Theme Of Ugliness In William Mckibben's 'Ugly'

In “Ugly”, William McKibben highlights the understated word “ugly”. He feels “ugly” has lost its powerful meaning. To show true ugliness, he spends time detailing spikes used to prevent homeless people from sitting. McKibben views ugliness as any gesture that place one's comfort over another’s and says “go somewhere else” to that person. Placing your arm on both armrests in the movie theater is ugly. When theater 2 already has every seat occupied, taking both armrests places our comfort over our neighbor’s. While we grip two cupholders as Rey and Finn narrowly dodge laser beams, our neighbors cradle their buttery, family sized popcorn and fizzing, extra large coke as we shake and squeal. While we watch Star Wars with glee, our neighbors sits without the comfort of an armrest. Placing your arm on both armrests in the movie theater is ugly because it is a choice to be impolite. For example, walking through a door without holding it for the person behind is not wrong. However, ugliness comes from knowing it is polite to keep the door open and choosing to walk in first anyways. Likewise, taking the both armrests is not wrong. However, ugliness comes from knowing the armrests might be used by our neighbors and claiming both anyways. Though, no one says anything. They just cradle their popcorn. Everyone deserves respect. When driving
Between fifteen dollar Star Wars tickets, eight dollar Coca-Cola, and sixteen dollar family sized popcorn, taking both armrests might be the best way to justify our spending. We paid for the seats. We deserve to sprawl out on our padded thrones. Naturally, the inclination to claim the armrests rises when no one use them. Those armrests were placed there for a reason. It would be awkward to have a theater filled with people yet have unused armrests. When no one is willing to utilize the comforts provided to us, placing our arms on both armrests becomes an appreciative