Part 2 – Eden

Awake (Part 2.1)

This chapter, aptly named ‘Awake’, depicts the time when Titus wakes up in the hospital but also metaphorically follows the idea of an ‘awakening’: a shift in perception from a feed-dependent life to a chance to see the world as it really is. Titus’ first thought is for his ‘credit’, a sign of his dependence on his wealth and its place in his life, but he can’t find his credit. Then he tries to locate where he is however his Lunar GPS isn’t connected, showing that without technology he is literally and symbolically lost. Turning to his friends and family he attempts to chat, but communication is lost. He is alone in the real world, his eyes open, ‘awake’.

Awake Quotes (Part 2.1)

The first thing I felt was no credit. I tried to touch my credit, but there was nothing there. Part 2.1

… I was currently disconnected from feednet, of course, and I was starting to get scared, … Part 2.1

So I opened my eyes. Part 2.1

College Try (Part 2.2)

An American expression, used originally in a sporting context, the ‘old college try’ implies having a youthful attempt at something extremely difficult. In this case it shows Titus, now separated from technology, turn his attention to his physical world. He starts to stare at the nurse and suggests to her that he would be interested in being with her.

College Try Quotes (Part 2.2)

We’d been up for fifteen or twenty minutes. Everything in my head was quiet. It was fucked. Part 2.2

Boring (Part 2.3)

The group is awake, but is instantly bored. Without the feed, Titus looks at a picture of a boat but is frustrated as it is stagnant in his view. He thinks it is not going anywhere and that nothing is about to happen. This sums up the life for the young group, it desires to be in a constant state of movement: buying, watching, chatting or getting ‘mal’.

Boring Quotes (Part 2.3)

I couldn’t find anything interesting about that picture at all. There was nothing that was about to happen or had just happened. Part 2.3

Still Boring (Part 2.4)

The youth’s parents have been contacted and the group is informed that it will be offline for a while. The hacker, described by police as a ‘naysayer’ who constantly opposes ideas put forward, has been identified. The group members are restless and feel that their heads are empty. This highlights that without the constant information and noise of the feed there is little substance to the group’s inner thought lives.

Still Boring Quotes (Part 2.4)

They said that they had identified him, and that he was a hacker and a naysayer of the worst kind. Part 2.4

Suddenly, our heads felt real empty. Part 2.4

Missing the Feed (Part 2.5)

Titus misses his feed. He reflects how in the past people had to carry their feed outside of themselves like portable computers. His understanding suggests that it was sold like a product with a pitch that it would help people be smarter by having instant access to limitless information. However he admits that in his day it is mostly used for entertainment. The lure of being smart without having to work is typical of the privileged lifestyle the youths enjoy. The feed is also seen to be a corporate machine that synthesises information about its users to sell products. Titus further examines the painting. There is nobody on the boat in the painting to look out at the horizon, much like his own society with nobody looking toward the future, to the effects of the feed and the environmental damage it is causing.

Missing the Feed Quotes (Part 2.5)

That’s one of the great things about the feed — that you can be supersmart without ever working. Part 2.5

Everything we think and feel is taken in by the corporations, mainly by data ones like Feedlink and OnFeed and American Feedware, and they make a special profile, one that’s keyed just to you, and then they give it to their branch companies, or other companies buy them, and they can get to know what it is we need, so all you have to do is want something and there’s a chance it will be yours. Part 2.5

Cache and Carry (Part 2.6)

A play on words from the shopping expression ‘cash and carry’, the inclusion of the computer term ‘cache’ shows how consumer experiences have moved to the digital world. Titus has a regret that he missed the sales that would have been on while his feed was disconnected. He ignores the information left on his feed that he was hacked, apparently unconcerned about the event and its dangers, more concerned about missing the chance to purchase products.

Cache and Carry Quotes (Part 2.6)

One was a message from the crazy asshole, which said, You have been hacked by the Coalition of Pity. The other was a good sale at Weatherbee & Crotch, which, by this time, I had probably missed. Part 2.6

Night and Boring (Part 2.7)

The group is still at the hospital. Loga comes by but appears to be more connected to her virtual world than the group at the hospital. She m-chats with others back on Earth and at one stage changes a hairstyle, no doubt based on information she saw on the feed. Despite being disconnected, the other girls mimic her hairstyle, accenting their fear of missing out. Titus meets Violet, who is upset. Her attempt to conform and enjoy an experience like other people her age has backfired and she is now in hospital. The fear of missing out pesters both those who are without the feed and Violet, who was pressured to conform to behave like others. Titus finds some satisfaction in just ‘being still’.

Night and Boring Quotes (Part 2.7)

Once, she went to the bathroom, casual-like, and came back with her hair parted a different place. Calista and Quendy watched her. Later, without saying anything, they went and did theirs different like that, too. Part 2.7

She said, ‘You go try to have fun like a normal person, a normal person with a real life — just for one night you want to live, and suddenly you’re screwed.’ (Violet to Titus) Part 2.7

So we just sat there, together, and we didn’t say anything. And it wasn’t bad. Part 2.7

Father (Part 2.8)

Titus’ father arrives and is businesslike and powerful in his actions. The fact that he doesn’t stay long suggests the relationships between people have become more superficial in the future. Like Loga, who visits but can’t give the group her full attention or sympathy, Titus’ father’s visit is brief and practical. His language, reminiscent of a teen Californian surfer, implies that the feed has reduced the quality of communication and language. Violet is not comfortable about explaining why her parents aren’t there, suggesting that they are busy.

Father Quotes (Part 2.8)

When my father got there the next morning, he didn’t stay long. He was being very powerful and businesslike. He was dressed up, and he looked like he was ready to give some orders and sort things out. He looked like everyone around us was stupid and he was going to roll up his sleeves and do some real clarity work. Part 2.8

‘This is . . . Dude,’ he said. ‘Dude, this is some way bad shit.’ (Titus’ father) Part 2.8

Salad days, with Sneeze Guard (Part 2.9)

The group is still disconnected from the feed. The members behave in a way that seems more natural, inventing a game using the medical equipment and laughing and talking amongst themselves. The short time in the hospital has seen them disconnect from technology and become more aware of each other and their surroundings; they reminisce about fashions that have come and gone such as the one when everyone dressed like they were in an elderly convalescent home. Titus and Violet spend time together just sitting and eating, Titus surprised to find it fun.

Salad days, with Sneeze Guard Quotes (Part 2.9)

It was the beginning of a great day, one of the greatest days of my life. We all played the dart game, and we laughed and sang ‘I’ll Sex You In’. Everyone was smiling, and it was skip. Part 2.9

… everyone wanted to dress like they were in an elderly convalescent home … Part 2.9

The Garden (Part 2.10)

Titus and Violet spend time together as the group pass time playing games in the hospital. Violet has a separate appointment with the doctor and appears distressed after the meeting. She takes Titus to a large window and they stare at a huge vine plant influenced by a broken pipe. Titus can see beauty in it describing it like ‘a squid in love with the sky’. Violet notices that Titus uses metaphors even though his group doesn’t. She finds it attractive that he is more intelligent than them. They kiss.

The Garden Quotes (Part 2.10)

Violet came back from the doctor. She was all intense looking. Part 2.10

She rubbed my head, and she went, ‘You’re the only one of them that uses metaphor’. She was staring at me, and I was staring at her, and I moved toward her, and we kissed. (Titus and Violet) Part 2.10

Dead Language (Part 2.11)

Violet and Titus get to know each other better as they wait in the hospital. The lack of feed gives them time to form a relationship that is deeper than the one that started when Titus first saw her in the club. They discuss Violet’s father, who teaches ‘dead languages’ that were used in basic computers but are rarely used now. Titus finds out that Violet writes with pen and paper and can also read, he on the other hand only reads a little. The example she gives from her father’s class is a computer way of writing, ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’, ironic in the face of the technology that has taken over society.

Dead Language Quotes (Part 2.11)

‘He’s a college professor. He teaches the dead languages.’ (Violet about her father) Part 2.11

‘They’re languages that were once important but that nobody uses anymore. They haven’t been used for a long time, except by historians.’ Part 2.11

I looked at her funny. ‘You write?’ I said. ‘With a pen?’ (Titus and Violet) Part 2.11

‘It’s the first thing my dad teaches the students on the first day,’ she said. ‘It means, “I came, I saw, I conquered”.’ (Violet) Part 2.11

Release (Part 2.12)

The group gets it feed back. Titus and the others cheer as virtual advertisements fill their minds. The first ad for a Ford Laputa is a reference to Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliver’s Travels. The Laputa were a society that used their superior technology to control the rest of the world. This single word reference sums up the feed and the world of the youths who have control and power due to this technology. They feel like the feed is rain pouring over them and they dance in ecstasy. Violet and Titus find each other’s hands as they dance. The chapter is littered with advertisements and newsfeed snippets, giving a sense that the feed is instantly bombarding the group, in stark contrast to the preceding chapters which were slowed down and highlighted beauty in art and nature.

Release Quotes (Part 2.12)

The Ford Laputa. Sky and Suburb Monthly says there’s no other upcar like it. And we agree. Part 2.12

And the feed was pouring in on us now, all of it, all of the feednet, and we could feel all of our favorites, and there were our files, and our m-chatlines. It came down on us like water. It came own like frickin’ spring rains, and we were dancing in it. Part 2.12

In other news, protests continued today against the American annexation of the Moon. Several South American countries including Brazil and Argentina have submitted requests to join the Global Alliance in response. Part 2.12