The Minority Report

by

Philip K. Dick

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Witwer Character Analysis

Witwer is Anderton's new assistant and future replacement. He is young, handsome, and confident, which makes Anderton incredibly insecure and puts him on the defensive from the moment they first meet, certain that Witwer is after his job. Anderton’s paranoia intensifies when Witwer briefly interacts with Lisa in a friendly manner, giving rise to Anderton’s suspicions that they are both involved in a Senate plot to remove Anderton from his position. Lisa attempts to be the voice of reason, pointing out to Anderton that Witwer believes in the value of Precrime, has good intentions, and is not involved in any sort of twisted plot to steal Anderton’s job. Playing into Anderton’s fears, though, Fleming tells Anderton that Witwer and Lisa are indeed plotting together, leaving Anderton terribly confused as to who he can trust. Over the course of the story, Witwer loses his initial over-confidence, realizing that he does not fully grasp what is transpiring because he doesn’t have Anderton’s wisdom and experience. For example, Witwer permits Kaplan to make a copy of the precognitive tapes, not realizing Kaplan’s plot until Anderson explains it to him. At the end of the story, Witwer indeed has Anderton’s job—in the wake of killing Kaplan, Anderton has to flee the planet—but Witwer is no longer so sure of himself. In their final exchange, Anderton informs Witwer that, as the new head of Precrime, he must watch out for the same predicament. Although Witwer initially makes Anderton feel paranoid and old and insecure, Witwer later functions to reinforce Anderton’s superior understanding of precognitive dynamics.

Witwer Quotes in The Minority Report

The The Minority Report quotes below are all either spoken by Witwer or refer to Witwer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Security vs. Liberty Theme Icon
).
Section 1 Quotes

“You’ve probably grasped the basic legalistic drawback to precrime methodology. We’re taking in individuals who have broken no law.”

Related Characters: John Anderton (speaker), Witwer
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 2 Quotes

“I’m being framed—deliberately and maliciously. This creature is out to get my job. The Senate is getting at me through him.”

Related Characters: John Anderton (speaker), Witwer, Lisa
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 5 Quotes

“…unanimity of all three precogs is a hoped-for but seldom-achieved phenomenon, acting-Commissioner Witwer explains. It is much more common to obtain a collaborative majority report of two precogs, plus a minority report of some slight variation, usually with reference to time and place, from the third mutant. This is explained by the theory of multiple-futures. If only one time-path existed, precognitive information would be of no importance, since no possibility would exist, in possessing this information, of altering the future.”

Related Characters: John Anderton, Witwer
Related Symbols: Precogs
Page Number: 240
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 7 Quotes

“You’ve convinced me that you’re innocent. I mean, it’s obvious that you won’t commit a murder. But you must realize now that the original report, the majority report, was not a fake. Nobody falsified it. Ed Witwer didn’t create it. There’s no plot against you, and there never was. If you’re going to accept this minority report as genuine you’ll have to accept the majority one, also.”

Related Characters: Lisa (speaker), John Anderton, Witwer
Related Symbols: Precogs
Page Number: 245
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 10 Quotes

Each report was different,” Anderton concluded. “Each was unique. But two of them agreed on one point. If left free, I would kill Kaplan. That created the illusion of a majority report. Actually, that’s all it was—an illusion. ‘Donna’ and ‘Mike’ previewed the same event—but in two totally different time-paths, occurring under totally different situations.”

Related Characters: John Anderton (speaker), Kaplan, Witwer
Related Symbols: Precogs
Page Number: 259-260
Explanation and Analysis:
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Witwer Quotes in The Minority Report

The The Minority Report quotes below are all either spoken by Witwer or refer to Witwer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Security vs. Liberty Theme Icon
).
Section 1 Quotes

“You’ve probably grasped the basic legalistic drawback to precrime methodology. We’re taking in individuals who have broken no law.”

Related Characters: John Anderton (speaker), Witwer
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 2 Quotes

“I’m being framed—deliberately and maliciously. This creature is out to get my job. The Senate is getting at me through him.”

Related Characters: John Anderton (speaker), Witwer, Lisa
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 5 Quotes

“…unanimity of all three precogs is a hoped-for but seldom-achieved phenomenon, acting-Commissioner Witwer explains. It is much more common to obtain a collaborative majority report of two precogs, plus a minority report of some slight variation, usually with reference to time and place, from the third mutant. This is explained by the theory of multiple-futures. If only one time-path existed, precognitive information would be of no importance, since no possibility would exist, in possessing this information, of altering the future.”

Related Characters: John Anderton, Witwer
Related Symbols: Precogs
Page Number: 240
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 7 Quotes

“You’ve convinced me that you’re innocent. I mean, it’s obvious that you won’t commit a murder. But you must realize now that the original report, the majority report, was not a fake. Nobody falsified it. Ed Witwer didn’t create it. There’s no plot against you, and there never was. If you’re going to accept this minority report as genuine you’ll have to accept the majority one, also.”

Related Characters: Lisa (speaker), John Anderton, Witwer
Related Symbols: Precogs
Page Number: 245
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 10 Quotes

Each report was different,” Anderton concluded. “Each was unique. But two of them agreed on one point. If left free, I would kill Kaplan. That created the illusion of a majority report. Actually, that’s all it was—an illusion. ‘Donna’ and ‘Mike’ previewed the same event—but in two totally different time-paths, occurring under totally different situations.”

Related Characters: John Anderton (speaker), Kaplan, Witwer
Related Symbols: Precogs
Page Number: 259-260
Explanation and Analysis: