Uglies Scott Westerfeld Analysis

Despite the struggle of dominance, the constant focus of beauty versus ugly offers another obstacle in a relationship. People are more complacent when embraced by others similar to them. It is another human nature tendency.

“In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly”(Scott Westerfeld). In the future, everyone is considered ugly and live in imperfect Uglyville, until they turn 16. The magical age where you get The Operation. The Operation that turns you pretty, lets you live in perfect Pretty Town, and is considered the most important thing in life. In the novel Uglies, written by Scott Westerfeld, he features the dystopian archetypes of a dehumanized state and conformity showing the result of everyone looking and acting the same way so the government can control them and maintain a position of high anarchy.

First off, we were made to be different from each other from our very birth. Even twins have slight differences. “Are we saying that the responsibility falls on the kid who’s bullied, to alter themselves surgically?” Diller asked in an interview with NBC News (Dahl 6). Even though people are based on their looks, that doesn’t mean you need

Growing up I was always labeled the “pretty one” amongst my siblings. When I was younger I never thought to question it, I even enjoyed it, until the day I began

The whole book talks about the separation of people based on how they look. The idea of being “pretty” and “ugly” in this book is very important. The people of New Pretty Town fit society’s standards of being accepted. An ideal person of that town has perfectly combed hair, a symmetrical face, crystal clear skin, and is skinny. The author portrays the people of Uglyville as slobs. They have messy hair, uneven facial features, and crooked teeth. These two different groups are labeled, and because of their appearance some are accepted and some are not. An example would be “I like your dress” in today’s time but in the book it’s more “I like your dress, let’s become friends!”. Tally, the protagonist struggles with her appearance and that’s a part of why she cannot wait to undergo the operation. She soon gains confidence when she meets Shay and they both feel like they don’t need to fit those standards. They recognize each other's flaws and embrace them. Tally has a lot of fun with Shay and she doesn’t feel out of place because Shay and her friends don’t care what anyone looks like. They focus on personalities.

These factors include the media, societal norms, popular culture, and even the stories we grew up with as kids. To a certain extend, even the story of Riquet with the Tuft fits into this shallow mold. “She will have so much intelligence that her lack of beauty will hardly be noticed” (Perrault). This important quote comes from the Perrault version, by the fairy that withholds good looks from the younger sister. It is important because Perrault is implying that if someone is gifted with beauty they must either be weak or stupid. This quote also could imply that one is able to conceal their ugliness with intelligence and that it is a much more powerful aspect of a person. Even if we examine the relationship between the queen mother and her daughters, she only seems to have a problem with her beautiful daughter and the daughter’s lack of social skills. She never seems to criticize her unattractive daughter because of her appearance. Toward the end of the story, once the princess states that “I’d rather be as ugly as you and have intelligence…then be as beautiful and stupid as I am” (Perrault), we are able to conclude that in Perrault’s version that intelligence is of greater value than good

In most, if not all societies, beauty has been a determining factor in how people, namely women, are treated. Beautiful women are more likely to be accepted and respected among men and other women than women who are not conventionally attractive. Which is not to say that attractive women have it easier, considering the stigma surrounding attractive women that they get everything they want, are more promiscuous, and the fact that attractive women are more likely to be harassed in public by men. Women who are not attractive are often ignored or dismissed by others, specifically men who do not view them as a candidate for a relationship, so therefore do not believe they are worth their time. This is a very harmful part of how our society runs

Recently over summer break I've read “Uglies” by Scott Westfield. My initial thoughts on the story was that it was about a ugly disfunction society, which ended up being true. After finishing ,the story the greater less on of inner beauty reflecting on the outside shown through. The wording of the story is tremendous in detailing the struggles of this dystopia. I truly love how easy it was to fall in love with the main character. However ,the story flaws by painting the society as narcissistic,cruel, and egotistical, and it's hard to imagine that the trends shown by the people carried on that long. But then I look at the trends in our society and saw that it wasn't much different.

If all a child see is white skin, red lips and black hair then that’s what pretty or beautiful may look to them. You also see the shape size and fine jewelry they wear. Disney films are giving out a bad message that you have to be the lightest and have the prettiest skin, fine clothes, jewelry and a thin waist. Now every child try to live up to those standards and if they do not it leads to depression and low

That’s basically what happens in our culture when it comes to self-esteem. In our culture, people are valued for how they look, what they can, and what they have but rarely for WHO THEY ARE. You have to be ‘beautiful’ by a mathematical standard - and believe me there is a mathematical ratio. So we need to take the price tag and put it back as it should be.

It is sad to think these girls are only expressing how they believe they should be treated or what they have been brought up to think. It is because the pressure to fit the standard of beauty and constantly being judged at such a young age creates stress that a child is just not prepared to handle yet. These children become tired, working for hours on this perfection, so

It is impossible to exist in our society without experiencing its looksist effects on some level. Even those who receive privilege from Looksism still experience some of its oppression at the same time. Our standard of beauty is so specific and unrealistic that people are reaching to appear in away that is not naturally possible. It is exemplified in throughout Lorian, Ohio in The Bluest Eye in the 1940s, however it is still a concept that is extremely prevalent in our society almost eighty years later. We don’t hear a lot of positivity about our own bodies or the bodies of those around us. The majority of discussions about physical appearance are in an attempt to change it, to alter ourselves in order to fit into this narrow view of what beauty really is. Values of honesty and respect take second place to our standard of beauty. We, as a society, are more concerned with how we look than being positive and influential people. Until these priorities get straightened out we will continue to produce young people like Pecola, who just want blue eyes, or want to be taller, or shorter, or thinner in order to fit into the microscopic box that we call

In The Uglies, the lesson of becoming self-aware is communicated through the main character, Tally Youngblood’s, point of view. At first, Tally Youngblood longs to receive an operation to turn herself pretty after being viewed as ugly most of her life. After she was denied the surgery because of complications with a friend, she started becoming sensitive about the label given to her. The author wrote, “She’d been an ugly for four years, but a few extra days had brought home to her exactly what the word really meant”

Here’s something to think about. Have you ever been competing for something such as a job and wondered what made you lose to your competitor? Your first instinct would probably be that they have more intelligence or are more experienced and knowledgeable but what it that wasn’t the reason? Maybe, it had nothing to do with any of that. Maybe it had to do with your sex orientation or color of your skin, or even the quality of your clothes. In our society, appearance has always been taken into affect when it comes to making decisions. Although it may be unfair, the way you look can either increase or decrease your chances or succeeding or failing in this world. In fact, appearance has been crucial for years now

When I was younger, I was never seen as different. I was a pretty young girl just like everyone else. We were all the same: beautiful kids. As I grew up, opinions began to change. I began to notice that I did not have the features that were considered beautiful by other ethnicities such as a voluptuous body or blue eyes. I realized that this feeling of inferiority was influenced by social standards of beauty created by the media or parents which was nonexistent when I was a child. In that way it is more nurture than nature. As we get older society sets norms for us to live by causing us to be more cautious before we speak or act. Children on the other hand are not affected by this yet and so they see beauty beyond color. In Gerald Early’s,