The Purpose of An Eliminated P.O.V

The Loss of Innocent

Whose perspective is missing?

As I am approaching to the end of "Feeds", by M.T. Anderson, I've noticed another reason for the perspective the author has chosen. Titus, whose life is controlled by mechanism, is going through a stage of "evolution". I believe that the author has purposely excluded the voice of Violet, who is his girlfriend, because of their differences in the social classes. Overall, it seems to me that Violet's perspective has been limited because of the author's message.

Based on the text, I infer that M.T. has chosen to eliminate her point of view in order to let Titus go on a loss of innocent journey. For example, he had matured a lot from the beginning of the story because of Violet. She was born from a poor family and could not afford many things the other ones could. As a result, she is more independent and smart than the average humans that only rely on "feeds", these mechanical brains, to work from them. Even after Violet has a feed, she never gave up from her usual life, still continuing to read and write, unlike the other ones. I feel that M.T. had excluded her point of view to make Titus realize how he had always taken things for granted. Indeed, he had started to mature a bit after knowing her situation. The confusing thing is, I think that it is common for people to feel that it is mandatory for them to have what they have because they have it, and because of this, they don't know how it feels to be the opposite. I infer that the author's purpose to limited Violet's voice is to allow readers to know how the rich people understands the situation and have Titus go on a loss of innocent journey.

Second off the bat, with Violet's point of view excluded, it gives a big impact to the story. Like as mentioned before, not only did Titus grew up, but the maturity of us, as cautious readers, have also been raised. I did not know that because Violet is poor, it made her independent as an individual. She does not rely on much things because she's the "stick" that she can hold on to. The author slowly revealed the idea that you shouldn't take things for granted by applying Violet's point of view here and there. At first, all I've noticed about the story is Titus's almost-perfect life. Going to the moon, hanging out with friends, going to the club, were all pretty good experiences. This kind of life that makes me jealous of, was more stand out than the others. The effect was that it made me think that this was what happened to everyone in the story every single day, until Violet came along. I've came to believe that the author was giving us this outstanding, flawless life in the beginning, to compare it with a complete opposite one to make us realize the difference and its impact.

To sum it up, Violet's point of view has been excluded it order to give this image of perfection, making Titus mature from his thoughts. Now that I think about it, it is like writing a debate or a speech. Comparisons are made in order to emphasize and deepen your points. W.T. had purposely made Titus's perspective stand out and eliminated Violet's, because he want him to grow up from the wide-innocent-eyes character. He had us thinking, to value things more. Therefore, I believe that her outlook of the story has been intentionally taken out.

Living in a Perfect World

Blog Post #5
Living in a Perfect World: What hard things occur in text?

Not long ago, I've started to read the book, "Feed", written by M. T. Anderson. The story revolves around a boy named Titus in a futuristic world. It is the world where technologies are huge in your basic living. With the "computers" called feeds implanted into human's brain, they no longer have to think for themselves. This may seem incredible if we actually have this type of technologies in our current life. Imagine no more schools, no more worries, and no more needs to make decisions? Life would be awesome if only we have these feeds to control our daily life. But, really? It is really okay? If I were to think more realistically, I would have to admit. I don't want to be fully controlled by machines yet.

First thing's first. Titus and his friends had always relied on their feeds to do the work for them. I feel that these are some of the hard things the characters are facing. A life without feeds to them means a life without a brain to us. For example, when Titus mentioned, "you write? With a pen?...I can read. A little. I kind of protested in the school. On the grounds that the silent 'E' is stupid," I was pretty surprised at the fact that a teenager could be so...dumb. I believe that the author wanted to tell us how you shouldn't not be so irresponsible and count only on machines to maintain a life. I can tell that it's unfair because you should work for want you get.

Second of all, people in his world basically can get anything they want with just the tips of their fingers, actually, that's not even needed. Just command your brain. There are no such things as miracle. If you want something in particular, all you have to do is to desire for it. But when hackers hacked into their feeds, their life was basically disconnected from all the technologies that they had access to before. I feel that people are just getting more lazier this way because of their lack of doing something. Everyone wants to live in a perfect world but there are no such things in reality. To be flawless is impossible. Feeds are useful but in another way, it is also harmful. It has impacted people's growth of intelligence and had increased their laziness. Anderson feels the need to warn us that you should believe that you can also be successful without relying on other factors. I agree with this also because "some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard for it."

Therefore, I strongly believe that you shouldn't count on something to do the work that you are capable of doing. Failures and mistakes only increase your motivation. I can related to Titus because I can't live my life without the accessibility to internet. It is like if we are stuck with something, all we have to do is search it up. However, without the existence of internet, I would just be a little helpless sheep wandering to elsewhere without a goal. To sum it up, I think we should always using determination and courage to get the things we want, and not count on a device to guide our life.