Blog #24: Fiction Journal Week #5

13. If you were the author, would you have ended the story in a different way? Why? How so?

       If I were the author of Feed I would have went into a totally different direction than the way the actual author did. Meaning I would have given it a more happy or hopeful ending but I guess I'm just a sucker for happy, or in this case happier, endings. But I do believe I would still let Violet die in the end because I think it is critical to the story that she is to die. So anyway to make this story a little bit more hopeful than it actually was I would not have made Titus become a total jerk. Instead I would have made him stick with Violet until the very end and he would finally see the error of his ways and begin to resist the Feed and maybe even join the riots and protests that keep happening on the news. Now I do understand why the author wrote the ending in this way because it was critical to get his point across and I know that not all stories need a happy ending but my God this was just plain depressing and incredibly aggravating to read. I mean she LITERALLY sent him his whole life story and what does he do? He DELETES IT! What kind of human being deletes someones entire life story and then LIES about it right to their face? All she wanted was to enjoy the last moments she had with him and he tossed her aside. Maybe he doesn't have to go and join the protests in the end but at least have him look up that word that Violet's dad told him or something. Give me just a little flicker of hope at least.

Blog #25: Discussion Questions Week #5

Do Titus's actions (and non-actions) in his relationship with Violet strike you as realistic? How do you think you would act if you were in his place.

       I think Titus is a jerk and he is also another more vulgar word that I won't say in fear of getting in trouble. I don't believe what he did was realistic at all because any sane person would be there for her every moment and would try to do as much of her list as possible. But maybe that's the problem because Titus might not be sane or at least not in his right mind. Everyone in Feed seems to be detached, emotionally, from one another. Everyone kinda seems replaceable to them (at least that's how I see it).



1:  Open-Ended  :
Do you think the United States is the only one to blame for the state that the planet is in?
       The U.S. is not the ruler of the world (as much as we like to think we are) and other first world countries can step up and take a stand as well. There always seems to be someone to blame because no one likes to admit it was their own fault.

2:  Theme  :
Near the end of the book people start to disintegrate in a way, what do you think this is meant to symbolize?
       I think it is supposed to mean that as the people of America begin to fall apart so does their grip on power. The truth starts to come out and people finally come to their senses (perhaps a bit too late even) and try to change.

3:  Open-Ended/World Connection  :
In the end of the book other countries are threatening to use nuclear missiles to destroy the U.S. at what other time in U.S. history was something like that happening and why?
       Well first off I think it's a bit ironic that to solve the worlds problems of destroying the planet we are using weapons of mass destruction. This also shows that we tend to act before we think. The other time this happened was during the Cold War. America was trying to spread democracy (even though we're a republic) and because we wanted to police the world some people didn't like us. So there was a constant "I have more/better missiles than you" with Russia and we were at the brink of destruction. So now in Feed our influence (or our negative influence) has spread across the world too much and now we are paying the price.

Fiction Blog #4

5. Describe and explain why you would/would not like to have lived in the time or place of the story.

       I definitely would NOT want to live in the future America that Titus lives in and I think it is pretty obvious why I wouldn't. Well the first thing is that all the people in this world sound and act stupid. It's as if the entire population of the United States became entirely made of clueless rich kids (I know not all rich people are dumb but you know what I mean) who are incredibly spoiled and have become the embodiment of instant gratification. They don't want to take responsibility about anything and don't think about the future. But the other reason I would not want to live in that time is because the world (or maybe just America?) is dying. The surface in unlivable, the ocean smells (apparently), whales need protective coating to live in the ocean, and I can only assume the o-zone is practically non-existent. I'm all for the progression of technology but not at the cost of the environment. I wonder why the other countries haven't already nuked the United States because it seems as though it was all their fault. But then that is an interesting question doesn't it? Why didn't they stop America? The book makes it seem like America is the only one to blame but really if the rest of the world really cared about the environment then they would have put a stop to them a long time ago. The U.S. can't be the only one that screwed up because there are plenty of first world countries on the planet that were probably almost as bad as they are. In this world it seems that the entire world stopped caring and when they realized what was going on they needed someone to blame. The U.S. is not innocent by any means but it seems as though they were not the only ones to blame.

Book Discussion Prep: Week #3

Why does Violet want to be "normal" like Titus and his friends? What exactly is normal?

       Violet wants to be normal for the same reason anyone wants to be "normal" because she wants to fit in. She doesn't want to be on the outside looking in (HA! A Catcher in the Rye reference hahaha) she wants to be part of everything, she wants to be able to blend into the crowd to not have people see her as weird or different, she wants to be included into her society, and she just wants to be like everyone else. But what is normal? Well to Violet and Titus and the gang being normal is having lesions, wearing the latest fashion, and having the feed. But normal is really never a defined thing because what was normal years ago could be seen as weird now. The perfect example of this is fashion trends because one thing about being normal is looking normal. Think about it; in movies that take place in the past or future for example a movie to take place in the 70's has to have people wearing 70's fashion because that is what was normal to wear back then. If they wore today's clothes in that kind of movie it wouldn't make sense. So just like fashion is never the same neither is the idea of "normal" because it is really just about what is common at that moment in time.


Questions:

1:  World  :
What do you think is the significance of Violet purposefully waiting to open packages and other things she orders? What is the author trying to say about society?
       Its supposed to represent how we are a society of instant satisfaction and how we always want things and want them now. We become less and less patient and we expect instant results.
2:  Open  :
Even though Violet openly resists the feed why do you think she still has it? What is holding her back?
       I think its because she still feels a need to fit in with Titus and his friends. But there is the thought that maybe she can't get it removed. Maybe the feed once it's in it's there permanently. Can you even surgically have it removed or will it cause some sort of damage?
3:  Universal  :
What do you believe the feed is supposed to represent about human nature?
       It's supposed to represent our follow the leader mentality (I don't know if that's a real thing but I'm saying it is) and how we always just do what everyone else is. And the reason we don't stray from that is because we are afraid of anything different. We fear what others would think and mentally we are beaten into submission to do what others do. Kinda like monkey see, monkey do.

Fiction Journal Week #3----Blog #20

12. Why do you think the author wrote this story?

       I believe the author had written this story for many reasons. The first obviously being that they do not like the way we are growing up in our generation. Mainly the fact that we are so electronically addicted to things and we can't seem to function without them. I personally wouldn't care if my power were to go out at my house or if I broke my phone because I can live without one (I could live without my cellphone that is but I do need my house). With so much technology ruling our everyday lives when the power shuts down so do we. We are living simpler lives and just expect things to be handed to us because we haven't had to work as hard as generations before us did. But the reason why I think the author wrote the story in the future instead of the present is because they wanted to have us see what we look like to them; a bunch of incapable kids following the latest trend. The author also wanted us too see how the environment could turn out if we keep following the same path we have for years. Soon we won't be able to visit the beach without a bio-hazard suit (well not soon but sometime in the future...distant future...or hopefully not at all) or breath air from an oxygen machine or have to live up in the sky surrounded by domes (I'm wondering if they got the idea from The Jetsons?).

Book Discussion Prep: Week #2

The word "school" is followed by a TM and capitalized throughout the novel. What is the significance and what is the state of education?


       In a world that has become completely materialized it is no surprise that the school system has become privately owned by someone. We don't quite know who owns School TM but I guess that doesn't matter because the real problem is that someone owns and profits from school. Sure some people do that now but this is for all school or even when the word school is mentioned. And the other problem with this is that now whoever owns school can treat it like any other product out there. They could cut it's funding if it is not profitable enough and they can control it like their own puppet. They could also teach things the way they want it taught or even not teach certain things at all. For example if it where owned by someone who was very religious they could not teach the theory of evolution or any lesson that does against their beliefs. The state of education is very bad if it is owned by someone who would abuse their power over the education system.


Questions:

1:  Open-Ended  :
When Titus is looking at the painting of the boat, on page 49, he makes an observation about the painting saying he feels like the boat with no one on board to look at the horizon. What do you think Titus means by this?
     
      I think what he means is that he is the boat out on the water free from the shore (feed) and he finally begins to see the world with his own eyes (horizon) but there is no one on board, with him, to see the world because they still need the feed.

2:  World Connection  :
On page 72 Titus and the gang get back their feeds and when they get it back they dance, "Hand in hand, we danced," (72). What does this say about the feed and what does this say about mankind?
     
       I think it means that the feed has become like a drug; they form a habit and eventually get addicted to it and they think they can't live without it. But what I think it says about us is that we as humans don't like change and we don't like to change the way we live. This lifestyle is what gets us addicted to these kinds of things.

3:  Closed Ended  :
When Violet suggests that her and Titus should shop for random stuff to confuse the feed they run into a store clerk who tells them a story about how he thinks he saw cockroaches all over the tops of the house domes. This along with the people telling stories about the last forests falling what can you conclude about the state the world is in?
     
       I think this means that nature is practically extinct and the world is covered in man made cities and homes and the environment is probably becoming less and less healthy as time goes on. Perhaps that is why everyone has lesions?

Fiction Journal Week #2

10.

       The narrator of Feed is Titus; a carefree teen who, like everyone else, is connected to the feed and can't seem to live without it (this is only metaphorical of course). Using Titus is an interesting choice to tell the story though because to me he would not have been my first choice as a narrator. In reality my first choice would obviously have been Violet because she is the one who is always trying to go against the feed in her own way . Even though she is connected to the feed as well she is seeing the error in her ways and rebels by, "trying to create a customer profile that's so screwed, no one can market to it," (Anderson 98). But the problem with Titus narrating is that he is a little too dumb to understand some of her concepts, "I stared at her for a minute...I waited for an explanation. She didn't tell me any more," (Anderson 98). So if we heard the story through Violet's perspective I think we would understand her logic even more. But maybe this was intentional; maybe the author knew that Violet was the obvious choice and decided to go against the grain and rebel in their own way. So does all of this make Titus the wrong choice? Yes. But just because he's the "wrong" it doesn't mean that Titus is a "bad" choice.It is still very interesting to see him slowly transform from a mindless follower into a free thinker. It's intriguing to see this book from the consumer's point of view.