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Terms
Short for malfunctioning, being “in mal” is the futuristic equivalent of using drugs to get high. People who have feeds implanted can visit “mal websites” and download a software that makes their feeds malfunction in a way that is pleasurable. When people are “in mal,” they start to shudder, stumble and even hallucinate.
Mal Quotes in Feed
The Feed quotes below are all either spoken by Mal or refer to Mal. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 4: 76.3%
Quotes
You are such a shithead. You don't know what happened to me this morning. And the news. Titus—this morning . . I can't believe in the middle of all this, you went and got malfunctioned. You are such an asshole and a shithead.
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Get the entire Feed LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mal Term Timeline in Feed
The timeline below shows where the term Mal appears in Feed. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 3: The Others in Mal
...walks to the bathroom, Link and Marty find him and tell him it’s time to malfunction. Titus hesitates and says, “not tonight” because Violet won’t want to. Link and Marty shrug...
(full context)
Part 3: A Day in the Country
...home. He sees his family members using their feeds to dream. His parents are “going mal” and Smell Factor is dreaming about talking giraffes. On his own feed, Titus learns that...
(full context)
Part 3: Our Duty to the Party
...and Titus come down from the attic, passing people making out and other people “in mal.” Downstairs, they find Link and other friends playing spin the bottle. Quendy spins, and the...
(full context)
Part 4: 76.3%
...doesn’t reply. Titus and his friends play volleyball. Then, Titus suggests that they all get mal. Link and Marty are surprised, but they agree.
(full context)
The three friends go inside and go to a mal site. They download the mal, and suddenly Titus feels like colored bricks are falling down....
(full context)
...he is. He repeats Violet’s name again and again, and Violet asks, “are you in mal?” Titus says he’s going to come to Violet right now, but Violet tells him not...
(full context)
...waiting outside. She tells him not to come in, since her father will know he’s mal. Titus tells Violet that her to-do list will take about five days in total. Violet...
(full context)
