the story, Lisa’s physical attractiveness seems to fuel Anderton’s insecurity in this passage. Anderton is quick to assume there’s some sort of plot to frame him, immediately dismissing the idea that he actually is going to commit a crime—in other words, when the crime has to do with him, rather than any old citizen, Anderton is quick to assume that the system must be flawed. This is actually one of the benefits of Anderton’s mounting paranoia, as it leads him to immediately sniff out trouble, even if it’s unclear who is behind it and why.
Themes
Noticing Witwer’s “admiring scrutiny,” Lisa introduces herself, asking him where he is from. Observing their friendly interaction, Anderton wonders, “Did a covert awareness pass between them?” When Lisa casually invites Witwer to their house for dinner, Anderton leaves the room in a panic. “What on earth has come over you?” she asks as she catches up to him. “I’m getting out,” Anderton tells her, explaining that he is being framed, and that the Senate and Witwer are behind it. Admitting he is now suspicious of her as well, Anderton informs his wife that he will flee the planet for an off-world colony.
On the mere basis of a look, Anderton imagines that Lisa and Witwer secretly acknowledge they know each other, illustrating his growing paranoia. Though he doesn’t even have a shred of concrete evidence, Anderton is quick to concoct a complex plot involving Witwer, Lisa, and the Senate to remove him as Police Commissioner. Just as Anderton was quick to believe that there must be a wrench in the Precrime system, he’s also quick to suspect his wife of major betrayal. In other words, Anderton’s paranoia makes him question everyone and everything—which, the story will go on to show, isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Themes
Frustrated that his wife does not believe him, Anderton thrusts the card at Lisa. Reading it over, she says, “You didn’t look at it closely enough, darling.” Having assumed the card indicated he would murder Witwer, Anderton is surprised to see a name he does not know: Leopold Kaplan.
Anderton’s paranoia often clouds his judgment throughout the story—and in this passage, even clouds his eyesight, as he fails to notice the key detail of the name of the person he’s supposedly going to murder. Meanwhile, Lisa serves as a voice of reason to his paranoia, which begins to paint her in a more favorable and credible light. For much of the story, readers will be pulled along in the ebb and flow of Anderton’s constantly shifting trust as he uncovers who is against him and who is on his side.
Themes
