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The similarities between Feed by M.T. Anderson and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are uncanny. Both set in a time of the future, these utopian societies have no room for individuality or boredom. Just as the feed keeps the civilians occupied, soma keeps those in Brave New World distracted, “Why don’t you take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly” (Huxley 92). Soma didn’t bring joy to the people in Brave New World however, it simply made them not feel. This contrasts with Feed because love was not suppressed in this futuristic society, “I was like, you know I...I really like you,” Titus tells Violet (181). Despite being utopias, both of these societies are clearly unstable due to the rebellion that is seen from the characters in the novels. John the Savage has the courage to spark a rebellion as does the Coalition of Pity in Feed. Neither protagonists in either book come out victorious however, John’s attempts at fighting the system lead to his suicide and Violet’s attempt at fighting the feed leads to her complete deterioration. Children in Brave New World are “conditioned” to be distanced from their emotions and stick to their role in society. Reflecting a communist form of government, each person in the World State carries out a task that aids to the overall function of the state. Differentiating from that type of extreme specialization of labor, American capitalism and consumerism is emphasized and on an even larger scale in Feed, “There’s nothing but the feed telling you, this is music you heard, this is the music you missed. This is what is new” (5). Although the extravagance of the standard of living for characters such as Mustafa Mond and Titus may be similar, their roles in society and values that they prioritize are not comparable. I mean how many teenagers do you know that go to the moon for spring break?
![]() With every novel or play you read there seems to be a recurring tactic of deep analyzation, analyzing the names of the main characters. Futuristic setting comes with futuristic sounding names. The main characters: Titus, Violet, Quendy, Loga, Calista, Link, and Marty are all connected with the rest of the world through their feeds, but their names reflect their individuality. Titus is a name that has biblical roots that mean pleased. The meaning of his name turns out to be not what he possesses but what he craves, Titus is constantly searching to be pleased. The time without their feeds, although only about 3 days long, felt like a million years to Titus and his crew, “I was just lying there, and couldn’t play any games on the feed, and couldn’t chat anyone, and I couldn’t do a fuckin’ thing except look at the stupid boat painting” (49). The constant complaining about boredom that the author writes from Titus’s perspective correlates with his name because it shows how he is constantly searching to be pleased. As the novel progresses however, we see that the ways Titus is pleased shifts. Violet is a strange gal, and Anderson only emphasizes it. In comparison to the other female names in the novel, Quendy, Loga, and Calista, Violet sticks out dramatically. Her old-fashioned name reflects her old-fashioned thoughts and hobbies. Violet is so unlike the others, her enjoyment does not stem from what the feeds tell her, but rather from everyday simple tasks such as writing, “I asked, ‘Why don’t you use the feed? It’s way faster’ ‘I’m pretentious,’ she said. ‘Really pretentious.’” (66). Violet’s outdated name will eventually even mark her downfall, “You know the part that’s really the ironic thing? The guy? The hacker? You almost agree with him. He completely fucked you over, and you almost agree with him” (180). Violet’s rapidly dropping feed function symbolizes her release from such a technologically-driven society. |
M.T. AndersonHe won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2006 for The Pox Party, the first of two "Octavian Nothing" books. Anderson is known for challenging his readers, of varying ages, to look at the world in new ways |