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.