HW 15 - ABCDEF - Treasure Hunting for Aja

Dear Aja,

I really appreciate the insights you had into the book Feed and the fact that you presented them clearly.

I like the fact that you admitted that at first you didn't think of it as a work of art, but then you began to think of it as an allegory with symbolism in it, and then you could appreciate the art in it. You also rightly point out that certain parts of the symbolic story would make more of an impression on some readers than on others just as certain works of art say something more to some people than to others.

As you say, the fact that the book is an allegory for what could happen if we carry our use of digital devices too far makes readers compare and contrast their lives to what is happening in the book. Allegories can really make an impression because they are more than just a literal story. When you get the symbolism, you get a deeper understanding of what the author is trying to say. The book Animal Farm is an allegory story about animals on a farm who start out as a happy community and then get taken over by a dictator pig. The symbolic story is about communisn and Stalinism, and the simple animal story has a lot of impact because of the understanding that we get from the animal symbols.

I think that one thing you could do if you wanted to develop your idea of the book as a good allegory is to give examples from the book. For example, who does Violet represent to you?
You could talk about why you think M.T. Anderson has her die at the end.

Your post made me think about what struck me most about what I thought worked well in the book. I liked the way there were just suggestions about what this future world was like that made you realize it was an environmental disaster and that the poor people were losers even though they were the smart ones.

I also liked your ending of your post about Feed with the quote "Art is not a mirror with which to reflect the world. it is a Hammer with which to shape it." As you said, the book is a mirror because it shows us a side of our superficial life, but it is also a hammer to make us see the danger. Good job.

Devin