Essay Questions

How does the motif of anxiety become evident in 'The Minority Report and Other Stories’?

Anxiety makes people do outrageous things to safeguard their interests regardless of the effects of their actions. Anderton is anxious that his job is at stake, and he might lose it at any time because of his age. He is fearful that his assistant, Witwer, will take his job any time soon. Anderton tells Witwer to forget about inheriting his position because he will not retire tomorrow, next year, or in ten years. He also goes ahead to murder Kaplan to prove that he superior in his system, and nobody can shake him. The author illustrates that anxiety can make people brave and do anything to retain their power.

What is the mockery of Kaplan’s murder?

The reader fails to comprehend how one makes up his mind to kill to retain authority. However, some readers might interpret Kaplan's murder by Anderton as a noble course. According to the precogs, Anderton is a killer, but he accuses Kaplan of being against the premonition scheme. In reality, Anderton is doing everything possible to retain his job, and that is why he is killing Kaplan to scare Witwer. They believe that they can easily take his top position, power, and high societal recognition. Anderton is not ashamed to reveal later that he protracted his job and life status in society by killing Kaplan. Therefore, Kaplan's murder is a mockery in this book because no individual is justified to kill to serve personal interests.

What is the symbolic meaning of the minority report, as described in the book ‘The Minority Report and Other Stories’?

The author is trying to reveal to the reader that the majority is not always right. Mostly, the majority have their way, and the minority can have only had a say. The reader realizes that the minority report contains Anderton's truth because it provides a predictive future in which he will not commit a crime. The majority report that predicts the death of Kaplan is false. Since Anderton knows what he wants, he leans on the minority report that tells the truth about him.