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 dreams that she’s hoverboarding and plummets off the cliff into the ocean. She wakes up at sunset, gathers her things, and then tries to wipe as much dew and spray off the board as she can with her coat sleeve. The board’s light is yellow when she’s done, so she decides to eat while it dries. She squeezes water from her sleeve and wipes water off the board until she has just enough to make SpagBol. Tally ponders what the worst mistake would be. She decides that she must be able to make it down the cliff on her board, but almost as soon as she starts down, the metal detector lights go out and Tally falls. Her crash bracelets catch her just before she hits the bottom and she realizes that the metal in the river saved her. Tally heads upriver.
Again, Tally learns that the natural world is dangerous and unpredictable—but it can pull through and save her if she knows where to look. She survives this ordeal in part because she has help deciphering the landscape, which suggests that for people living outside the cities, it’s important to exist as part of a community and help others. This contrasts greatly to how life works in the cities, as there, every pretty can get what they want without having to worry about how their actions affect others.
Themes
The clue says to head upriver for four days and then to “take the side [Tally] despise[s].” By the third day, Tally decides she must try to bathe. She digs packets of soap out of her bag, strips off her clothes, and stands at the edge of the river. Tally realizes that she’s never been naked outdoors before. It feels like the whole world belongs to her. After some deliberating, she leaps into the freezing river and whoops with excitement. She scrubs herself quickly, but as she starts to wade out, she hears something big coming.
This sense of freedom is something that Tally would never get in Uglyville, which begins to make the case that if Tally values her freedom and independence, she’ll have to look outside the city. Having such a fun and exciting experience, meanwhile, continues to make life outside the city look better and better, as experiences like this don’t exist within city limits.
Themes
