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.
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