M. T Anderson's Feed Analysis

“The internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life” (Andrew Brown). Andrew Brown is a writer that sees the advances in technology, leaving a negative impact on society. He shares this opinion with many others. His quote really relates to this book, the characters in Feed barely speak through their mouths, instead they chat each other through the feed. People in the novel become isolated and lead a separate life while on the feed. M. T. Anderson is a famous American author that uses his novel Feed to show his many growing concerns with the advancements in technology and its’ impact on society. Feed is seen through the eyes of Titus, a teenage boy that has constant internet access and

Since Violets family is in the lower class, she is the only family member that has a feed because they targeted to “everyone” but they only end up with the wealthy or someone in Violet’s rare case. Many lower class people are sticking with undesired jobs (garbage, cleaning, etc.) because most cannot afford the feed. Those with the feed have the advantage over those without the feed in society. “You try to have fun like a normal person…just for one night you want to live…” (Anderson 53). Titus and his friends go to the moon, this is something the upper class does. Violet (lower class-middle class) travels to the moon at the same time after saving her money for a year, she meets Titus and his friends and instantly feels like she is normal because she is hanging out with upper class people and she has a feed. This is everything she thinks she wants, until she and her new friends, go out partying and get their feeds hacked. This causes all of their feeds to malfunction and are forced to “unplug” from the internet. For what feels like forever for Titus and his friends (really only a couple of days) and they become bored out of their minds. This is normal for Violet since she knows what it is like to be without the feed. Without the feed, the societal classes go in the reverse order (upper, middle, lower), because those that live without it need to retain

George Orwell’s 1984 shares many similarities with Feed. 1984 is about Winston Smith that is a low class member in Oceania, London (controlled by Big Brother). Everywhere there are cameras watching you, there is NO privacy. The language has even changed, the words that even promote bad or rebellious thoughts, have been erased from the dictionary. Winston begins to rebel by having rebellious thoughts. In the end he learns to love Big Brother. In this book, technology is far more advanced than today, it ultimately leads the same path as Feed. Society is brainwashed, controlled and under constant surveillance. “Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (Orwell 3-4). In 1984, telescreens are everywhere, they speak, record, and scan all areas within its reach. These are designed to spy on people, never allowing anyone to ever be alone, lessening the number of people that will rebel against Big Brother. Society is constantly around technology (not much of a choice), people are thought police that will see that you are guilty of committing a thought crime (thinking any bad thought against Big Brother). In this novel, thoughts are not private anymore. “Someone was poking my