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Anderson uses the destruction of nature and the implementation Of technology as an example Of what he saw in the society. He argues that people are becoming more shallow and unintelligent as a result of consumerism. In this paper, I’m going to talk about how M. T Anderson presents the issue of consumerism, reflect on the issue, and parallel it M. T Anderson presents the theme of consumerism in “Feed” by . The setting of the story takes place in a futuristic society in the twenty-fifth century that is so high-tech that 73% of the population has “feed” installed in their head.
People have flying cars, flying to other planets, and farms rowing living meat in vast plantations. M. T Anderson shows how the earth’s natural environment has been destroyed as a result of consumerism. Titus and Violet traveled out to the farm country where they visit a steak farm, but instead of seeing animals and livestock in what we interpret as a “farm” what they encounter was a bizarre farm, with red meats growing artificially in “plantations”. According to Titus “It was a perfect afternoon.
They had made part of it into a steak maze, for tourists, and we split up in the steak maze and tried to see who could get to the center first ( Feed 142). Tutu’s point is that the steak farm is not bad as we think it is, but it’s entertaining the tourist with the living meats growing artificially and part of it as the steak maze. M. T Anderson shows us with the loss of earth’s natural environment, Feeds society has slipped further into its own nightmare and the society is oblivious about the danger of it M. T Anderson reflects on Titus thoughts regarding the steak farm, and his lack of awareness about the artificial society he lived in.
The farm growing artificial beef in the plantations symbolizes the artificial rodents that consumerism has influence in the society. The natural goods have been destroyed and everything is genetically engineer. The genetic coding for the steak goes wrong and the middle of the beef, the tissue forms a horn, an eye or a heart, for instance demonstrate that nothing on earth remain as it was prior to corporations controlling everything and turning it to synthetic. The essence of M. T Andersen’s argument is that the destruction of nature aligns with the trivial representation of the consumerist desire.
During dinner, Violet and Titus were discussing of going to Jefferson Forest nice neither of them have ever seen a forest. Titus father states “Yeah. Jefferson Park? Yeah- That was knocked down to make an air factory. (Feed 125). ” In Stave’s view trees are nice but they’re inefficient compare to air factory and real estate cost more. It’s about people, and people need a lot of air to survive. Violet disagrees with Stave’s point and argues that we need trees and trees make clean air. In this scene, Titus father represents the corporations as he cares more about the real estate cost, and the benefit of air factory have for the people.
The air factory symbolizes the consumerist desire for efficient and faster products they can get which promotes more consumerism to the society. The setting of the story entangles our society’s problems as it reflects on the global issues and its consequences. The evidence shows that the destruction of nature is found all around the world and blame SIS for the over polluted air. For example, while chatting through feed, Violet asks Titus “Have you heard about this Central American stuff? Two villages on the Gulf of Mexico, fifteen hundred people-they’ve just been found dead, covered in this black stuff…
It seems like an industrial disaster. The Global Alliance is blaming U. S (Anderson, 241). ” Basically, Violet is warning that the industrial pollutions in the factories are causing a global meltdown. Anderson has intended this as a portrayal of our society in the near future if we continue to trash and pollute our environment. Our society could end up like this. Anderson presents the theme of consumerism through character development of Titus with his thoughts, actions, and interaction with his friends. According to Titus, you can be super smart without ever working.
Everyone is super smart now. You can look things up automatic, like science, and history, like if you want to know which battles of Civic War George Washington fought in and In making this comment, Titus urges us to rely on technology as it provides instant access to any information we want without ever working. In other words, Titus believes that the necessity of feed and his above those without feeds. The evidence shows how Titus depends on consumerism to secure his identity and education is not necessary with having ‘feed”.