Symbols in "Uglies"
Judy Burnside
Mrs. McClure
English 11 Honors, Period 7
3 Jan 2013
Have you ever wanted to be perfect? Have you ever wanted a perfect society? Imagine a place where everyone was equally beautiful, and there were no responsibilities or worries. A place where you were given everything you could’ve ever asked for. If you had a place this luxurious, would you still want it? Sometimes we think our lives would be fulfilled if we were smarter, or prettier, or more athletic. It is these times that we neglect to see how great our lives already are. This is the theme of Scott Westerfeld’s novel, Uglies. Like all great writers, Scott Westerfeld supports the theme of his novel with symbolism that is hidden in every character and event. Uglies takes place in futuristic Northern California. In this story, society is divided into two main groups, the “Uglies” and the “Pretties”. These two groups are separated by a river that runs between their cities. The reader first meets the main character, Tally, when she is sneaking across this river on a bridge to see her friend Peris. Tally quotes, “The old bridge stretched massively across the water, its huge iron framework as black as the sky. The bridge was silent, and had always seemed very wise…Tally pulled the fishing line until it turned into a wet, knotted cord. Tally then pulled the rope and lashed it to the usual tree. One time the escape rope had pulled loose from the tree and both she and Peris swung downward into the icy river. She smiled at the memory, realizing she would rather be on that expedition-soaking wet and freezing-than dry and warm tonight, but alone” (Loc 80). This quote not only shows Tally’s route of escape, but the emptiness she feels from the separation between her and her best friend, Peris. The quote also shows the hidden symbolism in the bridge. Standing over a society where everything is constantly improving, the bridge represents the past for Pretties and Uglies. It holds the same architecture from
Mrs. McClure
English 11 Honors, Period 7
3 Jan 2013
Have you ever wanted to be perfect? Have you ever wanted a perfect society? Imagine a place where everyone was equally beautiful, and there were no responsibilities or worries. A place where you were given everything you could’ve ever asked for. If you had a place this luxurious, would you still want it? Sometimes we think our lives would be fulfilled if we were smarter, or prettier, or more athletic. It is these times that we neglect to see how great our lives already are. This is the theme of Scott Westerfeld’s novel, Uglies. Like all great writers, Scott Westerfeld supports the theme of his novel with symbolism that is hidden in every character and event. Uglies takes place in futuristic Northern California. In this story, society is divided into two main groups, the “Uglies” and the “Pretties”. These two groups are separated by a river that runs between their cities. The reader first meets the main character, Tally, when she is sneaking across this river on a bridge to see her friend Peris. Tally quotes, “The old bridge stretched massively across the water, its huge iron framework as black as the sky. The bridge was silent, and had always seemed very wise…Tally pulled the fishing line until it turned into a wet, knotted cord. Tally then pulled the rope and lashed it to the usual tree. One time the escape rope had pulled loose from the tree and both she and Peris swung downward into the icy river. She smiled at the memory, realizing she would rather be on that expedition-soaking wet and freezing-than dry and warm tonight, but alone” (Loc 80). This quote not only shows Tally’s route of escape, but the emptiness she feels from the separation between her and her best friend, Peris. The quote also shows the hidden symbolism in the bridge. Standing over a society where everything is constantly improving, the bridge represents the past for Pretties and Uglies. It holds the same architecture from
Cited: Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. Print. Analysis Questions 1. I think I stuck to my original topic throughout the paper. 2. The hardest part of this paper was staying inside of the page limit. I had to summarize the book so the quotes would make sense, and that took a lot of space and left me very little to analyze. 3. The first change I made was reducing my summary of the book to as few words as possible. The second change I made was adding on to the analysis of each symbol at the end of each paragraph. 4. I’m most proud of this entire paper. I feel like my writing has improved greatly and I believe this paper will have a sky-high score.