As a symbol, hair is associated with malfettos in the novel. As the blood fever infected its survivors 10 years prior, it made itself known through its impact on hair: “…our hair and lashes flitted from one color to another” (4). Some child survivors became marked malfettos once the fever passed. The marking left by the fever in Adelina and Enzo is their hair color. Adelina’s hair is a changing, unnatural silver: “While my sister’s hair remained a glossy black, the strands of my hair and lashes turned a strange ever-shifting silver…” (4). That Adelina describes her hair in juxtaposition with her sister’s elevates the envy she feels over Violetta’s higher status as a recovered fever victim (ironically, since Violetta eventually reveals she is an unmarked malfetto).

Enzo’s marking is also his hair color: “It looks dark red in the light, so dark it’s almost black, a rich shade of blood that I’ve never seen before […] It is a color not of this world” (46). The unnaturalness of their hair immediately identifies them; they cannot hide it except by hoods, headscarves, and disguises. That both are marked by the same fever reaction foreshadows their emotional connection.

Adelina’s hair symbolizes her malfetto identity in deeper ways as well. Disguising her malfetto identity at the brothel, she must hide her silver hair in Tamouran headscarves. This symbolizes the act of covering a “flaw” for the sake of others’ reaction, despite the significant role the “flaw” plays in one’s true identity. Later, upset over Enzo’s death, Adelina chops her hair off, furious that she lacks normalcy and steadiness; all she feels is bitterness and monstrous rage, built up from society’s, Teren’s, her father’s, and Enzo’s treatment. With this action, Adelina’s hair connects to the theme of The Concept of Monstrosity and Society’s Role in Creating It.