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
Maddy suggests that Tally put her consent in writing, so Tally asks Shay to write it since Tally never learned penmanship. David is still gone when Tally is done, and she realizes that no matter what, David won’t forget what she did. Tally believes that if he comes to get her, this means he’ll have forgiven her. Shay begs to come with Tally, and Tally deliberates. She figures that it won’t be hard to catch Shay again, and Shay says that it’s her fault that Tally isn’t pretty already. Tally finally agrees. They take a hoverboard together back to the city, accompanied by Croy so he can take their hoverboard back. Croy says nothing until they reach the greenbelt. He asks how Special Circumstances made Tally betray them, and Tally answers that they withheld the pretty operation.
Now that Tally has undergone such a dramatic transformation, it seems silly and selfish to admit that she betrayed the Smoke for something as superficial as the pretty surgery. This allows Tally to see just how far she’s come over the course of the last few months: she now understands how important it is to be loyal, as well as the importance of gathering lots of different information before making decisions. It’s also possible that this is as intellectually mature as Tally will ever be—the pills, after all, might not work, and she may never be able to be so reflective and self-aware ever again.
Themes
Croy thanks Tally for rescuing him and then heads back up the river. Tally and Shay walk toward Uglyville and Shay chatters about how popular she already is because of her criminal record, but she says they’ll have to tone down their story to make it more believable. Tally thinks of her letter and wonders if she’ll believe the truth when she returns as a pretty. She also wonders how David will look to her after she’s a pretty, and if she’ll still remember that people can be beautiful without surgery. Tally wonders if the brain lesions won’t develop if she makes a point to miss David. A warden’s hovercar passes overhead and stops. The middle pretty looks confused to see a pretty with an ugly. Tally, happy to be causing trouble up until the end, introduces herself and asks to be made pretty.
Even if Shay has integrated fully into the New Pretty Town’s party scene, it’s telling that she’s so popular because of her criminal record. This suggests that even though the pretties don’t engage in such activity themselves, they still idealize those who do. However, they also despise those so-called criminals for their ugliness. Until Tally’s society begins to break down these divisions between pretties and uglies, as well as give everyone the opportunity to choose how they want their future to proceed, it will continue to promote harmful ideas about beauty, worth, and conformity.
Themes
