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 and Shay reach the cave first, and Croy hurtles in a moment later. He groans that he lost the Specials but he doesn’t know where everyone else is. He says he went all the way around the greenbelt, and the Specials kept getting him confused with the other uglies riding there. Croy also shares that Maddy and David went to the ruins to be alone for a while, which makes Tally’s stomach drop. Tally suggests that she hike to the ruins to comfort David, but Croy says that Maddy instructed them to stay put. Astrix and Ryde arrive a bit later, thrilled by their victory. Tally tries to celebrate with them, but she can’t. She can only think of David. Shay falls asleep quickly, and Tally curls up next to her, trying to forget how Shay’s mind has changed.
All the uglies riding in the greenbelt and annoying the Specials drives home that the Smoke isn’t dead at all—there’s still a huge community of people willing to make life difficult for those in charge. These people are Tally’s hope for the future, as they’re the ones who are still in control of their own minds and are still capable of learning that there are other ways of thinking about beauty. Tally’s desire to be with David shows how loyal she is and reinforces for her that it’s possible to love someone who’s “ugly” according to society’s standards.
Themes
Tally smells food when she wakes up and she hears Croy trying to placate Shay, who wants a shower. Even though Shay is bedraggled, she’s still stunning. Astrix and Ryde can’t stop looking at her, and nobody tries to make Shay stop complaining. After dusk, Tally and Croy check for Specials and then lead everyone to the ruins. Shay announces once that she wants to go home, but it doesn’t occur to her to try to leave by herself. Tally doesn’t know what they’re going to do with Shay, but she knows they can’t leave her like this. Tally also knows that Shay will hate her again as soon as she’s cured, but she can’t decide if it’s worse to have a friend with brain damage or one that hates her.
That nobody tries to make Shay stop complaining illustrates that pretties are, for the most part, allowed to be selfish and can expect to get whatever they want. This explains a lot of Tally’s selfishness earlier in the novel—she grew up expecting to be just like this, and so she didn’t bother trying to cultivate empathy and kindness within herself. As Tally considers what might happen once Shay is cured, she’s forced to again confront the consequences of her betrayal—in this case, being true to Shay means accepting that Shay will probably hate her.
Themes
They reach the Rusty Ruins after midnight. David stands outside the hiding spot, looking exhausted. He and Tally embrace and kiss, and he greets Shay. David, unlike the others, doesn’t seem to see Shay’s beauty. Turning to Tally, David shares that they got Dr. Cable’s tablet to work, and that it has all the notes about turning pretties into Specials. It even includes how the brain lesions work. David says that with this, Maddy might be able to find a cure for Shay.
It’s likely that David has only seen a few pretties in his lifetime, so his non-reaction to Shay is important. It suggests that Tally, Astrix, and Ryde’s stunned reactions to her are learned, not biological—if they were biological, David would react the same way. He simply hasn’t learned that he’s supposed to fawn over pretty people.
Themes
