The Role Of Social Conformity In 'Uglies'

Society and the media have an enormous influence on an individual’s concept of beauty and bodily perfection. Even the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” many people allow the media’s influence into their lives, which is a dangerous thing to allow (Vogel, 2015). According to David Newman, author of Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, society is defined as the “population of people living in the same geographic area who share a culture and a common identity and whose members fall under the same political authority” (Newman, 2010, 18). The people within a society constantly create and add to the pressure already placed on individuals which can severely alter and harm one’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. At least, that’s what is taught to believe at an early age. Elline Lipkin, however, holds fast to the understanding that as true as that saying may be, there are outside forces that are intent on readjusting our vision to “true beauty”: the kind that can be bought off the shelves. In her article, “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves: Body Image, Identity, and Sexuality”, Lipkin employs several different external resources to help demonstrate her belief that young girls’ (“Before they even abandon their teddy bears…“ (Para 2)) definition of their own appearance is polluted and distorted by the vastly massive world that is the American media. Besides pulling from other articles and fact sheets, she also effectively utilizes a clearly logical train of thought, an operative tone, and countless examples of emotional appeal.

The image of a person is often something that gets judged very quickly in society. People often see others and instantly think of something about that person. Men, women and children are all outcast for many different reasons. Society judges people for traits including, skin colour, gender, hair color, and body type. The media and society constantly make people feel bad about the way they look.

“Above all things physical, it is more important to be beautiful on the inside - to have a big heart and an open mind and a spectacular spleen” ― Ellen DeGeneres. Every person living on this planet has a weakness that could affect them in a dismissive way. One of the weaknesses throughout the youth is to feel accepted into the society’s ideal icon trend. Any of those people would likely willing to change almost everything about themselves, to feel self-assured by crossing any kinds of boundaries and standards in any meanings. However, in the book “The Pretty App” by Katie Sise, the main character, Blake Dawkins, has a vast advantage, easy, and different ways of dealing with these types of complications than any other regular teenagers would

Everyone has their own culture, whether they realize it or not. Some people have distinct cultures, but others struggle with the idea of having a specific culture and cannot figure theirs out. In the novel Uglies, Scott Westerfeld uses cultural, physical, and geographical surroundings to demonstrate the impacts and control Special Circumstances has on society, while Tally struggles to break away and fix the operation.

From the different cultural beauty standards, to the double standards between males and females, to the dangerous ways to achieve these “ideal looks”, should these factors really define your beauty? In the essay, Pigott constantly changes the way she looks because she feels that in order for her to be defined as “beautiful”, she needed to be acknowledged by her peers and friends; in other words, she felt the need to conform herself to societal norms in order to feel “accepted”. Due to this, Pigott unknowingly wears a mask and hides her true self from the world. The societal pressure she experienced has blinded her from seeing her beauty and has lost her self-worth as a beautiful woman, as she believes that pleasing others and receiving compliments are the only factors that make her “beautiful”.

They feel as if they are not cool enough to join a certain group of people. Many teens feel like a misfit, someone who cannot fit in with the crowd. Why does society make it seem like you have to be a part of a certain group in order for someone to be accepted? In Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, fifteen-year-old, Tally Youngblood, feels isolated from a group of people because she is an “ugly”. She feels that in order to fit in she needs to have the ‘pretty’ surgery. Tally states, “Pretties do look different. They look like themselves. It's just a lot more subtle, because they're not all freaks (Westerfeld 82)." Tally had thought all her life that the only way to get attention from others is to become a “pretty”. It's not her fault she grew up in a world where every sixteen year old was forced to have the ‘pretty’ surgery. How could she think that she will look normal, if she looks the same as everyone around her? Just like this many teens try to fit in with society's social “norms”. In the drama play, I Claudia, by Kristen Thomson, it is evident that the main character, Claudia, doesn't fit in with her group of friends because of the way she looks. She states, “Stacey told everyone that she’s wearing hot pants and makeup. I wear bell bottoms and platforms, but not hot pants. I think that they are too short and my legs would just stick out like that (Thomson 23)” This shows teens that the character Claudia has low self-esteem; she is afraid to wear the clothes that she wishes to wear because of the fear of judgement. Why do teens try so hard to have a perfect body shape? Teens can feel isolated from a group of people because of the way they may act, look, or understand things. They feel hurt or sad when excluded from a group of individuals; therefore they feel like they don't

When I read this piece of dialogue Shay said to Tally, it made me think of what back story Shay has to compel her away from being hypnotized by the definition of pretty, just as everybody else. From when she first met Tally to when she ran away the night before they turned sixteen, she showed knowledge from the past (this book took place in the future). She shared series of information about the Rusty Ruins, an abandoned city, and told Tally how past technology use worked. She also mentioned a teenage boy named David, who started a civilization called “The Smoke”. The Smoke was a secluded place where runaway uglies went to escape from the life changing operation. Shay gave hints about her past friends planning to run away with her but

Shay has been a good friend to Tally. Until Shay wanted to leave and never come back to become pretty. Shay wants Tally come with her but she refuse. Leaving was not an option for her because she wants to become pretty like her friends.

During the adolescent years, kids go through some of the toughest and most confusing stages of their life. These years are a time for self-discovery, for learning, and for growing up to become the future of our world. The pressure to grow into something that is accepted and praised by society can be one of the hardest challenges to overcome. The ideas that society enforce regarding beauty standards and gender norms can be some of the most damaging. Young boys grow up believing that crying is a weakness, that any form of emotion is weakness, and it teaches them to bottle up their feelings and creates an unhealthy upbringing. Young women grow up believing that a pretty face is everything. They

On the contrary, they are encouraged by the “drop two-sizes” and the “7-day detox plan” headlines on the fashion magazines that intrude every grocery store check-out lane. We no longer think it is unorthodox that in 2012 alone, teenagers underwent over 236,000 cosmetic surgeries (American Society of Plastic Surgeons). Instead, teenage girls who wear brassieres size 30A or do not have protruding cheekbones are seen as defective beings, and if they do not spend their first paycheck—or their parents’ savings— attempting to replicate the so-called-perfect-image, will remain physically—and socially—inferior to the women the media considers beautiful.

Shay likes to jumps before she looks and sometimes she doesn’t look at all. Shay is very different from Tally but in most ways they are both similar at being alone. Shay like to rebel against the whole system

Society follows a norm that requires a general agreement between groups in order to function as a whole. Human beings are social “group animals” (Lessing 1) and need each other to survive with the intention to get along or fit in. These desires to conform “influence our idea about ourselves” (Lessing 1) and people lose a sense of their inner self based on these insecurities. The false concept of ideal beauty of body image is displayed in the media and it pressures young women and men to accept this particular notion of beauty. The role of the media comes into play because it pressures individuals to give in, since they appeal to our need, which is to be accepted. Although, people oppose to media pressuring individuals to conform, it is clear

Together, we can lower the numbers of people dying from eating disorders and cosmetic surgeries by resisting the beauty ideal. We can choose “to not participate in the beauty rituals, to not support the industries that produce both images and products, and to create other definitions of beauty” (WVFV, pg. 232). The most crucial and easiest solution is to create other definitions of beauty. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide what is beautiful. What if someone decided that the only thing that could contribute to one’s beauty is who someone is on the inside? Wouldn’t our world be a completely different place? Instead of

Aesthetics according to the English Oxford dictionary is defined as a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty. In today’s society beauty is all around mankind from advertisements on billboards, magazines, and in the palm of every human’s hand: cellphones. Often times, there is a dilemma for each individual, that is the old saying that “beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.”. For many young impressionable girls ranging from the ages of thirteen to nineteen roughly 64 thousand cosmetic surgical procedures were performed (ASPS). By analyzing the social media, culture, and societal influence these ideas can be used to better understand the impact beauty standards brought upon from media can do to young girls in the twentieth century.