Hoverboards represent independence and growing up. They’re a skateboard-like toy beloved by littlies that function in much the same way that tricycles do in the reader’s world (that is, as an early introduction to independence and autonomy before one is legally able to drive a car). However, for those who continue hoverboarding throughout their teen years, the hoverboards can take this idea of independence even further. As Tally becomes proficient on a hoverboard, she notes that she stops thinking it as just a toy: her board becomes something symbolic of adulthood that’s worthy of her respect and reverence. This speaks to the idea that while hoverboards may be intended to help turn very young children into teens—and nothing more—if one is willing to take this a step further and recognize how useful they can be, hoverboards can be the things that offer teens freedom far beyond what the government wants them to think is possible. The government’s disapproval of hoverboards takes this idea of independence even further: Dr. Cable grouses that “miscreants” inevitably possess hoverboards, and it’s no coincidence that those “miscreants” are teens like Shay, Croy, and David who don’t buy into the idea that being pretty should be one’s life goal and who want to live outside of the cities’ jurisdiction. They are the cities’ most independent and freethinking individuals, and their hoverboards signify their unwillingness to conform.
Hoverboards Quotes in Uglies
“I didn’t know these things weighed so much.”
“Yeah, this is what a board weighs when it’s not hovering. Out here, you find out that the city fools you about how things really work.”
Mountains rose up on her right, tall enough that snow capped their tops even in the early autumn chill. Tally had always thought of the city as huge, a whole world in itself, but the scale of everything out here was so much grander. And so beautiful. She could see why people used to live out in nature, even if there weren’t any party towers or mansions. Or even dorms.
“They carried electricity from a wind farm to one of the old cities.”
Tally frowned. “I didn’t know the Rusties used wind power.”
“They weren’t all crazy. Just most of them.” He shrugged. “You’ve got to remember, we’re mostly descended from the Rusties, and we’re still using their basic technology. Some of them must have had the right idea.”
Hoverboards Symbol Timeline in Uglies
