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Chapters 6–10

Summary: Chapter 6: Pretty Boring

Shay wants to take Tally for a night ride on the hoverboard. Tally thinks Shay means a night ride to Pretty Town, but Shay wants to take her to Rusty Ruins, the remains of an old city from 300 years ago far outside town. Uglies are usually taken to the Rusty Ruins on school field trips, but Tally’s never been there at night. Shay says she’s been there at night and has been wanting to invite Tally ever since she found out Tally broke into Pretty Town. Shay says she’s inspired by Tally’s rebelliousness and finds her a kindred soul. Shay says this is their last few months to do something fun before becoming boring Pretties. Tally is hesitant, but she agrees to go. 

Summary: Chapter 7: Rapids

The girls leave after nightfall. As they follow the river towards the Rusty Ruins, Tally notices the current is getting faster. Shay gives Tally a pair of goggles and tells her they’re going to ride the rapids. Tally is hesitant. She feels it’s dangerous. Shay banks and turns moving just above the spraying water. Shay pulls off to the side and says they’ll have to walk the rest of the way. The hoverboards, powered by magnetization, only work when there is metal in the ground. Shay explains that rivers always have trace amounts of metal and iron ore, which is why the boards work on them. As Tally walks deeper into the woods, she wonders how anyone could ever live in the forest alone. 

Summary: Chapter 8: The Rusty Ruins

The girls arrive at the ruins. Shay brings Tally to something called a roller coaster, something Tally has never seen before. Shay leads Tally to ride the roller coaster with the hoverboard, following its iron track. At one point there is a gap in the track and Tally has a moment of panic when she is free falling. The hoverboard’s crash bracelets activate and prevent Tally from falling to the ground. Tally is angry at Shay for not telling her about the gap. Shay explains that no one told her about the gap either at first, and she just wanted Tally to have the same thrill of diving into the unknown. When Tally asks Shay how she knows about these secret places, Shay replies her friend David showed her. 

Summary: Chapter 9: Waiting for David

Shay explains that David is a young man who lives beyond the ruins, far away from the city. She wants Tally to meet him so the two girls hide in the ruins of a building and light a flare to signal to David they are there. After waiting for a while, Tally says she can’t take any more surprises and wants to go home. Shay agrees, forlorn that David hasn’t come, and they head back. Tally looks back at the ruins one last time as they head back down to the river. She thinks she sees a flare go off in the distance, but isn’t sure. She decides not to tell Shay because she doesn’t want to turn back. She just wants to go home. 

Summary: Chapter 10: Fight

Back in town, the girls decide to play a trick on the young Littlies. These Littlies are about to enter the “Uglies” stage, the period between being a Littlie and a Pretty. Tally doesn’t envy them and is excited to be leaving this gawky stage behind soon. The girls don disguises and Shay bungee jumps into the group, scaring the kids. Tally later makes a comment about being ugly. Shay corrects her, saying she isn’t ugly but has been taught that she is. This sparks a fight between the girls. Tally says she’s looking forward to being an adult and accepting herself, which she thinks happens when you become a Pretty. Tally accuses Shay of being afraid of growing up, and Shay leaves, angry and hurt. 

Analysis: Chapters 6–10

As Tally is introduced to the hoverboard, readers learn more about the advanced society Tally is living in. The hoverboards operate by magnetization and use smart technology that adapts to the rider’s movements and center of gravity. In this dystopian society, technology may be used to wipe a person’s features clean off their face but also create highly personalized vehicles tailored to a person’s unique riding style. Individuality becomes a matter of function only, rather than personal expression, which is likely considered superfluous in Tally’s society.

Ever since Shay praised Tally for pulling off the fire alarm and jumping off the tower in Pretty Town, Tally has been self-conscious about proving she’s as adventurous as Shay thinks she is. When Shay invites her to venture far outside the city limits, Tally is sincerely afraid. Her interface ring repeatedly warns her she’s in restricted areas, and she warns Shay they’ll get in trouble. But Shay’s persistence and Tally’s fear of looking weak keep Tally going.  As they head towards the Rusty Ruins, Tally looks back at the city towards the fireworks and lights of Pretty Town, thinking the city never looked so far away, signaling that Tally is truly in new territory—mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Shay’s insistence comes from her deep insight that the type of “fun” they’ll be doomed to after they become Pretty really isn’t fun at all. In Pretty Town, parties go on all day and night. The kids drink and carouse 24/7. The city actually encourages this because it wants its inhabitants to be carefree and not have to worry about responsibilities. This is the Utopian ideal the city has promised with the surgeries: Make everyone pretty to equalize the playing field so that no one is given preferential treatment for their looks, and everyone becomes free from care and responsibilities. Shay bristles at this idea, however, especially since she’s already had fun exploring outside city bounds, in nature. Shay’s idea of fun is actually the more natural one for kids, who are often looking to push boundaries and take risks. She thinks the city’s idea of fun is prescribed, and therefore not really fun at all. Conformity then becomes a strong theme both in terms of appearance, and one’s sense of entertainment in the novel.

Tally is surprised to find that she actually likes being out in the wilderness. At first, Tally feels absolute terror riding the hoverboard over the rushing white rapids. Her teeth remain clenched for the first few minutes. But as the narrator points out, Tally eventually becomes used to the darkness and the shock of cold water spraying on her face. This idea of unexpectedness is drawn out even more when Shay has Tally ride the roller coaster. Shay doesn’t tell her about the gap in the tracks, and for a moment, Tally experiences mortal terror thinking she’s free-falling to her death. Tally, angry but also exhilarated, lashes out at Shay. Shay tells her that she just wanted Tally to feel what it was like to dive into the unknown. Tally comes around and agrees with Shay that the ride was thrilling.

Tally’s experiences venturing out beyond the city limits teach her about real risk. Up until this point, she’s been posing as an adventurous rebellious spirit. Tally’s learning that real risk means relying on oneself to survive and trusting that one’s instincts will come into play at the right time. She must rely on her instincts to navigate the rapids and cross the gap in the roller coaster to make sure she’s ok. When she jumps off the tower in Pretty Town, she takes a calculated risk that has few consequences since she’s wearing a safety vest. The contrast between the stakes out in nature and manufactured risk-taking in Pretty Town stand in stark contrast. One develops self-reliance, one doesn’t. When the girls play the trick on the Littlies later by bungee jumping, it’s almost anti-climactic for Tally.

Still, for all of Shay’s self-confidence, Tally manages to find Shay’s Achilles’ heel or weakness. Tally wonders if Shay is just doing tricks because she’s scared to grow up. Tally accuses her of being against the surgeries because she doesn’t want to be mature like the Pretties, who always follow the rules and are much less rebellious. This strikes a chord with Shay, as seen later. Readers may wonder if Shay is rebelling for rebellion’s sake or something deeper. To Tally, becoming a Pretty means a feeling of inner peace that makes one uninterested in ever rebelling again. Tally looks forward to this day.

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