The Issue of Identity in Feed (Category A Prompt D)
In Feed, the main characters identities are centered around their feeds. When the hacker damages Titus' feed at the beginning of the novel, he is unable to function without it. One quote that deals with the issue of identity in Feed is when Titus is explaining how the feed benefits everyone and makes them "supersmart," after he is in the hospital and is feeling lost without his feed.
"That's one of the greatest things about the feed-- that you can be supersmart without ever working. Everyone is supersmart now. You can look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit" (47).
Throughout the novel, it is clear how much the characters rely on their feeds. Titus' idea that the feeds are making everyone more knowledgeable about the world around them is interesting because clearly, the feeds are only making them into misinformed consumers. This quotation represents the identity of Titus and his friends in the novel, and the way they attribute their entire identities to their feeds without realizing the danger of doing so. Titus and his friends do not hold individual identities, but rather identities that are created for them by their feeds. His claim that the feeds are making everyone smart without having to work is immediately disproven when he says that George Washington fought in the Civil War, which was a humorous yet significant part of the novel. This quotation shows that simply "looking things up" with a feed is not an effective way to learn or be "supersmart." This quote does not only speak to Titus' identity but also the identity of those around him, as he claims that "everyone is supersmart" because of the feeds. Because the feed is the source of knowledge and communication for most people, everyone is receiving similar information as they are focused on the many advertisements they are bombarded with through the feeds. The only main character who sticks out in the novel is Violet, because she had her feed implanted later in life and had the chance to develop her own thoughts and opinions without the influence of the feed. This is also why Violet seems to know more about the world around her, as well as other vocabulary words that Titus and his friends do not know.
Hi Kylie,
ReplyDeleteI love this passage you selected. It may be the funniest line in the novel, in my opinion. I agree that we see how the Feed has created a false sense of security as they feel like they have all knowledge at their fingertips, but they are profoundly ignorant. I am not sure the ideas discussed in this response best fit the prompt on identity, though. I think you could get there if you focused more on individual identity vs a collective identity or a consumer identity, but your argument here might be more about a theme in the novel about the reliability of education/ information in a consumer-driven world.