Feed by M.T. Anderson

Anderson, M. T. (2002). Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Feed by M.T. Anderson is a thrilling novel written about a dystopian future where life revolves around the ..... feed.   The Feed is a device that is typically installed at birth that allows information to researched immediately, headaches are able to be wiped away and instant conversations in your head from other users of the Feed.  But what is the cost of technology.  The Earth is nearly depleted at this time of history.  Air is being synthesized, people are living underground with simulations of weather, and skin.... skin is falling off as if it was a new trend that everyone should be doing!!  Titus is the narrator of the story, telling the readers about the time he met a girl on the moon.  This girl is different from the rest, she reads, ACTUALLY reads.  She knows how to write!  Who does that anymore?  

But something is wrong, very wrong with her.  Read the book to find out what! 

This book would be great for an 8th to 9th grade English classroom.  It is great for discussion about ethical theories, the future and if the feed is beneficial or harmful. 

This story is almost eerie with how parallel it is to what is currently happening in our society, but written so many years before a lot of todays technology has been released.  This story is thought provoking, and self assessing as to how we are living lives as humans today.   The language in the book is very unique, and honestly you are reading it as if a teenager is telling the story.  The style is perfect inline with what the author is attempting to portray, and I think that is very beneficial to a reader.   This culture is something new, but also something so familiar and the author has a great way of twisting what we already know into this horrific reality. 

What is inside?
Irony: 
Violet is such a strong character, resisting this necessary tool in a time where everyone seems to be less intelligent because why is there a need to learn when you have the internet at the base of your spine?

She resists this very thing that is keeping her alive, and that in itself, it irony. 

Allegory:
If you relate this text to nowadays and how humans operate daily, we can see the feed very similar to the black hole of Facebook.  
There are adds that are attractive to you because it is based off of your recent search history.  It connects you to other humans almost instantly. 
The feed is Facebook on steroids, and I think the connection is uncanny to social media. 

Onomatopoeia: 

When the uptube was free, she settled her foot back in, and walked, fitik,fitik, sliss, fitik, right on in. 

The author uses this a few times to describe sounds that the characters are making throughout the book.  

How can we use this?

This book is incredibly useful for discussion due to the controversial topic of this dystopian future.  Our high schools students could definitely write up an argument of if the Feed is a useful tool or not.  This could even be a classroom debate, since I am sure that there will be students on both sides of the fence for this book.  M.T. Anderson wanted to provoke our thoughts on this kind of society, your students would be excited to debate this topic.