Research Project Progress Report: Week 5

        This week I did my rough draft of my research paper. The most valuable thing I learned was definitely not to leave things last minute so I don't get stuck doing work while I'm sick next time. The only challenges I faced was making my rough draft clean and coherent. Every time I start writing something its mostly brain vomit and I always have to go back and organize everything so it doesn't all look like random information everywhere. So the fact that this was such a long writing process everything came out kind of messy and random despite me trying to stick to my outline - I couldn't help just writing the next thing that came to my mind no matter how irrelevant it was. My goals for this coming week is to get a lot of work done on polishing my rough draft because it isn't anything close that I would actually consider passing in for a final. I'm going to want to go back and find the right spots to add in more things that I felt I left out the first time writing it, so its not just going to be plain editing and rearranging things. I feel like I got the hardest part out of the way which was get all this information down but I still feel like I have a good ways to go before a final.

Research Project Progress Report: Week 3

        This week I found a few more sources and finished my outline. I had a hard time starting my outline but once the ideas started flowing I was able to get it all done all at once. I learned that it would have been a lot harder if I had to make up the whole essay as I went along because coming up with the structure was already hard enough that trying to structure and write your thoughts and findings all at once would have been very messy. The one challenge I faced this week was meeting the deadline for the annotated bibliography...I still have to go back and finish that -cough-. My goals for next week is to get a start on that rough draft (which won't be anything I'll be able to finish in one day) and also to just finish the annotated bibliography so I can get that out of the way instead of just putting it off.

Research Project Progress Report: Week 2

        This week I went through to pick the sources I wanted to mainly use and started my annotated bibliography for them. I learned that I didn't have as much usable sources as I thought I did so I had to go back and look for more. A challenge that I'm facing is being able to come up with different types of sources. The easiest ones that might actually have relevant information are usually articles online. I'm hoping to find at least a few video sources like a documentary or an interview to add variety to my sources. A new question that emerged is what types of sources could I actually find that would relate to this topic that doesn't just include articles? My goals for this upcoming week is to find the last few sources I need to add variety and finish my annotated bibliography with them. I will also need to make sure that in the end my annotated bibliography is strong enough for me to do my outline for Monday next week.

Research Project Progress Report: Week 1

1. This week I found several sources from the opposing views database. From looking through these sources I learned that a lot of sub topics within "addiction to technology" have contrasting ideas. For example, I was able to find an article on how internet can disrupt learning as well as an article on how internet can improve learning. A challenge I faced was finding specific sources for my topic considering it's pretty broad and general. This lead me to question what it is that I want to focus on within the "addiction to technology" topic because it can mean a lot of different things and just searching for sources through the key phrase "addiction to technology" does not get me down on any specific path to take with my research. My goals for next week will be to possibly find a few more sources and then weed through all the ones I feel aren't really what i'm trying to focus on. Hopefully through eliminating and grouping sources I'll be able to get a better sense of a specific focus and a more direct path that I want to take in continuing my research.

The Pretties #8

“ ‘Your father always suspected that being pretty-minded is simply the natural state for most people. They want to be vapid and lazy and vain’ - Maddy glanced at Tally - ‘and selfish. It only takes a twist to lock in that part of their personalities. He always thought that some people could think their way out of it.”
Pg 708

Reaction: It turns out in the end that when Tally took the pills she took one herself and gave the other to Zane. The pill that Zane took contained nanos that ate the lesions away, while Tally took the pill that was supposed to stop the nanos after they finished off the lesions, which consequently left Zane with brain damage after the nanos weren't stopped by the second pill. But this meant that the pill that Tally took did nothing when taken alone, so Maddy figures that Tally was somehow able to 'think' her way out of the clutches of the lesions. Whats interesting is how Maddy says that it's almost like human nature to actually want to be air headed and happy. It really makes it seem that they're really not changing much in people's minds their only making sure to keep prominent a trait that most people are already born with.


Analysis: The author finishes off the book with the twist that Tally was able to cure herself without any use of the pill. He also criticizes traits of people in the quote that its the 'natural state for people to want to be vapid, lazy, and vain'. The really important part is how he describes it as 'locking in that part of their personality' rather than changing us to make us that way. It really makes us stop and think if that is what we're really like today in our own society. When you look at it, its not hard to see how some people seem to want to be ignorant, and detached from reality simply because its easier that way. Most people just want the easier life possible and what better way to do it than to dumb ourselves down and ignore the world in order to shut everything off. We'll always be 'happy' with the right amount of ignorance.

The Pretties #7

“This had been the place where the operation had been developed, from which the first test subjects had been drawn. The purpose of the brain lesions was to deter violence and conflict, so who better to experiment on than people caught up in an endless blood feud? Like rabid enemies in a locked room, the tribes trapped within the ring of little men would reveal anything you wanted to know about the very human origins of the bloodshed.”
Pg 628


Reaction: This part was probably the most least expected thing out of the whole book. I kept trying to figure out what the reservation was all about and how it could have possible been out there in the wild this whole time without anybody else finding out or without them eventually drifting into the but the whole thing flew right over my head. Apparently the reservation is a very carefully constructed 'experiment' that's constantly being run by city doctors. They keep these 2 tribes in a constant feud inside this reservation in order to study the violent human behavior so they'll know exactly what to condition people against back in the city. The wild people are kept in the reservation by what is referenced as 'the ring of little men' which are really little robotic voodoo dolls tied to the trees all around the reservations that sends a shock wave of pain to anyone that comes near them. Its crazy to think that the operation most likely originated from this case study.


Analysis: The author shows here the roots of the operation. By studying any destructive and negative behavior of the 2 feuding tribes in the reservation they were able to create the lesions to do exactly what they wanted to everyone's brains so they harbor any of the traits of the wild people in the reservation. It really shows what lengths these people will go to, to create their idea of a 'perfect' society. They use these people and let them kill each other out in the wild and study them in a form of some twisted experiment just so they can go back to the city and create their brain lesions based off of their findings. Every time you think you're starting to have this society figured out the author throws another crazy secret behind this civilization that just opens up a brand new group of questions that keeps you reading, looking for answers.

The Pretties #6

“God, he’d said. The old Rusty word for their invisible superheroes in the sky.”
Pg 523


Reaction: I never really noticed how there wasn't really any mention of religion in this series up until this point - apparently it's nonexistent. In this part Tally crash lands in some reservation after taking the pill and and running away from the city. She meets some wild people so the reservation actually ends up reminding me of the reservation from Brave New World. One of the reservation native talks about God and it leaves Tally referring to God as an 'invisible superhero in the sky'. Its definitely weird to have God referred to as that and it makes me question what kind of impact the lack of religion has on this society, whether good or bad. I would think that by not having religion it might make people think more logically by it might also eliminate just one more belief that would divide people and cause them to lash out against things.


Analysis: Here the author brings up the importance or religion, or in this case the lack thereof. Religion is completely nonexistent in this civilization and the main reason for that might tie back to Dr. Cables philosophy. She talked about how the 'Special Circumstances were the cure to human being's destructive behavior and negative impact on the earth. Religion, even though is something that very important for a lot of people and brings many people together, is the also source of many differences between people. If religion were to be allowed in this society then that would be something that could be different in people which would completely go against what this society is all about. Nobody fights or disagrees because everybody is the exact same way. Religion could not exist in this civilization because it would just create differences and separation which would eventually lead to society possibly going back to everyone fighting and competing against each other which is exactly what people like Dr. Cable fight against.

The Pretties #5

“ ‘Left alone, human beings are a plague. They multiply relentlessly, consuming every resource, destroying everything they touch. Without the operation, human beings always become Rusties’...
She reached out and stroked Tally’s cheek, her fingers strangely hot in the winter air. ‘Special Circumstances...we are the cure.’ “
Pg 280-281


Reaction: This part is kind of creepy because it has a certain amount of truth behind it. Dr. Cable is kind of right when she says that humans 'multiply relentlessly, consuming every resource, destroying everything they touch'. But to think that the cure to that is the hollow beings that they call 'pretties' is kind of crazy. Why should there even be a cure to the way we are in the first place? I don't agree with a lot of the things we as people do but that doesn't mean we need to tweak everyone's brain into mulch to solve that. It would make a lot more sense to try to better ourselves in our own terms instead of living these empty lives that the 'pretties' carry out.


Analysis: This passage shows the thought process and what you might call 'justifications' of the 'Special Circumstances'. They feel like in the end they are just helping everybody and that's their job to maintain this type of structure that they enforce in this society. The author also calls out on the biggest problems we have today which is our exponential population increase, resource overuse, and war. The parallelism between our society and theirs is that by taking away all the things we do wrong today they add completely new things that they themselves do wrong. The 2 civilizations are almost polar opposites of each other contrasting each other's goods and bads.

The Pretties #4

“Tally blinked. It hadn’t crossed her mind to wonder about the jackets everything was always ultra-safe in New Pretty Town, otherwise new pretties would kill themselves left and right.”
Pg 271


Reaction: This quote is so funny because it shows how stupid and reckless the 'new pretties' are. They literally need a padded room equivalent of a city in order to just keep these people alive. It really seems like either these people have no care for their lives since they're constantly so reckless or they now how safety-proofed the whole city is so then they have no reason not to be reckless. Either way it just shows how much 'Special Circumstances' need to be constantly babysitting these air-heads of a population they created.


Analysis: The author is showing how vulnerable and needy this population of people really is. On top of the constant surveillance they are kept in to make sure that they aren't doing anything that might threaten their way of life they also have to figuratively bubble wrap the whole city since these people are too stupid to know how to not get themselves killed all the time. This shows a huge weakness of this civilization - the 'pretties' have to be on a 24/7 non stop baby sitting service for every single thing they do. The thing is they make people seem like their independent when in fact they depend on the city for every single thing their whole lives. The people basically become nothing but little new born babies for the city to watch over, and it really makes you wonder 'For what point?' There seems to be very little purpose to life in this civilization when looking at things from the outside.

The Pretties #3

“ ‘But this is what I’ve been waiting for. A way to escape prettiness, to be bubbly all the time!’
Í wasn’t waiting for this,’ Tally cried. Í didn’t want anything but to be a Crim!’
He pointed at the letter. Ýes, you did.’
‘That wasn’t me. She says so herself.’
‘But you- ‘
‘Maybe I changed my mind!’
Ýou didn’t change your mind. The operation did.’ “
Pg 198


Reaction: In this part of the book Tally is given the untested pills that are supposed to cure the lesions in her brain by one of the people she knew from 'The Smoke'. Before Tally volunteered to give herself up and turn herself pretty in order to test the pills she had Shay write her a letter addressed to her to convince herself to take the pills after the lesions had taken affect on her brain. It's really shocking to see that Tally has no memory of making this decision and writing that letter. I thought for sure when finishing the first book that she would be able to stick to her decision to taking the pills and that the letter would help bring back her memory. Unfortunately the lesions has her totally convinced that she wants to stay a 'pretty' even after the things that Zane has gotten her to realize.


Analysis: This part shows how much the lesions makes you want to be the way you are. Even though Tally only went back to the city in order to take the pills to see if they could possibly cure everyone of their lesions she has no memory of that. And the letter also was to tell herself that she would be thinking differently after the operation and that its crucial to take the pills Tally's brain is to wired to staying exactly the way she is. As far as she's concerned shes perfectly happy the way she is so there's no reason why she would change that. The author shows how even though Tally realizes that there something terribly wrong with her she can't get herself to change because in the end she's happy and as long as in her head she's okay with the way she is then there would be no way she would ever want to back to a past that she can hardly even remember.

The Pretties #2

“But somehow, the memories wouldn’t come. Thinking about those times was like banging her head against a wall. She chewed her lip. ‘How come I can’t remember? What’s wrong with me, Zane?’
‘That’s a good question. But whatever it is, it’s wrong with all of us’ … ‘Not just us. Everyone. At least, everyone here in New Pretty Town. Most people won’t even talk about when they were uglies. They say they don’t want to discuss boring kid stuff.’ … ‘But when you push them,’ Zane continued, ‘it turns out most of them can’t remember.’ “
Pg 140-141


Reaction: It's so weird how they can barely remember anything from before they were pretty. I used to think that the lesions just made them air-headed enough to not be able to think about really doing much else then partying and getting drunk but I never thought that the lesions would have caused them to have a hard time remember things. It's also interesting how people's first instinct is to just say that they don't talk about their úgly days' because they don't like to discuss 'boring kid stuff'. The book mentions a lot about how they consider the operation as a part of 'growing up' so that must be one of the things that pressures people into doing the operation since every kid eventually wants to feel grown up and mature.


Analysis: In this part the author starts to get into how much the lesions really affect people's brains. Zane starts to get Tally wondering what is wrong with her - what is wrong with all of them since nobody can seem to remember anything. Zane is further established as a character who asks questions and try's to think about the little details of the things he notices around them. He actually spends a good of his time thinking about the world around him which can't be said about the rest of the 'pretties'. Zane challenges society's standards and he brings these issues up with Tally. The author makes it clear that much of the things that 'pretties' say about being mature and not discussing 'boring kids stuff' is merely one of the works of the lesions in their brains making sure that they don't remember of their life before the operation and their heads are kept in a shallow manageable state.

The Pretties #1

“ ‘Don’t eat anything else, Tally. In fact, take a couple of these.’ He pulled a packet of calorie-purgers from his pocket - four had already been punched out. Ít helps if your heart’s beating faster.’ He punched out two more, and bolted them down with a drink of coffe.
‘Helps what?’ she asked.
Zane pointed at his head. ‘Thinking. Hunger focuses your mind. Any kind of excitement works, actually.’ “
Pg 134


Reaction: I think this part brings up Zane as a very prominent dystopian protagonist. Even though he's pretty and has the lesions in his brain he is still able to somewhat think for himself enough to see that people in new pretty town can't exactly think correctly. The 'Crims' clique in 'New Pretty Town' are all about this feeling of being what they call 'bubbly'. These are the people who for whatever reason are able to think a little bit more than the average 'pretties' in 'New Pretty Town'. I wonder though, how Zane was able to figure out all these little things that they can do to themselves to help keep their minds a little bit clear of the lesions so that they are actually able to think. Tally mentions when she first meets Zane how he doesn't eat much so it gives his face a different figure from most other 'pretties' but obviously there was a specific reason as to why he actually doesn't eat.


Analysis: Here the author shows the potential that people have to be able to go think for themselves and go against society even with the lesions in their brain. This part sets up Zane as a main dystopian protagonist in this book since hes the one who's helping Tally think clearly. She's a little apprehensive at first to the things he tells her to do but ironically enough she can't resist Zane's pretty face and eventually does the things he acts of her like not to eat and take the calorie-purge pills. This show that with a little help anybody can start to think straight which leads to many possibility to going against this society and doing something about the way they run things. With enough people 'bubbly' the pretties could potentially rise up against the 'Special Circumstances' and fix the lesions put in their brains in order to turn them into brain dead zombies.

The Uglies #8

" 'I never learned penmanship,' Tally said. 'They don't require it anymore.' "

Pg 676

Reaction: It was kind of shocking to find out that Tally didn't even learn how to write. She talks a lot about the things that they teach her in school but none of it seems to be any of the basic skills that we learn in school today. The only thing that Tally really mentions a lot about learning in school is the history of the 'Rusties' and how self-sufficient their current society is. My best guess would be that they purposefully keep people ignorant and lacking in basic skills so that they have less of a chance to go against society. The less that they know, and the less that they can do the better the higher powers can keep everybody under their control - people can't cause them any trouble if they don't know how to do even the most basic things like writing.

Analysis: The author uses this passage to give readers a good idea of what school is really all about in this civilization. Throughout the book we hear a lot about the school and what Tally learns from it but it is quickly made clear that it is nothing compared to school in our society today. The author shows that unlike our society, all the kids get taught in school in this civilization are things that would make past civilizations seem terrible and their current civilization seem perfect. This shows how much people must be constantly under surveillance and conditioned since any normal person left alone would clearly see all the things that are wrong with this society. This completely contrasts the idea of school today because we learn important skills, knowledge, and preparation for our future whereas in Tallys world all they're taught are hatred for the past and conditioned love for their 'perfect world' which leaves nothing left to be taught for any personal knowledge that might better themselves - which of course would be a problem for the people who keep everything under control know as the 'Special Circumstances'.

The Uglies #7

" 'A bug got loose, but it didn't infect people. It infected petroleum.' ... 'Oil infected by this bacterium was just as unstable as phosphorus. It exploded on contact with oxygen. And as it burned, the spores were released in the smoke, and spread on the wind. Until the spores got to the next car, or airplane, or oil well, and started growing again.' ...

'I wonder why they don't tell us that in history class. They usually love any story that make the Rusties sound pathetic..'

David lowered his voice. 'Maybe they didn't want you to realize that every civilization has its weakness. There's always one thing we depend on. And if someone takes it away, all that's left is some story in a history class.'

'Not us,' She said. 'Renewable energy, sustainable resources, a fixed population.' ...

'It doesn't have to be about economics,' he said bringing the food over. 'The weakness could be an idea.' "

Pg 547-550

Reaction: The fact that Tally says that in school they love any stories that make the 'Rusties' sound pathetic shows just one of the parts of the massive conditioning that every single person go through. By making the past society seem terrible and self-destructive it helps make them believe that their current society is even more perfect than they already make it out to be. What I thought was a really powerful quote was when David says how every civilization has that one thing that it completely depends on that once taken away leaves the society falling apart. In our case clearly it happened to be oil that without with we could not keep living the way we do. I feel like oil and technology is the keystone to the arch structure that is our current society.

Analysis: With this the author establishes that the people who run this society are very aware that every civilization has its weakness and that's why they work so hard to protect and manage the way this society is run. If they were to take the operation away or start letting people go against the operation then society would  most likely collapse the same way the the oil virus caused the collapse of the 'Rusties'. The author is also making a statement about our society today and one of the huge problems with it. It really makes you stop and think about what would become of us if anything we're to happen to our oil or when we eventually run out of it which is inevitable. The connects the 2 civilizations to show that even though they fixed the oil and resource dependency they just ended up adding another fatal dependency that their society would crumble without. He is also making a statement about the fact that we definitely need to find an alternative to oil.

The Uglies #6

" 'Our data showed that everyone has the lesions after their first operation. So when someone winds up in a challenging line of work, the authorities somehow cure them.'
...
Tally wondered which had come first: the operation or the lesions? Was becoming pretty just the bait to get everyone under the knife? Or were the lesions merely a finishing touch on being pretty? Perhaps the logical conclusion of everyone looking the same was everyone thinking the same. "

Pg 432-434

Reaction: This is a really big turning point in the story since we learn such a big secret about this society that almost nobody knows about. It turns out that the operations is more about tweaking the brain to make people vapid, happy, and tame then making everybody look pretty for no reason. I feel like the questions that Tally asks are really important and leaves me wondering too. The question of which came first: the operation of the lesions is even more puzzling than 'the chicken or the egg'. After thinking about everything she says I really feel like what would make most sense is that everything in the operation was designed specifically all at once. They knew all most people cared about in society was looking good and they also knew that they needed to do something to people so that they could have complete control over them so they joined the 2 to make the operation what it is. It couldn't have been by coincidence or something that they decided on after they started making people pretty just because they wanted everyone to be beautiful - there was obviously always much more behind it.

Analysis: At this point in the story the author stars to show the truth behind this society. This shows that the whole idea of this society is more about control than about being beautiful. By making everybody brain dead in the process of making them pretty it insures that nobody goes against anything in society. They keep them happy and vapid and that makes sure that nobody every has a problem with anything so that the few people in the higher power can always maintain control of everybody. Keeping people stupid and happy seems to be a theme that comes up in most dystopian literature. If people are to dumb to understand whats going on then they'll always be happy. If they're always happy then they won't have anything to complain about and no problems to start. This way nobody goes against anything, nobody causes trouble, and they keep society perfectly peaceful and well under control like a room full of kids on Ritalin.

The Uglies #5

" 'Nice to meet you, too, Tally,' David's mother said. Tally wondered what her name was. David always referred to them as 'Mom' and 'Dad,' words Tally hadn't used for Sol and Ellie since she was a littlie."

Pg 406

Reaction: This reminds me of Brave New World in how parents were sort of a taboo subject. It doesn't seem as extreme as extreme as in Brave New World since they do use the words 'Mom' and 'Dad' but only when they're very young as opposed to how speaking those words at all would be like yelling out something sexual in Brave New World. I feel like there's very little attachment between people in this book and this is something that just further separates any type of attachments and connections people would have with one another. By calling her parents by their first name rather than 'Mom' and 'Dad' it kind of weakens the bond between parent and child. Even though she knows those are her parents she as connected to them as any other normal person would be and I think that part of it is because she calls them by their first names as if they were just some older friends that she has.

Analysis: In this passage the author makes clear one of the characteristic of this dystopian society. Throughout the book we see that one of the things that very different from this society and our society today is the fact that people are very independent and share very little love with one another. From the age of 12 the kids are taken away from their parents to live in 'Uglyville' with all of the other 'uglies' and this is where the independence begins. By making these kids live without their parents from the age of 12 it forces them to learn to be independent and lose connections with their parents. It becomes almost a mystery as to how couples like Tally's parents come together in the first place since the society shows so little care for one another that its unclear as to how couples even form. 'New Pretty Town' becomes all about having and being vapid with the rest of your friends but very rarely do these 'friends' show any deep concern for each other. The lack of human emotional connection is one of the things that helps bring this society to the horrible state that its in.

The Uglies #4

"The boss wasn't really in charge here, Shay explained. He just acted like it, especially to newbies. But he was in command of the library, the largest of the buildings in the settlement's central square."

Pg 306

Reaction: I think it's really interesting that despite everything that the people in this settlement ('The Smoke') have to worry about ( from finding their own food in the wild, to constantly making sure the city can't track their location) they are still able to manage having something like a library. I think the fact that it mentions that the library is the biggest building there shows the importance of the library to these people. Libraries and books are unheard of back in the city so these people in cherish history, knowledge, and literature which is one of the many things that sets them apart from the city and their 'pretties'.

Analysis: With this passage I feel like the author shows that the importance of 'The Smoke' goes way past running away just so that they stay 'ugly'. Not having the operation done is just one of the many reasons that people chose to stay in 'The Smoke' rather that in the city. With the symbol of the library the author shows that books and history is one of the important things that is kept alive by the people in 'The Smoke' that is normally banished in the city. This brings out how vital 'The Smoke' is to the story in the sense that these are the people first choose to run away because feel the operation is wrong, but then they stay and support this place because of everything else that in stands for in the terms of what it really means to be human and it really starts to show what is really wrong with this society.