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Feed – M. T Anderson

1.1 Written Text Essay

External - Credits: 3

English 90849 (1.1) Show understanding of specified aspect(s) of studied written text(s),
using supporting evidence

Students will write an essay response around questions based on:

 Relationship
 Event
 Theme/idea
 Character/s
 Changes/structures
 Setting
 Language

Achieved = Both parts of the selected topic (describe and explain) are covered.
Merit = Both parts of the topic are answered convincingly.
Excellence = Both parts of the topic are answered perceptively.

A response that shows convincing understanding will:

 Make clear points that are relevant to the topic being addressed
 Connect the majority of these points to each other
 Develop points in detail.
 Extend their OWN thinking and come to a conclusion about the
given topic.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M.T. Anderson — he goes mainly by his middle name, Tobin — has been writing since he was a
teenager. Now that he's no longer a teen, one of the things that concerns him is the idea that
somehow books for teens have to be simpler than books for adults — that the whole idea of the plot,
the cause and effect, the way the characters are depicted — that all of these things have to be
boiled down in someway. So, many of his books are challenging reads, from his picture books, like
Strange Mr. Satie and Handel, Who Knew What He Liked to his teen/adult titles like his National Book
Award winner, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party
and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. II: The Kingdom on the Waves.
Other Anderson titles are both challenging and challenged, such as his National Book Award Finalist
Feed.
He also believes very firmly in the idea of literacy as being part of good citizenship. That's why he serves
on the Board of Directors of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance (NCBLA). Both in his role
as author and advocate, Anderson believes in fostering a love of narrative. He writes this about himself
on his website: "I love writing for younger readers. I love their passion. I love their commitment to stories.
I love the way their heads are exploding with all the things they want to say and do." From -
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/exquisiteprompt/anderson
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FIRST CHAPTERS - READING RESPONSE QUESTIONS

1. What did you immediately notice about the use of language in Feed when you began
to read? What is the effect on you as the reader?
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2. Describe your first impressions of the narrator & protagonist Titus.

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What does Titus hope to do on the moon? What does this suggest to you about the
Anderson’s view on the possible future youth?
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IN CLASS, WATCH
http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=2963&a=1
Anderson talks about his inspiration for the book

UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERS

Think about the meanings of each of these quotes from the story. Consider why each
character made these comments, and what it says about their personality attributes.
Write down your ideas about why the character said it to feed back to the class.
• VIOLET - “Everything we’ve grown up with...it’s all streamlining our personalities so we’re
easier to sell to... and then you get ads based on what you’re supposedly like. They try to
figure out who you are, and to make you conform to one of their types for easy
marketing” (p.80-81)

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• TITUS - “When I looked around, I wanted so much, that all of the prices were coming
into my brain, and it was bam bam bam, like fugue-joy” (p.21).
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• QUENDY -
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CHARACTER: TITUS change/influence by Violet
Character Relationship: Violet & Titus

Beginning of the novel Middle of the novel End of the novel

(with Violet)

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‘FEED’ DICTIONARY – Add two of your own from the

novel

1. Unettes - This term is a space, slang term for girls.

2. Upcar - This object is a flying vehicle that transports
characters in the novel from place to place.
3. Bonesprocket - This word is a derogatory word for a kill joy,
or someone who does not partake in the fun around
her/him.
4. Feed - This is a transmitter implanted in the characters'
brains.
5. Ricochet Lounge - This place is a nightclub on the moon
where party goers wear space suits and crash into each
other, due to the no gravity and low gravity atmosphere.
6. Unit - This term is a space, slang term for dude or man,
a.k.a. a friendly greeting among teenagers.
7. Cro-Magnon - This term means "prehistoric man".
8. Feednet - This is a network that allows those with
transmitters to listen to their feeds and chat, or
telepathically speak among one another...

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PLOT STRUCTURE

Titus and Violet visit the ‘countryside’.

Violet tells Titus about her feed ‘malfunction’.

Quendy gets large sliced lesions all over her body.

Violet sends multiple messages to Titus, who does not respond.

Violet, Titus, Link, Marty, & Quendy wait in the hospital without feeds.

Titus goes ‘mal’ and visits Violet’s house.

Titus and his friends arrive on the Moon for a holiday.

Titus and his friends get ‘hacked’ by a protester at a club.

Violet’s feed finally reachers 0% and she no longer exists.

Titus and his friends return home from the moon with their repaired feeds. They attend a
party where everything is ‘back to normal’.

Violet’s feed malfunctions at a party and she insults Mel.

Titus begins to detach himself from what is happening to Violet.

Violet reveals her plan to ‘fight’ the feed by looking at random items to buy.

Titus is given money and purchases a new upcar.

Titus visits Violet after they have broken up.

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Some of the Many Themes & Ideas

Control breeds rebellion

Consumerism and corporate domination
Doing what’s right Vs what’s expected
Technology domination/over-reliance

Consumerism and corporate domination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7gw9sS8Ev8
5 minutes – Advertising &consumerism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk_hkdGf1tc
4 minutes – Advertisments aimed at kids & teens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-HrTC8QCbM
12 minutes - 10 misleading marketing tactics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlPvfXNR1j4&list=PLD4284B0B4A0EB5D8
Proactive – Teen fear & consumerism –

“Now that SchoolTM is run by the corporations, it’s pretty brag,

because it teaches us how the world can be used, like mainly how
to use our feeds” (p.90).

In what ways does school and/or society teach us how to use the world? Why is consumer
culture so strong? Why is it beneficial for companies to teach people how to consume?
How is it dangerous? Respond to Titus’ reaction to his parents buying him an upcar (p.96-
97).
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“When I looked around, I wanted so much, that all of the prices
were coming into my brain, and it was bam bam bam, like fugue-
joy” (p.21).

Relate this to marketing tactics in today’s society. What is your “type?” What ads would
you get if you had a “feed?” How often would you “chat” if you had the “feed?” How
would “chatting” affect modern- day communication?
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Technology Over-Reliance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j07P_ubXthc
5 minutes stats on technology reliance

A strong theme running through the novel is the danger of a strong reliance of
technology, and what can happen to any society that is fed information, as opposed to
a society who freely seeks information.

Choose an example in the novel where a heavy reliance on the technology of the feed is
detrimental to society. Be sure to list not only the example, but also explain why that
example shows a detrimental situation for society. How could that example be different if
the society was one in which information had to be obtained, instead of being fed to
consumers?

Example:
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Why this example shows a detrimental situation for society:

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How could this example be different if info was obtained freely:

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Why are corporations so dangerous in the novel? What do they control? How is
information gathered from the feed controlled and distributed? What is it used for? What
consequences, both direct and indirect could relying on the feed have?

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20 minutes – Listen & View Videos

FINAL CHAPTERS - READING RESPONSE QUESTIONS

1. Who/what is responsible for Violet’s final malfunction?

Could it have been prevented? How?
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2. Respond to Titus’ way of dealing with Violet’s death. If you had to rewrite
Part 4, what would you change?
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3. In what ways is the title, “Slumberland,” significant?

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4. Choose a passage that is especially important to this section of the book.
Why did you choose it? Why can’t Violet ever live without the “Feed?” Are
there “feeds” in our future?

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AUTHOR’S USE OF LANGUAGE & MEANING

From the beginning, it is clear that the writing style of the book differs from
other novels. Writing style can have an important impact on how a reader is
able to understand the information in the novel. This lesson will examine how
the writing style and language used in the first chapter helps set the stage for
the book.

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely
suck.”
How does this sentence set up the novel? What do you notice about the language
Anderson uses? What is his purpose for doing so? How is it effective?
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“Which was brag, because he was such a nice guy.” (Titus about his friend
Link.)

Anderson’s use of unfamiliar slang in informal language requires us to…

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“’You write all the time,’ I said, completely in awe.” (Titus to Violet)

Receiving the first person narration of his inner thoughts here allows us to realise
that…

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When Titus notices that violet’s “slippers went fitik, fitik, sliss, fitik on the floors.”
In the hospital, Anderson uses onomaotopoeia to make us realise that Titus is
beginning to…

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Teenagers, parents and doctors all use the word “like,” a lot in their everyday language,
This makes us realise that…

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Class/Group discussion: on A3 paper

1. Why do you think the author is writing the novel so differently?
2. As Titus is trying to understand why the girl he sees (Violet) is so beautiful, the
3. feed completes his thought pattern (p.14). Is this scary? Or Cool? Does the net ever
do your thinking for you?
4. How do you think this changes how you will read the novel?

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‘Feed’ Overarching Questions

What does M.T. Anderson’s Feed teach us about happiness in the 21st
century?
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I think Anderson wrote Feed so that we…

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I believe that the purpose of Feed is to…

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Philosophical Discussions & Quotes

“Chip in my head? Better off dead” (p. 32).

What techniques are used here? Do you agree with the statement? Why
would they say that?

“And it’s really great to know everything about everything whenever we

want, to have it just like, in our brain, just sitting there.” Please write whether
or not you agree or disagree with Titus. Why or why not?

“Everything we think and feel is taken up by the corporations” so that they

can give you whatever you need. Does this bother anybody? Does this
connect to the real world at all?

"Look at us! You don't have the feed! You are the feed! You're feed! You're
being eaten! You're raised for food! Look at what you've made yourselves! --
Feed, pg 202 Does this concept worry you? What can we do to ensure this
does not happen to us in real life?

IMPORTANT!
READ THIS:
http://jtriley.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/memory-technology-and-biology-in-
mt.html
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Review
If you have not read M.T. Anderson’s Feed, you should do so now. I’m waiting… Are you done? I suppose you can
read on, it just won’t be the same.

This amazing dystopian book, which is a thought experiment as to what might happen if the internet was
implanted in the brain and ran through the nervous system shortly after birth.
Imagine for a moment you no longer need any external gadgets. Your computer, cell phone, alarm clock – ALL
OF IT – is inside you.

I bet you’re thinking about all the great stuff, right? Well, it turns out this kind of access feeds our natural
tendencies to care primarily for our baser desires (think entertainment 24/7). This, in turn, leads not only to the
destruction of the planet due to over consumption, but to impoverished lives. I love Feed because it clearly helps
the reader see there is more to human happiness than technology can provide. In fact, if we aren’t mindful and
careful, our tech leads away from happy lives.

Aristotle, that important ancient Greek philosopher*, claims, since you want to be happy,
you need to be virtuous. Virtues are acquired powers that help us perform morally excellent actions with relative
ease. The four cardinal virtues are wisdom, courage, justice, and moderation. It’s clear to just about anyone who
thinks about this for a few moments that virtue is a necessary condition for the good life. Since we want to
flourish, we need the virtues.
Let’s suppose you aren’t an actually virtuous person (few are!), but are working on it. Find someone with
practical wisdom and see how she approaches technology. How does the wise, just, courageous, and moderate
use technology? How does she find the golden mean between the excess of using it too much and the defect of
not considering it at all?

Anderson’s book shows, if we are courageous enough to look, what happens when we get what we think we
want. It turns out only the immature and empty want a life on the feed. And that’s all the feed can offer. Spoon
feeding babies. The feed promises pleasure, but everyone ends up being bored and dissatisfied. Why? The feed
takes away creativity, curiosity, concern for and awareness of others, the serious business of life, and the
possibility for satisfying human relationships.
But don’t you want more of these things? I do. In our age, this means we must be aware of the technology we
use, so that we can use it and not have it use us.

From http://merrybrown.com/2013/05/01/m-t-andersons-feed-and-philosophy/
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Titus Development Essay

Titus transforms because he becomes more than what he originally is. In the outset of the
story, Titus is a product of the world around him. He capitulates to the condition of young
people, in terms of partying, consumerism, and living life in accordance to the feed: "We went
to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” He is the embodiment
of youth- "pissy and tired." For Titus, consciousness means living out the feed's appropriation
of reality. Titus is a product of the feed and carries himself as such. While there might be
something latent beneath him, Titus is more than willing to acquiesce to the world around
him. It is one in which social acceptance and fulfilling the caricatures of youth are
essential. The "conformity" of marketing and acting in a manner where corporations play a
role in determining behavior is a part of this. Titus represents the world of what is, reflection
of the condition of being where individuals affirm the social and economic structure around
them.
His transformation results in being able to see his world in accordance to Violet's perception
of reality. As his attraction to Violet increases, Titus acquires depth and a complex
understanding of consciousness. This read of being in the world is not one that is driven by
materialism and consumerist notions of the good. Titus experiences this at different points in
the narrative. It is through Titus's relationship with Violet that the greatest amount of
transformation becomes evident within him. The complexity of the relationship with Violet
enables him to feel emotional realities that he previously had never experienced. Feelings of
guilt, shame, resentment, and confusion begin to take their place in his psyche. These are
intricate feelings that could not be facilitated as he acquiesced to the consumerist and
conformist notion of reality that young people are meant to embody.
Titus's transformation comes from trying to understand the full nature of emotions that
become a part of his reality through his relationship with Violet. When Titus deletes Violet's
stream of messages and when he feels guiltily obliged to be with drive with her to the
mountains, he is transforming into someone who cannot fully understand the nature of his
emotions. He experiences them, but struggles to find meaning within them. It is at this point
that Titus transforms. Buying pants, his upcar, and maxing out his credit does not assuage the
pain he feels. The condition of hurt and emotional pain that he experiences cannot be
minimized by the feed.
Titus shows the full extent of this transformation at the novel's end when he admits upon
seeing Violet's lifeless body that "For the first time, I cried." In relating the story of their love
at the end, one sees Titus's transformation. He relays to her the story of "us," a story where
the battle between the feed and the love two people share is highlighted. The story is complex,
as it is full of "love" and a "visual feast." Titus's transformation into one who experiences the
pain and joy of emotions is also seen when he holds her hand and articulates "an important
lesson about love." As he cries in her blank eye, Titus's transformation is complete. He has
changed and is in a place where the messages of the feed cannot provide solace. The pain of
love is the vehicle through which Titus's transformation takes place in the novel.

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