Uglies Westerfeld Analysis

Three hundred years from now, one girl by the name of Tally must decide from being surgically beautiful, and living the rest of her life being ugly but with her friend. In the book Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Tally begins as a 15-year-old girl who eagerly awaits her 16th birthday where she will turn pretty. On the day of her “Sweet 16”, the Special Circumstances people pick her up rather than the doctors. Everybody receives the surgery in which doctors basically cosmetically reconstruct him or her on their 16th birthday. Some people, however, run away to “The Smoke” where nobody is pretty and they live just like normal human beings. This journal will consist of Tally’s search for comfort and reassurance, friendship, and her search for the physical
location of The Smoke. Shortly after Special Circumstances told Tally she would not be Pretty until she ratted out Shay and all of the other residents of the Smoke, her parents came to visit her at her dorm.
She was always comforted by her fathers Middle Pretty structure and overall look. She firmly believes that all Middle Pretties have the answers to everything, are the wisest people, and always know what to do. She noticed her fathers reassuring glare break for a split second after she told him she was considering going to the smoke with Shay never becoming pretty rather than being pretty and ruining the lives of all citizens of the smoke. Her parents obviously wanted their daughter to be normal as are the rest of the citizens of their home city. They didn’t want to be known as “The Parents Who’s Daughter Ran Away to Live in the Wilderness.” Tally has not yet made a decision whether or not to stay in the Smoke or return to the city after she sells out everybody and the location of the
Smoke.
Tally goes on an adventure during the first few chapters of the book to New Pretty Land to attempt to see and talk to her best friend, Peris. She meets up with him in an elevator and they discuss how they will be friends again after she receives the operation to make her Pretty. The conversation exhilarates her enough that she accepts her fate and jumps off of the roof of the building to escape from all of the urbane “new pretties.” She befriends Shay near the river almost immediately after she parachutes off of the roof. She teaches Tally how to hoverboard and trick the hoverboard into doing things it is not normally meant to do. She desperately wants to be Pretty so she will not be lonely being the only Ugly person of her friends left. She wants to be with Peris, who was her best friend before he turned Pretty three months before tally was supposed to. Pretties and uglies do not live in the same part of town. In three months, after she does turn pretty and they live in the same part of town, they will be best friends once again. Special Circumstances picks Tally up and forces her to decide between betraying her friend, Shay, and receiving the surgery to become a New Pretty.
Tally decides to “rat out” her friend. She departs 3 days after her 16th birthday and must arrive fast enough so nobody becomes suspicious that she arrived late and is still an “Ugly”.The directions are based off of she and Shay’s experiences together. It is sort of written in code. The officials from Special Circumstances loaned Tally one of their hoverboards that are capable of flying much faster than any board that any other person has so she can make good time travelling to the Smoke. Tally has to make a few educated guesses along the way and ends up choosing the correct route all the way to the meeting area where Shay and David, the ‘mayor’ of the Smoke, will lead her the rest of the way to civilization.
Tally had many searches throughout the plot of this book. Her search for friends, comfort and reassurance, and The Smoke are only a few on the list. She is in quite the predicament between betraying her new best friend and never turning pretty. I have not read far enough ahead to be able to write about what she chooses, but it is beginning to look like she will choose staying in the smoke with Shay and being ugly
forever.