Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Uglies, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Conformity vs. Individuality
Beauty, Science, and Influence
The Natural World, History, and Growing Up
Friendship and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
Tally says that she’ll willingly go back to the city, get caught, and receive the pretty operation. In a few weeks, Maddy and David can fetch her and test the pills that cure the brain lesions. David is distraught, but Tally insists it’ll be easy. He asks what they’re supposed to do if the Specials change her memory, but Maddy says they won’t since they didn’t bother doing so with Shay. Maddy reason that Dr. Cable won’t hurt Tally, and Tally reiterates that she has to do this because she’s the reason Shay is pretty right now.
Offering herself up as the test subject is one of the most mature and loyal things Tally could ever do. By doing this, she also has to trust in the loyalty of her friends, as she has to believe that they’ll actually sneak in and get her back out of the city. This shows how far Tally has come: she not only wants to keep her mind, but she’s willing to risk her life to help others do the same.
Themes
Tally admits that she came to the Smoke to betray Shay and she tells David everything. She says she didn’t mean to call Special Circumstances, but she’s the reason Shay is pretty and Az is dead. Maddy confirms Tally’s story and says that Shay confirmed it for her. David angrily asks for the pills so he can give them to Shay, but Maddy refuses to let him become a monster by violating Shay’s wishes in this way. David races away, and Maddy says that Tally needs to go to the city tonight. Tally thanks Maddy for letting her tell David herself, but she realizes that Maddy blames her for Az’s death.
Maddy blaming Tally for Az’s death is another consequence that Tally will have to live with for the rest of her life. Though it’s possible that David will forgive her (and for that matter, it’s possible that Maddy will too), Tally has to understand that as long as her friends have control of their own minds and experience a full range of emotions, they have every right to be upset with her and blame her for their sorrows.
Themes
