A pretty who works for Special Circumstances. Specials are beautiful, but in a cruel and menacing way. They’re a little taller than normal pretties, have flat gray eyes, and can move extremely fast.
Special Quotes in Uglies
The Uglies quotes below are all either spoken by Special or refer to Special. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Rabbit Pen
Quotes
She scanned the captives, looking for Shay and David. The familiar faces in the crowd were haggard, dirty, crumpled by shock and defeat, but Tally realized that she no longer thought of them as ugly. It was the cold expressions of the Specials, beautiful though they were, that seemed horrific to her now.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Uglies LitChart as a printable PDF.
Special Term Timeline in Uglies
The timeline below shows where the term Special appears in Uglies. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Ugly For Life
Tally starts to explain what the people at Special Circumstances look like, but Sol laughs and says that old people know all about them...
(full context)
Pretty Minds
...didn’t have lesions and found that they were all professionals like firefighters, politicians, doctors, and Specials. Maddy confirms that she and Az don’t have lesions and says that if they had...
(full context)
Invasion
...and she can hear a struggle outside. When she opens the door, she sees a Special Circumstances hovercar that looks like a cross between a normal hovercar and a helicopter. Tally...
(full context)
The Boss creeps up behind Tally, and they watch the Special. He suggests they both run for it and then shows Tally the two things he...
(full context)
The Rabbit Pen
The Special leads Tally to the rabbit pen, which contains 40 handcuffed Smokies. He throws Tally down...
(full context)
Tally sees two Specials throw Shay into the pen. Shay croaks a greeting to Croy and then accuses Tally...
(full context)
In Case of Damage
The Specials take Tally to the library, where Dr. Cable greets her with an odd smile. Tally...
(full context)
Tally leads the Special toward the trading post. She tells him the necklace is on the roof, and the...
(full context)
Amazing
...reassures David that they’ll rescue everyone. David is skeptical, but Tally says she’s been to Special Circumstances. She lies that she got caught sneaking into New Pretty Town on the night...
(full context)
Ruin
...and Tally convinces David that they need to watch and wait in case there are Specials there. She assures him that they’ll look for Maddy and Az after they make sure...
(full context)
...discover the library burning with the books still in it. David bitterly says that the Specials don’t want anyone to know what things were like before the operation, so they can...
(full context)
Maddy and Az
...a long knife, which barely mars the plastic handcuffs. Tally has no idea how the Special severed them. She suggests it’s special plastic but insists she cut the cuffs on a...
(full context)
Accomplices
...sky starts to lighten and they decide to strike tomorrow night. David asks about the Specials and where they’ll be. Tally suggests there will only be a few around at night...
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Getaway
...Tally races for the boards. As she Tally hits the ground, Croy points to approaching Specials. Tally rides both boards at once, evades the Specials, and rides to the roof. Maddy...
(full context)
...still wearing crash bracelets and a bungee jacket, so they might survive. Tally wonders if Special Circumstance will alert the wardens for help. She wonders if the wardens and if regular...
(full context)
Tally checks her position-finder and thinks of how difficult this night will be for the Specials—they’ll be chasing four hoverboards, four trackers, and all of Dex, Sussy, and An’s friends. At...
(full context)
Night Alone
...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...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
Hippocratic Oath
Shay says that the Specials are psycho, but if they all turn pretty, the Specials won’t mess with them anymore....
(full context)
Confessions
...but Tally insists it’ll be easy. He asks what they’re supposed to do if the Specials change her memory, but Maddy says they won’t since they didn’t bother doing so with...
(full context)
