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.