Feed (novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page. It reads like a personal reflection or essay. Tagged since March 2009. It may need copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. Tagged since March 2009. It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since March 2009.

Feed
Author	Matthew Tobin Anderson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Miramax Books
Publication date	2002
Media type	print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	320
ISBN	ISBN 0763622591 ISBN 978-0763622596

Feed (2002) is a dystopian novel of the postcyberpunk genre by M. T. (Matthew Tobin) Anderson. The story revolves around a teenage boy and his relationship with a girl with a vastly different world perspective. They live within a futuristic world where technology has merged electronics and telecommunications with the human mind, something which plays a major role in the novel. The book is a dark satire about corporate power, consumerism, information technology, and data mining in society. Their life revolves around advertising, and the Feed does everything for them.

The story depicts a future in which the Internet has evolved into the "Feednet"; a computer network to which the brains of American citizens are directly connected by means of an implanted computer chip called a "Feed", which about 73 percent of Americans have set in their brain. Privacy has become a thing of the past; Corporations are free to monitor and manipulate citizens' thoughts, people's thoughts are interrupted by the mental equivalent of pop-up ads, sometimes to a debilitating degree, and the government can even subpoena one's memories. The corporations and conglomerates responsible for the feed participate in data mining by monitoring the purchases and interests of those with the feed, and using this information to fit individuals into consumer profiles. People can "M-Chat" each other (a form of evolved Instant Messaging) on closed channels, effectively creating a form of telepathy. In addition, the Feed chip is implanted at such an early age that it actually takes over the running of many brain functions as the child matures. As a result, certain sites on the Feednet allow users to go "In Mal"; deliberately cause their feed chips to malfunction, causing physical and mental sensations similar to some illegal drugs.

The natural environment has also undergone extensive damage; atmospheric conditions no longer allow the natural formation of clouds and the sky is filled with artificial Clouds™ and the ocean has become so acidic that whales are sheathed in plastic coverings. Sexual reproduction is no longer possible, and babies are made in-vitro to the specifications of the parents.

The corporations responsible for the Feed have an immense power in the future America. They run the school system, which is now known as School™. Throughout the book, they appear to hold the true power in America, leaving the president virtually helpless as the Global Alliance, a coalition of countries, threatens to go to war with them.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters 3 Style 4 Awards and nominations 5 Sources 6 Reviews 7 Cultural references

[edit] Plot summary

The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (June 2009)

While spending Spring Break on the moon, Titus and his friends meet Violet Durn, a strange young woman who they invite to go partying with them. While at a club called the Rumble Spot, a man from an anti-feed organization hacks their feeds, causing them to uncontrollably spout anti-feed slogans before going unconscious. They wake up in a hospital, unable to use their feeds. Since they have nothing else to do, Violet and Titus begin to talk. Violet brings Titus with her to a garden where a hole in space can be seen straightening the dead plants. Titus says, "It's like a squid in love with the sky," and Violet kisses Titus. They begin a relationship. After several days, their feeds are brought back online and they go back to Earth.

Titus's and Violet's relationship deepens once they return to Earth. When at the mall with Titus one day, Violet displays the first signs of her anti-feed tendencies. She plans to show interest in an array of random items in hopes that it will make it impossible for the feed (and the corporations behind it) to fit her into a consumer profile. Titus happily goes along with her plan, though he does not fully understand Violet's desire, and afterward they laugh at the way Violet's feed offers up confused information.

After the break, Titus returns to School™. He finds himself going through a phase of depression caused by feelings of inferiority to Violet and accentuated by poor marks in School™. Noticing this, his parents try to cheer him by buying him a new upcar. Titus, Violet, and Titus' father go to the upcar store. Violet tells Titus that the feed hacker died from the bludgeoning given to him by the police. At dinner, Titus and his father argue over whether Titus needed to know this. Near the end of the dinner, Violet whispers to Titus that her foot has stopped working, explaining that her feed had been much more severely damaged in the attack than the others' and it is affecting her control over her own body.

The following day, Titus and Violet go on a day-trip to Beef Country. Titus picks Violet up at her house, where he meets her father for the first time. On the way home, Violet asks Titus how he would like to die, saying she has been thinking about it a lot. Titus chooses sensory overload, and asks whether Violet will be around to pull his plug. She says that she will.

Titus has nightmares of riots, pollution, and oppression before being woken up by Violet, who shared a similar dream. Though Titus does not know it, Violet realizes that someone, most likely the Coalition of Pity, has been accessing her personal information. She calls FeedTech customer service, but is presented with an artificial intelligence named Nina that is of no help.

Soon after, the Coca-Cola Company holds a promotion where free Coke is awarded to people who talk about it to their friends a lot. Titus, Marty, Link, Calista, Loga, Quendy, and Violet all get together, planning to rip off the company by talking about Coke for a several hours. Calista, Loga, and Quendy show up in "riot gear" clothing based on various 20th century riots. Because Violet gives an intelligent comment on Coke's carbonation, the other girls make fun of her. Ultimately, everyone ends up thirsty for Coke, and leave to get some. Still angry at the remarks of the others, Violet tells Titus to take her away. Titus does so, grudgingly. On the way home, they fight in the car. Violet tells Titus that her feed is severely malfunctioning, and she may well die. They reconcile, and go to Titus' house. Because Violet expresses interest in experiencing many things before she dies, Titus and Violet go to the ocean. Various parts of Violet's body are shutting down periodically at this point.

The next day at School™, Calista is seen to have got an artificial lesion, which Link finds very attractive. This angers Quendy greatly, and she calls it stupid. Titus invites Violet to a party, before revealing to Violet that Link is a genetic clone of Abraham Lincoln, created as part of a "secret patriotic experiment."

At the party, Titus and his friends are shocked to see Quendy, who has engaged in "birching", a process in which small artificial lesions are made all over the body. Titus and Violet are repulsed, Calista is angry, and Link and Marty both find it sexy. Violet is extremely disturbed, so Titus takes her upstairs to the attic where he once played Sardines as a child, and describes the feeling of walking through an empty house, knowing everyone is aware of your every move, without knowing where they are. Violet interprets this is an analogy for the fall of America, and feels better, though Titus is unaware of the significance of what he has said. They return downstairs, where the others are playing Spin the Bottle. Marty gets Violet, but before he can kiss her, Violet bursts out a tirade, possibly initiated by her deteriorating feed. She calls Quendy a monster, and criticizes Titus' friends for playing games while their skin is falling off. After exhausting her breath, she collapses and is taken to the hospital.

At the hospital, Titus meets Violet's father again. He is shown a place where he can monitor Violet's feed efficiency, which would be at 98% for a normal person. Hers is at 52.9%, but goes up to 87.3% after she is treated. When Titus is allowed to see her, they have an awkward conversation, before Titus leaves. In the aftermath of the malfunction, Violet loses memories of the year before she got the feed installed. To avoid losing more memories, she makes large records of things she can remember, and sends them to Titus. Overwhelmed, Titus does not watch them, and deletes them at the end of the day. Violet's body parts shut down more and more often. Because they cannot afford to pay themselves, she and her father petition FeedTech for free repairs.

Violet sends Titus a list of things she wants to do. The first few items represent things she would like to do with Titus, including dancing, going to the mountains, and visiting Fort Wayne. After that, her list becomes more fantastical, describing an ideal life in which she does not have the feed and is actually from Fort Wayne. She wants to grow old and have grandchildren with Titus, retire by a lake, and have a dog named Paine. The second to last item may be an attack on Titus. In it, Violet says that she wants to not remember what will actually happen, which includes Titus standing by her bed, waiting until he has been there long enough to be a good person. Titus does listen to the whole thing, but not at once.

At Link's house, Titus, Marty, and Link decide to go into mal. Though Titus says he was in mal shortly before the book begins, this is the first time he has done it since meeting Violet, probably because Violet does not like mal. Somehow, the three end up at the mall, and discuss Violet's list in a change room. Violet calls Titus, and is angry at him, particularly because he is unaware of the environmental disaster that happened that morning in Mexico. Though the details are never given, some sort of toxic waste seems to have engulfed a number of villages there, and the Global Alliance is prepared to go to war with the United States. Titus decides to drive to her house. As the mal wears off, he becomes sleepy. While he sleeps, Violet gives him further bad news in the form of a memory of that morning.

Violet's leg froze up as she was going downstairs, and she fell. At this time, Nina, from FeedTech responded to the request for free repairs Violet and her father made earlier. FeedTech decided not to help Violet because of her strange customer profile - something brought about by resisting the feed. Nina offered to go shopping with Violet to help her form a viable consumer profile, but Violet tells her to fuck off.

That weekend, Violet comes to Titus' house to ask him to go to the mountains. He is reluctant at first, but ultimately agrees. Violet's father does not want her to see Titus anymore, so she is avoiding him. They stay at a cheap hotel. That evening, Violet tries to have sex with Titus, but Titus refuses, telling her that he keeps imagining her already dead. They criticize each other's lifestyles, and break up. On the way home, Violet's arm stops working and Titus considers apologizing, but does not. As Violet gets out of the car back home, her legs fail, and she falls over.

The next day, Violet apologizes to Titus over the feed, but Titus does not answer. The summer as Titus sees it then unfolds. He and Quendy start going out, and he goes on a trip to Io with Link and Marty. However, the lesions get so bad that people are nearly skinless, and everyone's hair falls out. Marty gets a "speech tattoo" that forces him to say "Nike" every sentence. A glitch in the feed then causes people to freeze in place, something like Violet. Titus thinks of her for the first time in a while. In late summer, Titus finds that his new car is no longer cool, which makes him feel "tired."

Near summer's end, Titus' father returns from a corporate getaway. He shows memories of the whaling expedition to his family, but cuts them short when he begins staring at a female co-worker's chest and getting sexual feelings. As Titus' parents fight, Titus receives a message from Violet's father saying that Violet wanted Titus to know when it was "all over," and that this time has come.

Titus goes to Violet's house where Violet is comatose and bedridden. Her father tells Titus stories of her decline intended to make Titus feel bad. He blames Titus, because it was he who took her to the Rumble Spot, where the damage occurred. Titus denies responsibility, saying that she wanted to live. In response, her father shows him memories of parts of her body and brain shutting down, the pain she experienced, and the reality of her current state of incontinence. He then tells Titus to be with the eloi. Titus asks what that means, and he tells him to look it up. They fight, and Titus goes home. In unbearable guilt and grief, he sits on his floor naked. When a banner ad for jeans comes on, Titus orders pair after pair until he has no money left at all.

Some time later, Titus goes to visit her again. He does not speak to her father, but instead tells her "stories" - little one-sentence bits of news and trivia that were all he was able to find in the vastness of the information available over the feed. Finally, he tells her the story of their relationship in the form of a movie trailer. The book ends in a sorrowful tone, with a commercial for the blue jean warehouse that ends with "everything must go."

Though Titus is largely unaware of it, the America of the book is rapidly collapsing, a decline that mirrors that of Violet. In some ways, Violet represents what the author believes America should stand for. Just as Violet does not quite die in the book (the last chapter being called 4.6%), it is never explicitly stated that America ends, though the damage, like the damage to Violet, is likely completely unrepairable. The world may also end as a result of America's actions, with the severe damage to the health of the general population and enormous ecological disasters. Meanwhile, Titus, the consumer, and Anderson's image of what America is becoming ignores and distances himself from Violet to avoid hearing what she has to say. The book ends on a very pessimistic note.

[edit] Characters

Titus

The narrator and protagonist. Titus is the teenage son of an upper middle class family. Though glimmers of curiosity and creativity can be seen from time to time throughout the story, Titus, for the most part, is content with his consumerist lifestyle.

Violet

Violet remains Titus' girlfriend for most of the book. She was raised by her eccentric father, and was homeschooled. She possesses views at odds with what Titus has known all his life. She is significantly less well off than Titus, which often leads her to criticize Titus and his friends.

Marty

One of Titus' fiends. Marty is described as being good at any game. He can be loud and obnoxious at times.

Link

Another friend of Titus. Link is the clone of Abraham Lincoln. Titus describes him as "tall and butt-ugly." He is also said to be much richer than Titus, and lives in a gated community. Calista and Quendy compete for his attention throughout the book.

Calista

Calista is outspoken and opinionated. She has an ability to manipulate others with a combination of looks and talk. She is often the one to start one of the fights she and the other characters have with Violet.

Loga

Before the time of the story, Loga and Titus were going out. Though they are now broken up, they are still friends. Loga is tho only one of the group who is not hacked at the Rumble Spot.

Quendy

Titus describes Quendy as a "broken little economy model of Calista. She spends much of the story in a bout of one-upmanship with Calista over Link. When Link chooses Calista over her, she begins to make advances on Titus, and they end up going out. In the final scene, when Titus visits Violet to tell her "stories," he says he was on his way for a date with Quendy.

Titus' Father (Steve)

A powerful banker. Steve and Titus seem to have a normal father-son relationship, with both ups and downs. Near the end of the story, it is suggested that Steve may be having an affair.

Titus' Mother

Titus mother works in the fashion industry. She often seems frazzled.

Titus' Brother

His real name is never given, and he is referred to exclusively as "Smell Factor" throughout the story. His age is unclear, but he appears very immature most of the time.

Violet's Father

A professor in a world that has devalued learning. He teaches programming languages in a historical context. He speaks almost exclusively with an absurdly formal vocabulary, which is alien to Titus. Though he does not have a feed, he uses a "Feedpack," which seems to have similar properties, but which is not implanted in his brain.

[edit] Style

M.T. Anderson presents the novel in a first-person narrative through Titus. Titus's perspective plays a significant role in implicitly explaining the conditions of society—he speaks in the contemporary vernacular, and expresses apathy towards the political events occurring around him, and detests learning anything more in school than he has to. This is contrasted by Violet's apparent concern of current events and curiosity of history and other cultures. It also allows the reader to see how the Feed affects Titus's thoughts, in a parody of the modern media and commercial marketing to teens of today. Profanity is used freely, even by older characters like Steve or the President. In addition, the story's narrative is often interrupted with the text of commercials for consumer products, Feedcasts, and other such things. In fact, the book ends with a rather ominous ad for a denim store. This element adds texture to the book, as well as being a reminder of the nature of Titus' commercial-riddled life.

[edit] Awards and nominations

• Finalist 2002 National Book Award for Young People's Literature [1]
• Winner 2003 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction ballsook.com/bghb2003.shtml
• Winner 2003 Golden Duck Awards Hal Clement Award for Young Adults [2]
• Nominee 2005–2006 Green Mountain Book Award [3]

[edit] Sources

• Elizabeth Bullen and Elizabeth Parsons, Dystopian Visions of Global Capitalism: Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines and M.T. Anderson's Feed, Children's Literature in Education, published online 7 March 2007
• Blasingame, James. "An Interview with M.T. Anderson." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Newark: Sep. 2003. Vol. 47, Iss. 1; pg. 98.
• Blasingame, James Jr. "Feed." English Journal. Urbana: Sep 2003. Vol. 93, Iss. 1; pg. 81.
• Hepperman, Christine M. "Feed." The Horn Book Magazine. Boston: Jan/Feb. 2004. Vol 80, Iss. 1; pg. 26.

[edit] Reviews

• Slashdot

[edit] Cultural references

• Violet's father briefly mentions the Eloi of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine