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Part 1: The Nose Grid
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Feed, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corporations and Consumerism
Apathy, Happiness, and Satisfaction
Resistance
Class and Segregation
The Environment
Summary
Analysis
The girl, Titus learns, has come to the moon without any friends, even though it’s spring break. Her name is Violet. The friends invite Violet to party with them—they’re all tired, but they don’t want to admit it, since they’re on the moon.
As before, Titus and his friends refuse to acknowledge that they need rest for fear of being seen as “lame.” Violet is intriguing because she’s an outsider who is nonetheless confident enough, it would seem, to go on spring break alone.
Themes
The group goes to a bar that Marty thinks might let them drink without IDs, but the bar turns out to have been replaced with a mall. They decide to shop at the mall, but soon it seems “sad and boring.” They take a cab back to the hotel, passing some kids who are “broadcasting slogans,” such as “chip in my head? I’m better off dead!”
The moon continues to “suck,” because it’s been commodified to the point where it has turned into another boring mall. The passage also shows that some people in the novel want to protest the existence of feeds (but the fact that they’re “broadcasting” their message suggests that they may also have these chips in their heads).
Themes
Back at the hotel, the friends try to break into their minibar. Titus notices that Violet seems bored. The others complain that there’s no alcohol, and Marty suggests that they all “malfunction” instead. Violet becomes even more uncomfortable. Online, Calista tells the guys, “This girl is meg un-into it.” They decide to go to the Rumble Spot “unslammed” (meaning sober) instead.
Marty’s suggestion about “malfunctioning” implies that, in the future, people get high by downloading software that stops their feeds from working properly. Notice, also, that the characters can communicate privately using their feeds (hence the “broadcasting” in the previous section).
Themes
At the Rumble Spot, there are lots of people wearing expensive shorts, which Titus’s feed advertises to him. Titus “chats” Violet, asking if she dances. He notices that she seems “uncomfortable.” She chats that she’s not used to going to the moon. Titus explains that he’s been to Mars, which was “dumb.” Violet seems to find this ridiculous.
This passage establishes the dynamic between Titus and Violet, with Titus being the more experienced but also less curious person, and Violet seeming to be the more creative, adventurous one. The characters’ feeds allow them to chat privately with one another instead of speaking.
Themes
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Suddenly, an old-looking man bumps into Titus and yells, “We enter a time of calamity!” Link explains that the man is “completely fuguing.” The man touches Titus’s neck, and suddenly, Titus begins broadcasting, “We enter a time of calamity.” Everyone in the club begins broadcasting this message, over and over again.
The old man seems to be some kind of hacker who is interfering with Titus’s feed. Although Titus regards this person as a madman, it’s hard not to agree with his point. The society that Anderson has depicted is in a state of calamity, even if nobody seems to notice. Link’s comment about “fuguing” isn’t given any further explanation, but the term fugue connotes a dissociative mental state.
Themes
The police show up and attack the old man with “stunners.” They explain that they’re going to have to “shut off” Titus and his friends.
Part One ends with Titus’s feed being shut off, presumably so that they can be repaired. Because the feeds have been so central to the story so far, this ending suggests a major shift is about to occur.
Themes
