Suffering but with Sympathy
In a dystopian novel, characters battle through difficulties in which a reader can empathize with. M.T Anderson’s novel Feed shows how the protagonist Titus mentally declines when the advancements of technology control his humanity. In Matched, Ally Condie’s character Cassia struggles with going against her pre-determined partner and risks losing a chance at a perfect future. When comparing Titus’s constant battle with conforming to society’s normalcies to Cassia’s seemingly innocent love life dilemma in Matched, it is easier for the reader to feel empathy for Titus from Feed as the difficulties in his life are easier to relate to.
In each novel, both characters accept death within their lives in a different way. In Matched, Cassia knowingly faces her grandfather’s “Final Banquet” where he is scheduled to pass away. This is a pre-determined and painless death on his eightieth birthday, as the government studied and found that the best age for all humans to die is at eighty years old.
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Even though Cassia loses someone whom she loves, she shows seldom signs of sorrow or grief when dealing with his death. This is evident when Cassia thinks to herself, “Today is for Grandfather. Tomorrow, things go back to normal again and we will move on and he will be gone.” (70).The comfortability that Cassia exhibits in accepting her grandfather’s death and lack of emotion that she shows makes it difficult for the reader to empathize with a character who does not feel much. On the other hand, Titus from Feed shows a clear struggle when grieving a death in his life. After his ex-girlfriend Violet has her feed completely malfunction, she is on the brink of death with her heart barely beating. As Titus speaks to her unresponsive body, he