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
The group stays at the edge of the Rusty Ruins. They occasionally see hovercars looking for them, but hiding is easy. Tally sees uglies waving sparklers from midnight until sunrise. Tally, Croy, Astrix, and Ryde meet the uglies and show them the Boss’s magazines and Tally’s unbreakable handcuffs, which prove that Special Circumstances exists. Maddy decides that they can’t keep the brain lesions a secret anymore, so the Smokies share the truth about pretty surgery too. Some uglies seem to believe the story. Maddy locks herself away to work on a cure for the brain lesions and she is especially cool toward Tally. Shay stays and only ever seems annoyed, not bitter. After 20 days, Maddy finds the cure.
The Boss’s magazines allow the remaining Smokies to introduce uglies to a way of life they probably didn’t know even existed. While uglies learn in school that the Rusties remained ugly forever, they typically never hear that the Rusties were happy and had fun, as learning those things would require them to humanize their predecessors. By introducing these young uglies to this idea, Tally and her friends are able to plant seeds in the mind of the uglies and show them that it is possible to be an “ugly” and also be happy—as well as beautiful.
Themes
Maddy sits Shay down and tells her that during her operation, they did something to her brain. Shay insists that she’s happy and likes how she looks, while the uglies are jealous and paranoid. When Maddy asks why Shay hasn’t returned to the city, Shay says that she feels bad about getting Tally to go to the Smoke in the first place, and she figures that Tally will grow up and return to the city with her. Maddy assures Shay that the pills will let her decide how she wants to look. Shay is upset that they want to mess with her brain and then says that the Smokies are the crazy ones, not her. She says she’s trying to help them by making them understand, but she looks confused when Maddy asks if she’s “helping” like she helped Dr. Cable.
Shay’s responses show that even though her brain may be compromised, she has a firm grasp of what the uglies have that she doesn’t: the ability to experience negative emotions like jealousy and fear. While Shay suggests that these emotions are universally bad and nobody should experience them, it’s important to remember that these are part of a normal range of human emotions. Experiencing jealousy is part of being human, and Shay is missing out by not experiencing it.
Themes
Shay says that the Specials are psycho, but if they all turn pretty, the Specials won’t mess with them anymore. As pretties, they won’t make trouble and they’ll be happy. Maddy confirms that Shay won’t take the pills willingly. Shay laughs, points out that there’s a chance things will go wrong, and says that she has no interest in being jealous and self-important. She suggests that Maddy and Dr. Cable are alike in that they both think they need to change the world. Maddy gets up to leave, which shocks Tally. Maddy explains that they can’t give experimental pills to unwilling subjects, but Tally points out that Shay has the lesions, so she isn’t full aware anyway. Maddy leads Tally onto the roof and says that they can’t sneak the pills to Shay. David notes that Shay is happy and can make her own decisions.
Though Tally previously acted as though she understood the importance of respecting Shay’s autonomy, it’s a hard lesson to learn here. David is correct: Shay does seem to be happy, and it’s extremely unethical to make the decision to medicate her without her consent. Because of this, Tally has to learn that she can’t just respect her friend’s autonomy when Shay seems to be all there. She must also accept Shay’s choices when they seem wrong and as though they’re coming from a questionable place. Essentially, Maddy and David suggests that people always have the right to their own bodies—even if what they want to do doesn’t make sense to others.
Themes
When Tally notes that the doctors didn’t get permission to change Shay’s brain the first time, Maddy says that they have to be different—as a doctor, she took an oath to never do unethical things like that. Maddy says that if they knew it’d work, they could give it to Shay, but as it stands, they need a willing test subject. Tally argues that they have to change Shay back, but Maddy says that Az died because Dr. Cable thought like that. David explains that Dr. Cable was concerned that Maddy and Az would talk about the lesions after their operation, so she experimented with ways to erase memories and Az never came back. If they snuck Shay the pills, Shay would be right about Maddy being like Dr. Cable. Feeling responsible for Shay’s brain damage, Tally offers herself as a willing test subject.
Learning about how Az died introduces Tally to the consequences of trying to control others’ thoughts. Now, being a loyal friend means that Tally must take matters into her own hands with Maddy and David’s help. Dr. Cable is clearly cast as an evil person, and it’s imperative that Tally not give into the draw of reacting in kind. In this sense, individuality and being in control of her own mind might be difficult, but it gives Tally more freedom than she ever thought possible—both to dictate her own path as well as to help others.
Themes
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