Summary

Part III, “Among the Netted,” opens on the day when Gwen arrived at Net U. Grant and Eleanor accompanied Gwen to the campus where they met her new roommates, Sylvie and Pink. Grant described the way the girls, who had never met a Surplus before, treated Gwen politely but seemed shocked by her “mismatched parents” (116). Their interactions immediately revealed class differences and showed how little each group knew about the other’s experiences. Since the Netted only used the AutoNet, Grant explained, Sylvie was not aware of AuntNettie. Sylvie mentioned that she used a MediaChip, a voluntary device unlike the RegiChip that Surplus wore by law.

While setting up Gwen’s dorm, her parents remarked on the fact that she had never learned to make her own bed at home, because HouseBots did the chores, but that at Net U, housekeeping was considered...