In a seemingly perfect world in which everyone is sculpted to perfection what could go wrong? Well, this dystopian society has a dark secret. Almost everyone over sixteen years old is a mindless shell with bland personality and a fragile body. This is because at the age sixteen, everyone is required to have an operation to make all of their “ugly” traits disappear—but in exchange they unknowingly sacrifice their personality. Moreover, those who can’t have the operation generally don’t go out in public since in the words of Tally, “Uglies may look goofy, but at least they are young. Old uglies were really unbelievable”(83). This shows how beauty was needed to assimilate with society. Consequently, adult uglies live in fear, avoiding public places …show more content…
In the beginning Shay values independent thinking and is free spirited. Shays reason for disliking the pretty society becomes crystal clear when she exclaims, “‘I’m sick of this city,’ Shay continued. ‘I’m sick of the rules and boundaries. The last thing I want is to become some empty-headed new pretty, having one big party all day.’”(83). This contrast between the average boring pretty and Shay, makes Shay despise the pretty’s and the society around them making Shay dread the transformation in which she becomes pretty. Because of this fear, Shay strongly resist the power beauty. Once Special Circumstances changes her personality with a lesion, Shay abandons the mentality that she kept for most of the book. As a result of the operation, Shay completely changes her views in the pretty society saying to Tally, “‘I like the way I look,’ Shay insisted. ‘I’m happier in this body. You want to talk about brain damage? Look at you all, running around these ruins playing commando. You are full of schemes and rebellion, crazy with fear and paranoia, even jealousy.’”(408). After Shay has the operation, she willingly follows and summits to the power of beauty and finders the Smokey’s crazy for not doing the same. By the end of the book, Shay is obviously submitting to beauty, but doesn’t seek it since she already has power. While Uglies mainly focused on Tally and Shay’s response to power, the other character’s also have an
In “Uglies” by Scott Westfield the method the government use to strive for a perfect society is by giving everyone who is 16 or older surgery that turn them pretty because they felt that most people tend to be insecure about their appearance when they become a teenager or older . So to get rid
Works Cited Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. Print.
Her body reflects strength and confidence something that other women in the novel were not seen to
They society would give them surgery to prevent that happening. The narrator states: “Back in the days before the operation, Tally remembered, a lot of people, especially young girls, became so ashamed at being fat that they stopped eating. They'd lose weight too quickly, and some would get stuck and would keep losing weight until they wound up like this "model." Some even died, they said at school. That was one of the reasons they'd come up with the operation. No one got the disease anymore, since everyone knew at sixteen they'd turn beautiful. In fact, most people pigged out just before they turned, knowing it would all be sucked away.” (Westerfeild, ) They used the surgery to make them look perfect and have them do whatever they wanted to do before the surgery. The citizen of the society believes that everything should be perfect and that humans should be perfect in order for the society to be the ideal place to live. People who receive the surgery look the same; full lips, symmetrical face, big eyes, no scares, perfect skin and hair. One type of dystopian characteristic is propaganda. Propaganda can be found throughout the book, one time propaganda is used is when Tally and Shay were using the interface ring, “‘Making ourselves feel ugly isn’t fun.’ We are ugly!’ ‘This whole game is just designed to make us hate ourselves.’”(Westerfeild 43) In the book Westerfeild
In today society, beauty in a woman seems to be the measured of her size, or the structure of her nose and lips. Plastic surgery has become a popular procedure for people, mostly for women, to fit in social class, race, or beauty. Most women are insecure about their body or face, wondering if they are perfect enough for the society to call the beautiful; this is when cosmetic surgery comes in. To fix what “needed” to be fixed. To begin with, there is no point in cutting your face or your body to add or remove something most people call ugly. “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery” explored the desire of human to become beyond perfection by the undergoing plastic surgery. The author, Camille Pagalia, took a look how now days how Americans are so obsessed
story points out that beauty has its cost as well, the power of being beautiful holds a great
Connie can be labeled as an average teenage girl: vulnerable, carefree, desirous, and curious. She has just discovered the power of her own beauty, but hasn't yet realized that power, in any form, must be controlled. Connie has long, dark blond hair. She is petite and seems confident in her looks, yet "everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home" (par. 5). Connie loves to h...
In this story the main character, Tally, changed a lot. First of all, she was so set on becoming a pretty, she new she was an Ugly and she wanted to change that. “She put her fingers up to her face, felt the wide nose and thin lips, the too-high forehead and tangled mass of frizzy hair” (p. 8). This quote shows that Tally was very aware that she did not fit it with the pretties, she was very ready to change they way she looked to fit in. During the course of the story Tally wanted to stay ugly. She totally changed her perspective on the way she looked. I think was also one of the biggest turning points in the story.
The media has had an increasingly destructive effect on young people who are becoming worryingly obsessed with their body image. The media is saturated in sexual imagery in which young people have to face every day. The sheer volume of sexual imagery in the media today has resulted in the vast majority of young people to become hooked on looking as near to perfection everyday by using the latest products and buying the latest fashions. This used to be enough but lately the next step to achieving perfection is cosmetic surgery. Everyone wants to look attractive, especially teenagers who are not only put under massive strain to succeed but to look beautiful and climb the ranks of the social ladder, and it seems that the only way to achieve the much desired beauty is to turn to drastic measures.
I feel that the factor or beauty should not be an issue because with the use of Chloë Grace Moretz, this film is showing that there are very beautiful young women out there that are very pretty, but they grow up believing they are ugly because of the way they are being treated. Seitz states, “…It does not matter whether Carrie is conventionally ‘pretty or not pretty.’ Because Carrie is an abused child, she feels ugly; because she feels ugly, she radiates worthlessness.” I feel that this statement made by Seitz helps give a better viewpoint as to why it shouldn’t matter if the character is portrayed like the
Beauty is dangerous, especially when you lack it. In the book "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, we witness the effects that beauty brings. Specifically the collapse of Pecola Breedlove, due to her belief that she did not hold beauty. The media in the 1940's as well as today imposes standards in which beauty is measured up to; but in reality beauty dwells within us all whether it's visible or not there's beauty in all; that beauty is unworthy if society brands you with the label of being ugly.
Bethany, nearly controlled by her jealousy, tells Carla about her idea to become beautiful. This sparks a slight argument about the value of beauty versus the value of knowledge. The holder of beauty seeks knowledge, just as in reality, and the holder of knowledge seeks beauty. They argue over the good and bad aspects of beauty, but what Carla thinks is bad is what Bethany wants. Bethany wants men at her feet
First of all, the idea of beauty is not only based on a physical appearance of a person or object; beauty comes from the inner self. Natural and real beauty creates from within the heart of individuals. When a real beauty develops, it is expressed as a charming, attractive, and glamorous soul that is hard for one to contain. If a lady is beautiful on the inside, she is also beautiful on the outside because her body is an expression of soul and mind. Inner beauty creates a positive attitude towards oneself, others, and the environment. One real life example about inner beauty is the story of Chantelle Winnie. Chantelle was born with a skin condition vitiligo, which makes her different from other people.
...e ability to achieve anything in life. Hopefully, readers would learn from this novel that beauty is not the most important aspect in life. Society today emphasizes the beauty of one's outer facade. The external appearance of a person is the first thing that is noticed. People should look for a person's inner beauty and love the person for the beauty inside. Beauty, a powerful aspect of life, can draw attention but at the same time it can hide things that one does not want disclosed. Beauty can be used in a variety of ways to affect one's status in culture, politics, and society. Beauty most certainly should not be used to excuse punishment for bad deeds. Beauty is associated with goodness, but that it is not always the case. This story describes how the external attractiveness of a person can influence people's behavior and can corrupt their inner beauty.
As stated by Emerson, beauty cannot be found unless carried within one’s self first. In the novel by Alice Walker, “The Color Purple”, Celie finds out that beauty is not real unless it is first found within, so that that beauty felt can reflect for others to see. [Celie went through traumatic struggles before she ever felt beautiful starting with the treatment of influential men in her life. Although she felt more connection with women in her life, her early encounters with Shug greatly accounted for her self worth at the time. However, Celie could not be beautiful to others unless she found beauty within herself, for herself.]