In the dystopian world presented by M.T. Anderson in Feed, people
are consumers first, and human beings a poor second. Nothing is natural in this
society; everything had been turned into a commodity to be bought, sold, and
consumed. Environmental disasters are all too frequent as no one really cares
for the natural world; it's simply not in the best interests of the
corporations in charge. Everything in this society is trademarked, whether it's
School™ or Clouds™. What was once valued for itself has been replaced by an
artificial copy that can more effectively be controlled by the
powers-that-be.
In this society, the corporations exploit nature for their own gain. This engenders a mindset among citizens in which the environment isn't valued for its own sake; it exists purely as a means to an end. There must be no question of the natural world's having any kind of separate...
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existence, any kind of life of its own. The corporations know that if they can control the natural world by commodifying it, they can control just about anything.
One of the main topics covered in the book Feed is that of consumerism and its effect on the population. In the book, there are many everyday objects, including things which occur in nature, that have been trademarked by corporations. Clouds are one of those things. The point of this is to show the extent to which consumerism can be taken, and the power that is being rapidly gained by large corporations. At first, it might seem ridiculous to trademark clouds, but if we look deeper, we see the implications of doing so.
People in this dystopian society have become so disconnected from the natural world that they see everything as a commodity, and in fact, everything has become a commodity, to the extent that they cannot imagine a world where one can enjoy these things for free, simply because they exist naturally in the environment. It really symbolizes the lack of political interest and awareness that people are beginning to exhibit. Not only that, but it symbolizes the lack of awareness that people have for the dangerous outcome of their constant indoctrination into this consumerist mindset. They are becoming insensitive to the environmental decline that is going on around them, which ultimately leads to a total obliviousness of the state of the natural world.