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
Hours after dawn, Tally sees four people carrying hoverboards hiking toward her. They all wear white hats that would render them invisible if they crouched. When Tally recognizes Shay, she races down, and the girls happily embrace. Shay says that no one thought the helicopter could be for Tally. Tally insists that Shay’s note was obscure and that she had a hard time, especially with the rangers. The boy in the group says that Tally has a bug, takes her board, and pulls off a stabilizing fin. Shay says that there are always trackers on boards, and the boy assures Tally it’s fine—they stick the trackers on migratory birds to throw off Special Circumstances. He scans Tally with his device, declares her clean, and then Shay introduces him as David. He’s a slightly older ugly, but he has a nice smile and looks confident. Tally wonders how much of ugliness is an awkward phase.
Now that Tally has met someone a few years older than 16 who’s still ugly, she has the opportunity to see firsthand what happens when young people age naturally. It’s especially important that she keys in on David’s confidence: David is confident because he inhabits the natural world, where he has to make choices for himself—all of which have potentially dangerous consequences. In other words, he’s not a coddled city kid—he’s self-sufficient. With this in mind, Tally wondering if ugliness is just an awkward phase shows that she is beginning to question the truth of the “science” behind beauty.
Themes
Another ugly, Croy, asks Tally what she brought. Tally thinks that Croy definitely needs the operation as he gleefully discovers her SpagBol. Tally tells him he can have it, but Shay pulls Tally’s bag away and tells Tally she needs to keep her things to trade, a foreign concept to Tally. Tally notices David’s hand on Shay’s shoulder as they hike through the orchids to the beginning of the trees. Tally asks how they stop the flowers from spreading, and David explains that the old growth forest does. Shay adds that it has enough species to keep out the weeds, while David continues that the rest of the land used to be farms. Tally soon sees why the orchids can’t grow in the forest: it’s almost impassable.
Tally is still very prejudiced and believes that pretty people are superior, even as she admits that there’s something attractive about David. Meanwhile, the diverse forest’s ability to keep back the orchids again shows the importance of diversity. The forest is only able to keep back the orchids because it houses a variety of species, which, working together, are strong enough to overcome the monoculture. This is symbolic of the potential for diversity among people to overcome the conformity of prettiness: if Tally doesn’t betray the diverse and independent Smoke, it might be able to keep the cities’ influence at bay.
Themes
Shay assures Tally that they have a ways to go before they reach the Smoke. Tally’s feet chafe in the shoes the rangers gave her, but she realizes they’re better for hiking. She wonders how one gets new shoes in the Smoke and notices that David’s shoes look handmade and crude, though he moves gracefully. Tally reminds herself that it doesn’t matter how one gets shoes in the Smoke—she’s going home to become pretty. When they reach a stream, David checks again for bugs. Shay apologizes for fighting with Tally, and Tally, to Shay’s surprise, lies that she changed her mind. She truthfully says that she knew she wouldn’t see Shay again if she didn’t come. They ride higher into the mountain, follow a vein of iron, and then look down on the Smoke.
Tally is starting to battle her curiosity: she is a naturally inquisitive person who wants to know how things work but she’s grown up in an environment that didn’t encourage curiosity about things like making shoes or handwriting. Even if Tally knows she’s lying, her responses to Shay make it clear that Tally knows how to act the part of a good, supportive friend. Shay’s apology also shows that in an isolated community like this, it’s important to apologize and make things right—the survival of the group depends on trust and teamwork.
Themes
