Beauty as an Ideal

There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features . . . people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain.

This quote which appears early on in Chapter 2, “Best Friends Forever,” explains the concept of beauty as it is taught in Tally’s schools. Beauty is something that has been scientifically determined as a set of features that everyone agrees is beautiful, whether they are conscious of it or not. Big eyes, full lips, and symmetrical features are just some of the features that have been determined by evolution to be attractive. People are always looking for their markers in others’ faces in their choice of mates, employees, and other individuals they choose to surround themselves with. These features inspire trust, among other feelings. At the same time, these features erase all elements of individuality and often make people appear innocent and vulnerable, even when they are not. Tally’s society has set up beauty to become more than just something that scientists can claim as objectively true, however. It has become a fixed ideal, which is then used to set up a social hierarchy of Uglies, Pretties, Middle Pretties, and Late Pretties, and all the outliers in between.

So what if people look more alike now? It’s the only way to make people equal.

In this quote, in Chapter 5, “Facing the Future,” Tally challenges Shay’s ideas about accepting what it means to be pretty as it is defined in Tally’s society. In the scene, Tally and Shay argue while playing the morphological game that Uglies use to try out new features that they may want for their cosmetic surgery. Shay is uninterested in the game and finds it annoying that Tally is pressing her so strongly to play. She wants Tally to like her for more than her looks. Shay wants Tally to like her for qualities such as intelligence, loyalty, and kindness. Furthermore, Shay thinks her features are fine the way they are and that it’s society that causes the problem by making them think they’re ugly. Tally argues that Shay is misguided. She says that surgically altering everyone to have the same beautiful features equalizes the playing field so that no one has an advantage over another person. Beauty, in this society, is a form of conformity. People are being made to wipe out their unique features to conform to what has been biologically determined as objectively beautiful.

She could see that his forehead was too high, that a small scar cut a white stroke through his eyebrow. And his smile was pretty crooked, really. But it was as if something had changed inside Tally’s head, something that had turned his face pretty to her.

Here, in Chapter 29, “Bravery,” Tally begins to see physical beauty in a new way. At this point in the story, Tally is starting to feel anxious about her presence in the Smoke. She’s starting to feel like the white orchids that overtake the landscape—a pretty thing that hides a destructive goal. David takes her aside to talk to her alone to apologize for causing a rift between her and Shay. Earlier, he gave Tally a spare set of work gloves, which made Shay jealous. Now he wants to explain why he did what he did: He’s attracted to her bravery and maturity. After David shares his feeling, for the first time, Tally starts to feel attractive to someone, even though she is still an Ugly. This shift inside of Tally starts to reflect outward, toward David. She starts to see him as someone who is physically flawed, too, but still pretty. Her perception is changing. At this moment, Tally starts to understand one of the novel’s central themes: Beauty is something that is truly in the eye of the beholder.

Loyalty in Friendship

His eyes narrowed, and for a moment he looked like the old Peris: serious, thoughtful, even a little bit unhappy. ‘Tally, you made me a promise too.’

This quote occurs early on in the novel, in Chapter 15, “Peris,” after Tally is taken in by Special Circumstances and questioned over the disappearance of Shay. Peris, who has previously been apathetic towards Tally, is now concerned about her. He knows Tally’s Pretty operation hasn’t happened, and he’s heard rumors that Tally is into some major trouble and that Special Circumstances had to get involved. Here, Peris reminds Tally of the promise she made to him earlier, the promise not to get into any other trouble after sneaking into Pretty Town to see him and nearly getting caught. He wants to remind her of her promise to ensure she can have her surgery. At this moment, Tally’s dilemma has become much more complex. She’s made a promise to Shay to keep the Smoke a secret, but she’s also made a promise to Peris to stay out of trouble. Tally also wants to protect herself as she knows that if she doesn’t betray Shay, she’ll be an Ugly forever. Tally struggles to define her concept of loyalty and where the line is drawn between promises between friends and promises she made to herself.

Tally looked back into Shay’s eyes, speechless for a moment. She suddenly felt naked in the cold night air, as if Shay could see straight through her lies.

Here, in Chapter 27, “Heartthrob,” Tally reacts internally after Shay confronts her about her locket. Shay has formed an incorrect theory about the locket. She assumes that Tally has a sweetheart back home who gave her the locket and that she feels guilty about telling her about the Smoke. When Shay reveals this theory, Tally is shocked for a moment. She wonders if Shay knows her secret, that she’s a spy. Tally’s guilt shows on her face, but she keeps mum, not having the strength to reveal that the true source of her guilt stems from a reason far more serious than a lover back home. Tally’s guilt is starting to grow and feel more intense. She feels like Shay can see right through her charade. Tally’s betrayal, and lack of loyalty, are making her feel more seen, something that she hasn’t felt much her whole life as an Ugly. The very real human emotions of betrayal, guilt, and loyalty are creating an identity in Tally that goes far beyond the physical.

She took a deep breath. ‘Okay, you’ve got a willing subject.’

‘What do you mean, Tally?’

‘Me.’

This interaction occurs toward the end of the novel, in chapter 48, “Hippocratic Oath,” between Maddy and Tally. Maddy recently asked Shay to take her experimental drug to reverse the brain lesions caused by Shay’s Pretty surgery, and Shay refused. As a doctor, Maddy won’t give Shay the drug unless she agrees to take it because Maddy’s taken the Hippocratic oath, a promise doctors make that includes never giving treatments to patients without their permission. Tally knows at this point that she has caused major destruction. Even though she didn’t intend to bring down the Smoke, her destruction of the locket led to the Smoke’s capture and to Shay’s surgery, something Shay fought fiercely against getting. Tally is now faced with an ultimate decision. She must decide if she will be a willing subject and take Maddy’s pill to see if it works so that Shay has the chance to be free again. Here, Tally chooses to make the sacrifice to restore loyalty to her friend and make amends to all she’s hurt. Tally learns that loyalty and betrayal come at a high price, but she is willing to pay it.

Dependence on Technology

‘In town, there’s a steel grid built into the ground, no matter where you go. Out here, you have to be careful.’

Here, in Chapter 7, “Rapids,” Shay tells Tally about how their city has installed an entire steel grid underground to allow hoverboards, which work by magnetization, to function. Tally is unfamiliar with the vehicle and doesn’t know how to use it well. Shay is operating as her official guide to the hoverboard. Hoverboards are the chief mode of transportation in the city, and they allow an immense level of freedom in getting around. As Shay explains, their society has built an entire underground infrastructure to allow this cutting-edge flying technology to work. Without the steel, however, the boards can’t fly, which is demonstrated when Shay and Tally leave the city and are forced to find trails of metal in the woods to get the boards to work. Without metal, the magnetism in the hoverboards won’t work and the rider and board will simply fall to the ground. The novel shows how, technology, however advanced it may be, is still just a tool that can only work with certain limited parameters in place.

‘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.’

Here, in Chapter 40, “The Oil Plague,” David explains to Tally how the Rusty civilization fell. David has learned a lot of information from the Boss, the Smoke’s resident librarian who is meticulous about preserving and caring for the history of the Rusties, who lived 300 years prior, by carefully preserving their books and magazines. Through the Boss, David learned that a bacterium was invented that infected the oil used by the Rust civilization. Once the bacterium came in contact with air, it exploded. The bacterium spread so quickly that once it caught fire, the entire city when into flames within minutes. David then explains how widely the spores spread. The spores traveled anywhere oil was present, from cars to airplanes to oil wells, which were in many places since the Rusties built an entire civilization that was fueled by oil. In this way, the Rusties brought about their own destruction. David’s story reveals the vulnerability the Rusties created for themselves when they not only created an entire society built on oil: they also engineered a spore that thrived on oil and multiplied out of their control. Once the oil was infected, the whole city collapsed at once.

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.’

Here, in Chapter 40, “The Oil Plague,” David explains to Tally why she never learned in school the full truth about how the Rusties died off. Tally learned in school that the Rusties depended on oil. However, she doesn’t know that the Rusties’ downfall was specifically caused by a bacterium that was invented to infect the oil. Her teachers focused only on presenting the Rusties as a lesson, a warning about depending too heavily on natural resources. Tally’s society champions technology and clean fuels. In this chapter, David has just told Tally the true story about how the modified bacterium destroyed the Rusties’ cities. After he completes the story, he goes on to suggest that even his own society doesn’t want people to realize that they are equally vulnerable, too. For example, without metal, their high-tech hoverboards won’t work. They’ve skewed history to come out looking like the winners, and more advanced and wiser than the Rusties. David knows that if people knew how equally vulnerable their society is because of their dependence on technology, they might not trust their government as much.

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