Naomi Miller AP English Literature Mr. Gladding Since 1995 the percent of people in the world with internet access has gone from .4% to 49.6%. In the past decade, we have developed laptops that fit in our backpacks, phones that fit in our pockets, and internet that can fit all knowledge known to mankind. What could be wrong with that? Both Dave Eggers and MT Anderson, the authors of The Circle and Feed respectively, believe that these technological advancements may soon end up doing more harm than good. Both The Circle and Feed present the idea that if humans continue with our reliance on technology, we will be unable to live full lives. In both texts, this message is reinforced through making the world partially relatable or recognizable
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Both of these characters don’t see the faults of their society and are completely idealistic about the powers controlling them, making them unreliable narrators. The only time the reader sees somebody acknowledging the dangers of the society is when the protagonist interacts with a secondary character who strongly disapproves of the culture they live in. In Feed, this is Violet. Violet attempts to expose Titus to the dangers of the feeds multiple times, but he refuses to listen, even when she is dying in the end. Violet yells at a party, “ You don’t have the Feed! You are the Feed! You’re Feed! You’re being eaten! You’re raised for food!” (Anderson, 202) Just like all of Violets attempts to warn Titus and his friends about Feed’s dangers, she is dismissed as being crazy. In The Circle, Mercer is shown as the “crazy one”. When he tells Mae not to trust the leaders of the circle she says, “Your conspiracy theory brain always depressed me” (Eggers, 510). Again, Mercer’s correct observations are considered crazy by Mae (and later her millions of viewers). As I read both books, I found myself liking Violet and Mercer more than the actual protagonists. While the rest of their society basically excommunicated them, they persisted in their refusal of the technology forced upon them. By showing them be excluded by society, both books reinforce the idea that those who …show more content…
This message is shown in both books through making the characters relatable and having a secondary character that sees the danger that the main character doesn’t. Through these methods, both of these dystopian texts successfully do what other dystopian books have done for decades before them: force the reader to consider that the path their society is on could result in terrible
Both of these characters don’t see the faults of their society and are completely idealistic about the powers controlling them, making them unreliable narrators. The only time the reader sees somebody acknowledging the dangers of the society is when the protagonist interacts with a secondary character who strongly disapproves of the culture they live in. In Feed, this is Violet. Violet attempts to expose Titus to the dangers of the feeds multiple times, but he refuses to listen, even when she is dying in the end. Violet yells at a party, “ You don’t have the Feed! You are the Feed! You’re Feed! You’re being eaten! You’re raised for food!” (Anderson, 202) Just like all of Violets attempts to warn Titus and his friends about Feed’s dangers, she is dismissed as being crazy. In The Circle, Mercer is shown as the “crazy one”. When he tells Mae not to trust the leaders of the circle she says, “Your conspiracy theory brain always depressed me” (Eggers, 510). Again, Mercer’s correct observations are considered crazy by Mae (and later her millions of viewers). As I read both books, I found myself liking Violet and Mercer more than the actual protagonists. While the rest of their society basically excommunicated them, they persisted in their refusal of the technology forced upon them. By showing them be excluded by society, both books reinforce the idea that those who …show more content…
This message is shown in both books through making the characters relatable and having a secondary character that sees the danger that the main character doesn’t. Through these methods, both of these dystopian texts successfully do what other dystopian books have done for decades before them: force the reader to consider that the path their society is on could result in terrible