“Password
Protected” describes Julia, the narrator, dealing with the death of her
brother. It focuses on social media’s ability to both connect and disengage
people, as the narrator used Facebook to keep in touch with her brother when he
was alive, but after his death uses it to enable her passive and escapist
tendencies. The story also examines the effects of disease and loss on
families. Julia seems lost without her brother.
I really liked Julia as a character. While she clearly
cares about her brother and was appalled by the Facebook suicide, she still
possesses faults. After all, she didn’t help the person about to kill
themselves, despite her apparent concern, and she seems much more interested in
the Internet than in reality. I also liked her desire for privacy, especially
since she is so interested in the lives of other people. It could be worthwhile
to play this up more. I also liked the change Julia undergoes is not
necessarily positive. Thomas’ death has left her much more disengaged. I like
that the story moves along consistently, even though Julia is using a computer.
The flashbacks work well.
I think more tension might help this piece. Julia’s
character engaged me, but she did not seem much different at the end of the story
as she did at the beginning, and there is not much visible contrast between
flashback-Julia and present-Julia. The suicide note feels like the main
conflict, but the story does not spend too much time on it. It seems like Julia’s
passivity would conflict with her own experiences with death, but she denies
any ability to help the note-writer at all.
Having
more flashbacks with Thomas could improve the story. We get see his relationship
with Julia, but I never felt like I had a solid insight into his personality.
Adding more detail to Thomas would make his death more meaningful and let us
understand Julia’s mourning. Also, seeing Julia and Thomas interact with their
parents could give us some more perspective on the effects of his illness on
the family.
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