Independent Reading: Uglies (Blog 6)

If it were not for the people who value the meaning of being real, we would never understand how our own egos can ruin us when we earn some kind of advantage. Whatever opportunity we have to keep our morals, there should be no other option but to take it.

“How could Shay not understand that she’d been changed by the operation? Not just been given a pretty face, but also a… pretty mind. Nothing else could explain how quickly she’d changed, abandoning the rest of them for parties and hot showers, leaving her friends behind, just as Peris had so many months ago” (Westerfeld, pg. 396).

To me, I think that it is important for people to remain who they are even if they gain the greatest benefit of their life. It can become destructive when we lose sight of what truly matters to us, and that is when we begin the process of losing everything and everyone.

I think that the purpose of this passage was to remind people that even though it sometimes feels great to gain an advantage, there is no excuse to change our views and morals and act like a completely different person. The overall effect of this is to warn us that although it seems like powerful people have it all, they lack many qualities. Tally quickly realizes that she has changed after she catches a glimpse of what it will be like to be a pretty.

As imperfect humans, we tend to easily let our egos get the better of us, and it’s just our nature. Unfortunately some may not realize the mistakes they make at the peak of their success and it can have serious consequences if we get carried away. But those who are successful are the ones who stop and think about their decisions and how it will affect them and the people they care about.

In my last post of Uglies, I mentioned that not everyone has the same opinions about real beauty. This connects to how the ego can swell because we need to understand what is real, what truly makes us happy and where we stand in terms of morality.  

Independent Reading: Uglies (Blog 5)

It is very inspiring when someone who is considered extremely attractive realizes that everyone is beautiful. In Uglies, this may be considered the greatest scandal of all, but it shouldn’t matter what people think of each other as long as they look past the obvious appearance.

“Tally looked into his eyes and saw that his face was glowing again—touching her in that pretty way she’d felt before. ‘That’s why you’re beautiful, Tally.’ The words made her dizzy for a moment, like the falling feeling of looking into a new pretty’s eyes.” (Westerfeld, pg. 276).

I think that although Tally and the rest of her society are influenced by the way they look; the new pretty David knows what real beauty is rather than the false Pretties that the surgeons create.

I think that the purpose of this passage was to show that not everyone will have the same views about real beauty. There are always those few individuals who are often despised because of their morals, morals that are actually higher than most of our values. The overall effect that this has is that it makes us think about our own morals and what we perceive as beautiful, and in return, this may prompt us to change our mindset.

This future depiction gives us some hope in the present because people like David do exist, who aren’t superficial and ignorant in their views. They teach us that we can all be accepted by society if we can look past this obsession with beauty.

Languages and images help us to realize what we are doing to ourselves because when we look at images of real people of every background, race or religion, the universal truth is that we are all beautiful despite society’s misguided views.

In my last blog when I mentioned the drastic measures we take to feel attractive, it should not become a priority to change our natural appearance because of what others think.  

Independent Reading: Uglies (Blog 4)

In our current society, it is normal for us to see people of all shapes and sizes, but when we think about what the characters do to become beautiful equally, the idea seems extreme to us. Ironically, imagine if people in the future look back on our methods and think of them as extreme.

“She’d never seen so many wildly different faces before. Mouths and eyes and noses of every imaginable shape, all combined insanely on people of every age. And the bodies. Some were grotesquely fat, or weirdly over muscled, or uncomfortably thin, and almost all of them had wrong, ugly proportions. But instead of being ashamed of their deformities, the people were laughing and kissing and posing, as if all the pictures had been taken at some huge party” (Westerfeld, pg. 198).

In my opinion, I cannot picture what the characters consider beautiful, because when we look through magazines, we usually see the people we want to look like. For us, being shaped like a human being suffices, but the characters in Uglies think that muscles and body proportions are grotesque.  It just makes me realize how dramatic of a change these teenagers go through once they are able to become pretty.

Westerfeld took the option of explaining what the characters saw by way of shifting to their side. He acts as if the magazine models are a foreign concept to make us question our own ideas of normalcy and beauty. This creates the effect of self-evaluation within our society. Just because we think a certain trend is normal, it doesn’t mean that others find it as appealing as we do.

We as humans should be able to take different opinions into consideration when we look at the diverse world we live in. But the truth is, those beliefs about beauty have been drilled into our minds from the day we were born. For example, the practice of foot binding in China has been traditionally normal until the early 1900s, when it was banned. That didn’t stop the women from secretly breaking their own toes and arches so that they would attain the “three inch golden lotuses.” That takes suffering for beauty to a whole new level. It’s not as common or valued by the Chinese as much as it was back then, but foot binding was their perception of beauty. It is strange to us as Americans but we need to think about our own beauty traditions.

My previous ideas about the issue of beauty mentioned the minimal harm we see in trying to look like models. But we fail to understand that our values will be altered.

Independent Reading: Uglies (Blog 3)

Another problem that we face as a result of perceived beauty is the fact that those who are considered unattractive pose a threat to the status of the assumed beautiful people. Superficial attractive people are expected to play the part of the saints just because of their looks, and they consider ugly people to be bad in the same way.

“‘This city is a paradise, Tally. It feeds you, educates you, keeps you safe. It makes you pretty.’ Tally couldn’t help looking up hopefully at this. ‘And our city can stand a great deal of freedom, Tally. It gives youngsters room to play tricks, to develop their creativity and independence. But occasionally bad things come from outside the city’” (Westerfeld, pg. 106).

This depiction shows that Pretties feel threatened by Uglies because they are labeled as bad people. These days, people who are attractive are seen as the ones who have the most opportunities and who are the most idolized in society. Others are not given chances because nothing matters as long as they look “beautiful” according to society’s standards.  Westerfeld believes that people in the future will not only discriminate those who are less fortunate in terms of looks, but they will be treated like criminals.

As humans in a morally blind society, we cannot see the harm that is being inflicted when we place seemingly attractive people on a pedestal and push the “ugly ones” to the side. We think that it’s okay to pick sides because of what the majority of people think about a certain group. It is not fair that we have to let our opinions determine how we are going to treat a person if we think that their nose is too big or that their choice in wardrobe is tacky. But it’s only human nature.

In my previous blog, I mentioned that humans value superficial beauty now more than ever. In this case, our values are changed into things that are conceited and insincere.    

Independent Reading: Uglies (Blog 2)

Whenever humans feel that they need to protect what they believe in, we often resort to almost extreme measures to keep the truth guarded. In Uglies, the Pretties isolate themselves by way of keeping wardens the way a celebrity would keep bodyguards.

“New pretties had their own wardens. There was only one reason why a middle pretty would be here in Pretty Town: The wardens were looking for someone, and they were serious about finding him or her” (Westerfeld, pg. 26).

This depiction of the future exposes the obsession that has turned from an opinion to an authoritative necessity. Westerfeld predicts that humans will value superficial beauty even more in the future than we do now, and the integrity of any relationship may be put in jeopardy if one person is seemingly more beautiful than the other. As a result, it’s no wonder the “ugly” characters in the book are so insecure with their looks and become desperate to change their appearance for the sake of acceptance.

The way we use language can be compared to a weapon because we hurt each other by passing judgment based on appearance.  If a girl is told repeatedly that she is too big to be on a magazine spread, she will eventually believe that and will become discouraged about her looks. It may not seem like a big deal to most people, but such degrading comments can move someone to become obsessed with satisfying their persecutors and take drastic action. These actions may not be necessarily healthy.

As I explained in Blog 1, discrimination has made humanity’s perception of beauty a priority because of our superficial perception of real beauty, which is more than just looks.  

Independent Reading: Uglies (Blog 1)

In Scott Westerfeld’s novel Uglies, there is a great debate on the topic of “being pretty”, and in Tally Youngblood’s superficial society, the people who are considered attractive and powerful are those they call Pretties. As one of the Uglies in her society, they cannot help but await their sixteenth birthday when they will be cosmetically transformed into Pretties and leave their primitive community for good. Being one of the Pretties gives people a great life, and Tally believes that they are perfect because of their looks.

“There was something magic in their large and perfect eyes, something that made you want to pay attention to whatever they said, to protect them from any danger, to make them happy. They were so… pretty” (Westerfeld, pg. 8).

As humans, it can be hard for us to look past our own perception of beauty. This explains where problems like Anorexia or Body Dysmorphic Disorder originate from, because we make such a priority out of beauty. Humanity’s history of discrimination against those who may not look like a model made it possible for Westerfeld to predict that our future may turn out to be this way.

Every day we see magazine articles, newspaper ads, commercials and billboards that showcase a perceived beautiful person advertising some kind of product, mostly those that can alter a person’s appearance in a minor or major way. People can be easily convinced that others may accept them if they try to follow the trends these models seem to abide by.