Part 3 – Utopia

Normal (Part 3.1)

The fact that things return to normal so fast shows that for most of the young people the time spent without their feed has had no impact on them. The group return to earth, without having reflected on the wider world, and is quickly under the spell of technology again. The group quickly spends time discussing the soap opera show and if one character should have told another their hips were too ‘meg’ or large. The superficial nature of the conversation shows the pervasive influence of the feed. Violet expects that they have undergone a change of sorts, Titus shrugs and is uncertain that things have changed.

Normal Quotes (Part 3.1)

Things were back to normal real quick. Part 3.1

We had this major debate going on because we watched the Oh? Wow! Thing! and there was this part where Organelle asked Jackie whether she had meg hips …. Part 3.1

We had a party at the end of the week over at Quendy’s, because her parents were off choking somewhere. That was when everyone was having those choking parties. I mean, it was completely midlife crisis. Part 3.1

‘We’ve all been through this big thing together,’ she said. ‘It’s got to change us somehow.’ (Violet) Part 3.1

Undervalued Truffle (Part 3.2)

Violet and Titus arrive at the party but have to wait for Marty and Link to move as they are playing a zombie war game on the feed and are oblivious to their surroundings. They are pointing their fingers at each other like guns. The fact they play a war game at a party and the parents are choking each other at parties is much like the collisions in the bar at the Moon; a need for action or violence underlies the society of the day.

Violet is not entirely welcomed by the group, the girls especially sensing she is different. She uses a larger vocabulary and Calista teases her behind her back for using the word picayune, ironically it means small or petty. The party continues and although they have all gathered at Calista’s house their interactions are still mainly virtual, with most people chatting online and preoccupied with the feed.

The feed reveals that President Trumbull has attacked ‘corporate watch organisations’ for daring to criticise corporations, and denies that lesions are in any way related to American negligence. The president stresses ‘freedom’ but it appears that freedom has been exploited and the corporations have abused their power.

Undervalued Truffle Quotes (Part 3.1)

… Link and Marty were playing each other at this game, The Cranky Tumble of Dark House, one of the ones with zombies and mutants, and they were all spinning around and shooting their fingers like guns. Part 3.2

I looked around me. Everyone was nodding their heads to music, or had their eyes just blank with the feedcast. It was just a party. Nothing but a party. Part 3.2

It is our duty as Americans, and as a nation dedicated to freedom and free commerce, to stand behind our fellow Americans. Part 3.2

The Others in Mal (Part 3.3)

As the party continues, the difference between Titus and Violet appears. The group is watching a feed-delivered film, laughing, but Violet is not amused by the simple humour, and this disturbs Titus. He heads upstairs and is easily persuaded to join Marty and Link in going ‘mal’, deliberate interference with their feed technology for the same purpose that people today might take drugs. Titus joins them but hides this from Violet. They chat about how things seem to have returned to normal but Violet suggests that they are the only two who remember, Titus agreeing people want to forget. The fact that Titus went mal might mean he too was trying to forget and return to how things were. Violet confesses that her feedware was damaged when she was hacked on the Moon.

The Others in Mal Quotes (Part 3.3)

I was feeling strange sitting next to Violet, and she wasn’t laughing, which was weirding me out. Part 3.3

I feel like we’re the only two of us who like remember the, like, the thing.
People want to forget. (Violet and Titus m-chat) Part 3.3

‘My feedware is damaged.’ (Violet) Part 3.3

Nudging (Part 3.4)

Titus has a dream that someone is tinkering with his feed. They say they are the police but he knows they are not. His repetition of the words ‘in my dream’ appear overused suggesting that maybe the work had gone on and that the perpetrators placed a false memory there to cover up what they had done, similar to a parent telling a child it was just a dream. The extract from the feed that follows the chapter is out of place with the usual bombardment of product, shallow entertainment and news. It discusses environmental concerns.

Nudging Quotes (Part 3.4)

. . I remember, as the last forests fell . . . at about that time, we would see hawks and eagles in the cities. People walked outside more, back then. Part 3.4

Lose the Chemise (Part 3.5)

Titus meets Violet at the mall near her place. She has been hatching a plan, a plan to mess the customer algorithms of her feed by pretending to buy a range of random products so that the feed will be confused; so that she can be ‘invisible’ to it. Titus and Violet go from shop to shop looking at unusual items. As they enter shops, banner advertisements appear in their feed. Titus is not as keen to ‘resist’ and makes a joke about it when Violet questions him about it. Violet has an appointment with a feed technician and Titus drops her off there.

Lose the Chemise Quotes (Part 3.5)

‘What I’m doing, what I’ve been doing over the feed for the last two days, is trying to create a customer profile that’s so screwed, no one can market to it. I’m not going to let them catalog me. I’m going to become invisible.’ (Violet) Part 3.5

We kept going from place to place, asking for weird shit we didn’t buy. Part 3.5

‘What do you think about resisting?’ she asked me really hard. Her jaw muscles were sticking out.
I said, ‘It sounds great, as long as I get to wear the chemise.’ (Violet and Titus) Part 3.5

Sniffing (Part 3.6)

That night Titus and Violet chat online and discuss the feed’s reaction to their day at the mall. Advertisements and suggestions flood their feed and as Violet sends some to Titus, even more follow. They compare it to a wave of butterflies landing on them.

Sniffing Quotes (Part 3.6)

They came to us. It was like they were lots of friendly butterflies, and we were smeared with something, and they kept coming and coming, and their wings were winking beautifully, and more and more came. Part 3.6

A New Place (Part 3.7)

Titus is aware that Violet is smarter than he and is self-conscious about it. However his privilege in life means he has experienced more things and he has the ability to show her. Violet didn’t get the feed as a child and can’t afford everything thus is childlike in many ways.

A New Place Quotes (Part 3.7)

I was afraid that she would be too smart for me, but she wasn’t. I don’t mean she wasn’t smarter, because she was, but just that there was so much she hadn’t done. Part 3.7

The Dimples of Delglacey (Part 3.8)

Titus is made even more aware that Violet is much smarter than he when he returns to school. School is written with the small ‘tm’ following the word to indicate that school has been trademarked by a larger corporation. Corporations running the education system mean they have manipulated the curriculum to teach students how to navigate the feed and make clever purchase choices. In comparison, Titus feels the old government run version would be a ‘nazi’ like idea. Titus questions why Violet is so interested in knowing about the things that are going on around them. He dares her to do more about things that concern her.

At home Titus is reassured by his parents that he is a great catch for any woman. However their reasons are not based on his intelligence but largely on his looks. His parents had watched a feedcast of an actor named Dimples of Delglacey on the night Titus was ‘made’. They were smitten by his looks and decided to incorporate these when ordering a child from the conceptionarium.

In order to cheer him up, Titus’ parents give him an upcar. He finds a banner with a selection of cars on his feed and a line of credit, and imagines picking up Violet in his own car, meaning he doesn’t feel as stupid anymore; the presence of wealth, given not laboured for, is as good as intelligence in Titus’ world.

The Dimples of Delglacey Quotes (Part 3.8)

School™ is not so bad now, not like back when my grandparents were kids, when the schools were run by the government, which sounds completely like, Nazi, to have the government running the schools? Part 3.8

Now that School™ is run by the corporations, it’s pretty brag, because it teaches us how the world can be used, like mainly how to use our feeds. Part 3.8

So one time I said to her that she should stop reading it, because it was just depressing, so she was like, But I want to know what’s going on, so I was like, Then you should do something about it. Part 3.8

So after the movie we went right to the conceptionarium and told them, ‘We want the most beautiful boy you’ve ever made. We want him with my nose and his dad’s eyes, and for the rest, we have this picture of DelGlacey Murdoch.’ (Titus’ mother) Part 3.8

And it unwrapped in my head, a banner for a dealer, and links to other dealers, and a big line of credit, and I was hugging them, and I was like holy shit, by tomorrow I would be driving to pick up Violet in my own goddamn upcar, and suddenly, suddenly, I didn’t feel so stupid anymore. Part 3.8

Lift (Part 3.9)

Titus and his father went looking for upcars. The feed is monitoring them and placing banner advertisements for each upcar as they look at them. The advertisements show scenarios of driving the car in the country or driving with bikini clad girls. Violet accompanies them on the shopping trip and is partly excited for Titus but also points out that this is a gift from ‘mommy and daddy’ implying Titus’ spoilt lifestyle, a lifestyle her family cannot afford. Violet suggests resisting the feed and buying an ox cart or an elephant seat. Titus’ father is not impressed by her attitude.

Titus and Violet discuss the hacker and Violet reveals that they don’t have to go to court as the hacker is in fact dead. He died from the beating that the police gave him at the scene. The violent reaction to his crime shows the lengths the police and corporations will go to, to stop people rebelling against the feed. Violet is a bit shocked seeing the big picture and the implications but Titus is more interested in the upcars, revealing his shallow outlook.

Lift Quotes (Part 3.9)

Violet would tell me, ‘Resist the feed. Look into ox carts.’
‘Yeah, thanks, Violet,’ my father would say. ‘We’re having serious decision flux here.’ Part 3.9

‘He was beaten to death at the club. We saw it. The police, remember? They beat him over the head.’ She reached out and took my arm. …. I bought the Dodge. (About the hacker) Part 3.9

A Question of Moral (Part 3.10)

Violet has dinner at Titus’ home. They discuss driving the new upcar in the country as Violet wishes to go to Jefferson Park. Titus’ father tells them the forest was cleared to make way for an air factory. Violet responds that trees make air, however her idea is dismissed as trees are seen as inefficient therefore, unnecessary. Violet says this is because of the corporations to which Titus’ father condescendingly responds that he remembers when he thought like Violet, implying that ideas of challenging corporations and caring about nature were childish.

Titus complains that he was not told about the hacker, his parents responding that he didn’t need to know. He suggests that he should know if something is wrong, a glimpse that Violet is influencing him and he can see flaws in the world despite his parents’ best intentions in keeping his world superficial. They reassure him that he is safe and that he has an upcar. Titus’ father says he is disappointed in Titus for pursuing the questions, an indication that the father is actually part of the system that resists any questioning or opposition. Violet is supportive and happy that Titus has made a stand.

A Question of Moral Quotes (Part 3.10)

‘Yeah. Jefferson Park? Yeah. That was knocked down to make an air factory.’ (Titus’ father) Part 3.10

My father nodded and smiled at her with this meg condescending smile on his face, and was like, ‘Dude, I remember when I was like you.’ (Titus’ father to Violet) Part 3.10

‘I want to get worried. If there’s like some meg thing wrong.’
…. My mom reached over … ‘You’re safe.’
Dad said, ‘You have an upcar.’ Part 3.10

‘You’re acting out of line,’ said my father, pointing at me. ‘I’m really disappointed.’
‘Doing what?’ I said. ‘I’m just asking.’ Part 3.10

Observe the Remarkable Verdure (Part 3.11)

Titus goes to Violet’s house and is surprised that there are words written on books and posters inside, a sign that written language is unexpected in this digitally-influenced world. Violet’s father is hunched over, having to carry an old technology version of the feed on his back with fold out screens that sit in front of his eyes like glasses, and Titus suggests he looks like a crank. Violet and her father share lively banter, their vocabulary noticeably different and advanced compared to that of Titus’ family. Violet’s father suggests they are going to ‘observe the remarkable verdure’, that is, go to look at remarkable lush green vegetation. In the car Titus says that Violet’s father is ‘something’. She explains that he is just trying to celebrate language as it is fast disappearing, a fact reinforced by most of the characters’ limited vocabulary.

Observe the Remarkable Verdure Quotes (Part 3.11)

The place was a mess. Everything had words on it. There were papers with words on them, and books, and even posters on the wall had words. Part 3.11

Her father looked like a crank. Part 3.11

‘He says the language is dying. He thinks words are being debased. So he tries to speak entirely in weird words and irony, so no one can simplify anything he says.’ (Violet about her father) Part 3.11

A Day in the Country (Part 3.12)

Violet and Titus have a drive in the country in Titus’ new upcar. They discuss their families and Violet explains that she is proud of her father for working hard and for pursuing something more academic. Titus has no such fondness for his own father. The country properties fill their feed with banner advertisements inviting them to visit. When they visit a farm it is a ‘filet mignon farm’, not that it contained any animals, only hedges made of meat with tubes pumping blood through them. This artificial farming seems typical in that nature has been replaced by efficient science; much like the removal of a forest to build an air farm, animals have been removed in the name of progress. Violet explains that she is not into the same efficiency but that if you delay gratification, that is, you don’t get what you want immediately, you will enjoy the thing all the more. This view is opposite to that of Titus and his friends, who are continuously shopping and moving, never waiting, and shows a depth to Violet’s character, exemplified in her willpower to order something she wants, yet booking the slowest possible shipping, and delaying opening the container when it arrives. Violet is also willing to talk about death as it makes things more special while alive remembering that one day it will end while, conversely, Titus and his friends lack such depth in their experiences; their ‘perfect’ worlds have no down side that would make the good times more meaningful. In some ways this is what they are seeking, like their parents in the brief moments of violence or choking. This is reiterated in the interlude where a description of their age is presented, suggesting there are no more dreams since they already possess all they dream about.

A Day in the Country Quotes (Part 3.12)

She said it was, that he worked real hard at it, and also worked real hard teaching. She was proud of him, even though he was — from what I could see? like, in my opinion? — an insane psychopath. (about Violet’s father) Part 3.12

She would wait for days until she couldn’t stand it anymore to take it out and try it on. Part 3.12

She said, ‘It makes good times even better when you know they’re going to end. Like grilled vegetables are better because some of them are partly soot.’ (Violet) Part 3.12

Nudging Again (Part 3.13)

Titus is ‘nudged’ in his sleep again, and dreams of a world where young girls are sewing and a young boy is beaten with the butt of a rifle. These are likely to be images from places that are manufacturing all the things he buys: the darker side to consumerism. Violet also is nudged and tries to find out by who, but the FeedTech customer service continually suggests new products instead of resolving the attempted privacy breach.

The feed interlude between chapters has an advertisement that implies, despite the saying ‘it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich guy to get into heaven’, the advertised car will get you through that needle and, despite another idiom that you can’t take your wealth with you when you die, concludes: ‘The Swarp XE-11: You can take it with you.’

Nudging Again Quotes (Part 3.13)

There, I’ll be sorting and sifting, and trying to make life as easy and interesting as possible for you and your friend and all of our excellent customers at FeedTech — making your dreams into hard fact™. (Nina from FeedTech support) Part 3.13

The Real Thing (Part 3.14)

Named ‘the real thing’ after a successful coca cola advertising campaign, this chapter follows Titus and his friends as they respond to the feed when it offers free coca cola if you repeatedly mention it amongst your friends. Violet is invited and the group meet. The group members are wearing clothes that look so worn that Titus is concerned that they have been injured. They explain that they are wearing the latest fashion, riot wear, and start to have a mock conversation inserting coke into the dialogue wherever possible. Violet doesn’t conform, still resisting the feed, and questions how coke is marketed so well. She also asks about the particular riot that they are imitating and uses words like ‘incite’ that the others use to make fun of her. They give in before they get the free products and decide to have some coke, obviously influenced by their own discussion. Violet wants to go home, disillusioned with the group as she cannot be herself around them. Titus is torn between Violet and the group.

The Real Thing Quotes (Part 3.14)

‘Yuh,’ said Loga. ‘It’s Riot Gear. It’s retro. It’s beat up to look like one of the big twentieth-century riots. It’s been big since earlier this week.’ Part 3.14

‘Oh, sorry. I thought it was good to use stupid, long words that no one can understand.’
Calista laughed and looked backward, going, ‘Shhh. She’ll hear you and have an alpoduffin … fleatcher.’ (Loga and Calista tease Violet) Part 3.14

Fight and Flight (Part 3.15)

Titus and Violet fight on the way home. Titus keeps calm but his words are hurtful. He suggests Violet shouldn’t show off by using long words, and questions if she is studying the group and not just being a part of it. She explains her feed is malfunctioning and it is serious. Titus moves to comfort her but she is so slouched she didn’t look huggable, a thought process which reveals his superficiality. She asks to drop in the upcar and then regain control, just to feel like they are falling, just to feel alive. They do.

Fight and Flight Quotes (Part 3.15)

‘You can be a little . . . You can . . . It’s kind of scary for people sometimes. It feels . . . It sometimes feels like you’re watching us, instead of being us.’ (Titus to Violet) Part 3.15

She said, ‘I want to feel something. Let’s feel vertigo together.’ (Violet) Part 3.15

So Much to Do (Part 3.16)

Violet and Titus discuss her situation. She talks about how there is a whole world that she wants to see and experience. Titus is lost in how to discuss the deeper issues about her possible death and what to do next, limited to describing only those things he has done; his lack of empathy or sympathy, noticeable.

So Much to Do Quotes (Part 3.16)

She said, ‘I want to go out and see the world. There’s so much. There’s . . . just so much.’ (Violet) Part 3.16

Seashore (Part 3.17)

Titus takes Violet to the seashore where they stand next to it but don’t go in because they don’t have time. The sea is dead and smells. Violet counters Titus’ suggestion that science might help her illness by reminding him that science is responsible for the death of the ocean and that it is not necessarily supportive of life. Violet symptoms are worsening, she suffers some paralysis at times, her foot or her face shutting down.

Seashore Quotes (Part 3.17)

I went, You know the part that’s the really ironic thing? The guy? The hacker? You almost agree with him. He completely fucked you over, and you almost agree with him. (Titus to Violet) Part 3.17

We watched it move around. It was dead, but colourful. It was blue when the sun hit it one way, and purple when the sun hit it another way, and sometimes yellow or green. We had on suits so we wouldn’t smell it. (The sea) Part 3.17

Limbo and Prayer (Part 3.18)

Without questioning why they have arrived, the lesions have become popular and the group chooses to have them enhanced, some in the group even finding lesions sexy because their feeds tell them they are attractive. The spread of disease like this is in contrast to the feed telling everyone that America is doing so well, that it is the most morally advanced country in the world, even as it continues to pollute the world, exploit others, annex the Moon and hand control of the people over to corporations.

It is revealed that Link is a clone of Abraham Lincoln, the reason that he isn’t as attractive as the others. In a world of designer babies, most parents try to choose good looking genes.

Limbo and Prayer Quotes (Part 3.18)

Calista got it done yesterday. Quendy made this face. Now that lesions are ‘brag’. Now that they’re the spit. (about lesions) Part 3.18

Flat Hope (Part 3.19)

Titus and Violet head to a party, and discuss what Violet has been reading. She has read that the natural world is still prevailing in places, fungus in cable zones and animals in the ducts; the idea that the natural world will still hold on is a sign of hope in a world that is systematically removing the natural for man’s progress.
At the party, members of the group are revealing their new fashionable lesions and cuts. Violet is shocked and sees this as a sign that things are going too far, that the group will follow the feed beyond its own rational thoughts. She also despairs that if this isn’t the end of the world, the scary thing is that it might stay this shallow and uneducated forever.

Flat Hope Quotes (Part 3.19)

‘The natural world is so adaptable,’ she said. ‘So adaptable you wonder what’s natural.’ (Violet) Part 3.19

The only thing worse than the thought it may all come tumbling down is the thought that we may go on like this forever. (Violet) Part 3.19

Our Duty to the Party (Part 3.20)

The party continues and the group pay a game similar to ‘spin the bottle’, where something is spun and the spinner and the person that it points to having to kiss. Titus knows that Violet doesn’t want to play but sits in the group with her. Marty spins and it points to Violet, he starts to make moves and says that they are going to kiss. Violet stops, coming to the end of her tolerance for their shallow lifestyle, and begins to speak directly to them, knowing that they will not be able to handle the truth. She exhausts herself telling them that they are partying in ignorance while others are starving, that they are the feed, that they have become monsters trying to fit in with the trends. Then she collapses. Titus accompanies her to the hospital, knowing that this is a significant event and that the ‘party is over’, meaning he can’t ignore the truth and that being with Violet would mean facing the truth and leaving his friends.

Our Duty to the Party Quotes (Part 3.20)

‘Can I tell you? We are hovering in the air while people are starving. This is obvious! Obvious! We’re playing games, and our skin is falling off.’ (Violet) Part 3.20

‘You don’t have the feed! You are feed!’ (Violet to the group) Part 3.20

…. and suddenly I realized, The party is over. Part 3.20