Hooked on YA books 2015 discussion

Feed – When I read the back of the book I thought I was really going to enjoy this book. I love the theory, but I did not like the execution. I found it fast paced, but the new “language” often times had me confused and took me a while to get used to. Right away I was put off by the amount of “commercials” and advertising that was plugged into each persons feed. In addition, I was put off by the lesions forming on people, the fact that they could go and get them done on purpose, and the lack of intelligence to connect the lesions with the feed. Yet, the author did make me dislike Titus at the end when he abandoned Violet. I was mad that he could so easily do that, but at the same time I felt it was real. Not everyone can be as accepting of situations; I found it a defense mechanism or denial. Despite the fact that I did not like this book, it reminded me a lot of “Wall-E” in that people have become kind of lazy and rely on social media and technology instead of themselves. In some instances snippets of the feed implied that some people are rebelling, but the companies are trying to hide it from the masses (and this reminded me of Hunger Games).

I began reading this book and decided to try the audiobook version due to the commercials and the language. It really helped me better understand the attitudes of the young people. Many of the comments that I thought could have been sarcastic actually were genuine due to the overall social attitude of the story. The characters were very needy. This book could also make a very strong social statement with the ideas of government controlling minds, propaganda galore, and a rebel alliance of sorts.

Task 5.1

Titus is meant to represent the future of teenagers, or rather, teenagers of the future. He is sort of a generic teenage boy: his interests lie not in school or academic success, but rather in girls, his friends and partying. As such, the social relationships that are most important to Titus are his cronies - Link and Marty - and the object of his affection, which begins as Violet, transitions over to Quendy, and then questionably circles back to Violet by the end of the book.
The whole novel is about the main character's social relationships; clearly, Titus is a very sociable guy, but it seems as if he defines himself by his friendships, which are kind of lacking in depth, even, in my opinion, by the end of the novel when Titus himself is supposed to have broken through the stereotype and garnered some sort of emotional depth by empathizing with Violet.
Titus' friends don't do him any favors when it comes to breaking the teenage-boy stereotype. They are kind of dumb and their focus' are pretty shallow (girls, mostly). Link is super rich which causes some girls to gravitate to him, despite his being unattractive. What Marty makes up for in looks, he lacks in confidence. Titus doesn't seem to be the odd one out of the group, but Violet thinks he is special.
Violet occupies the role of the most important social relationship in the beginning of the book. When she gets sick and Titus erases her from his feed, he directs his affection toward Quendy. Eventually he makes his way back to Violet and it's implied that she remains the object of his affection. As such, the most important social relationship in the book is arguably whomever Titus' affections are directed towards.

There are several social relations that are important to the characters in Feed, but the one I'd like to focus on here is the relationship that exists among the teen peers in this novel. It is when Tiitus is with his close friends that he first meets Violet. Titus sees his friends as being a very important part of his social life - in fact, it's his friends that create the backdrop of the social relation divisions between Violet (a homeschooled, lower socio-economic teen who is one of the 22% that did not get a Feed at birth) and the 'majority' or the 78% that do get feeds, have hover cars, go to the moon on expensive vacations, and follow the directions of the feed advertisements. Violet reveals to Titus difference by describing her experiences vis-a-vis what he has experienced within his friendship circle. If we extend that circle to include Titus' parents, we see that Titus' was never exposed to any anti-consumerist messages unlike Violet (who through her college-professor Father) she has other ideas of how the world operates. It goes to show that if we keep our social circles insular we, consequently, insulate ourselves from diverse opinions, thoughts, and ideas.

The juxtaposition of having or not having a feed is critical in Titus' relationship with Violet. Titus is born into a world of quick trips to the moon, new transport when you're feeling down, and shop whenever they want for things they don't care about. Violet received her feed later in life because her parents didn't want her to have one and couldn't decide what to do about it. When she finally got one, it was a "cut-rate" model, resulting in her ultimate demise. When Titus meets Violet, their worlds collide in an increasingly challenging and conflicting way. It represents fundamental ideological and socioeconomic rifts in both their relationship and their society. It is only when Titus is exposed to the idea of these differences that he becomes aware of his own entitlement, and therefore becomes a more mature, socially cognizant participant in society.