Feed by M. T. Anderson

When I first opened Feed, while wondering if I should buy or rent it from my college bookstore, I was intrigued by the words the narrator used and how they were used. Words such as youch and shit-all and null. I wanted to learn what they meant in the context of the book and was happy to do so once my literature class started to read and discuss the book. I urged myself to discover the meaning of each word that wasn't commonly used in the world outside of the book. But as I continued reading, I found myself fascinated with the idea of the feed, a microchip that was implanted into everyone's brains with which they could access the internet and programs. They had everything before them right inside their head. The narrator, Titus, acted as if that was all he needed in the world and did not like it at all when he was disconnected from the "Feednet." I thought it was such a silly thought he had, but as I continued to read, I realized that in that future America they lived in, the feed was connected to vital parts of the brain, and if the feed broke, their bodies would be negatively affected. Violet, the girl that Titus meets on the moon, learns this the hard way. The feed, as the title would suggest, is a very important part of this novel.

The main theme of Feed is relevant to today's world and how many view the world. The theme that the media controls what people think of the world around them is strongly prevalent in how all the teens only want to have the most popular things. They only wore clothes and hairstyles that were "in" at the time, which constantly changed every week. They don't seem to care how it's disgusting or ugly, like when the lesions on their skin were made into a trend. What was most important to them was how others viewed them from the outside, from their appearance. Teenagers of today can definitely relate to that view.

The way both Titus and Violet viewed the world made them believable characters that teenage readers could relate to. The author convinces us of the values of many of the people of this futuristic world through Titus's perspective. Teenage readers can relate to him because he is a teenager who listens to music, goes to school, and hangs out with friends like any other teenager of our world. Many adolescent readers probably also have the same mentality as him--that they don't care to know about the complications of the world around them. Violet's perspective is the opposite of Titus's. She wants to know the reasons why everything is the way it is, and why she should go along with what the media and everyone else around her says. She wants to learn about the world through first-hand experience, not through some machine that tells her what it's like. However, she still yearns to fit in with the kids around her.

Feed clearly identifies itself as a science fiction novel set in the future. A reader can tell it is set in the future because Titus refers to the times when computers were objects you carried outside of the body, instead of it being implanted in your brain. Titus also mentions upcars, which are cars that hover in the air. He also talks about artificial weather that has become a natural part of his world. Feed is one of few novels that involves a futuristic society that puts twists on the aspects of today's society. It shows how consumerism can go too far in that it can control the value of a person, depending on how marketable they are. The world of the novel is controlled by corporations and education has been devalued. Schools have become institutions where kids learned how to use their feed to its full capabilities, rather than a place of learning about the world. This future society shines a light on how we should feel about today's society.

I think Feed is an excellent novel for teenagers and makes you really think about the world around you. As a writer, I would love to write about worlds that parallel the world one lives in and makes you think about the values of the world. As a reader, I would recommend this novel to those who love to learn about new worlds, their vernacular, and their values.

Works Cited

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2004. Print.