The world of Feed is one where the corporations are ultra powerful, all but controlling everyone's thoughts from cradle to grave. (Nothing at all like our world, obviously.) From growing up on kids' programming, to attending School™, to being constantly bombarded with ideas about what to buy, to having corporations make life-or-death decisions for individuals, they let us know exactly who's in charge. In Titus's world, even the clouds are trademarked. Want to rebel? Good luck with that. We get a second-hand look at the corporations' brutality through the feed images of rioters beaten into submission—and a first-hand look when Violet's treatment is refused.
Questions About Power
- Can you think of any examples from real life of the kind of riots and rebellion that Titus sees in his "dream"?
- In what ways do you think you fit into a corporate profile? In what ways do you not?
- The description of Violet's dad seems really similar to that of the old hacker guy the nightclub The Rumble Spot—for one thing, the tweed jacket is right out of The Professor Wearhouse. How are their attitudes toward the feed similar? Different?
- What's up with all the corporate name-dropping we see in the book? Is it effective?
Chew on This
Violet's dad is responsible for what happens to her, because he bought into the corporate lie and got her the feed to begin with.
Ultimately, Violet's methods of resistance are effective, because Titus finally seems to "get it."