Uglies

Westerfeld, S. (2005). Uglies. New York: Simon & Schuster.


Summary

Tally Youngblood has lived her whole life anticipating the day she would be surgically changed from her natural, ugly self, into a medically-transformed pretty. On the day of her surgery, however, she is told that she cannot be turned pretty until she betrays a friend by finding where a group of runaways, the Smokies, is living. After finding the town, she realizes the benefits of staying ugly, but accidentally notifies the city officials of the town’s location. The inhabitants of the town are then taken back to the dystopian city where Tally and her new friend David have to rescue them.

Critical Thinking

As a teacher, it is important to create opportunities for children to connect with and think critically about the books they read. The following are topics that I could use to create discussion or follow-up assignments in the classroom. They are ranked by amount on comprehension and maturity that I think would be required by the reader, starting with the simplest:

Honesty

Throughout this book, Tally has to make up an increasing number of lies to hide her true motivation and previous actions. Occasionally, others call her out on inconsistencies in her stories. Eventually, the result of the lying is far worse than if she had just told the truth from the beginning. I really like that, in the end, Tally is held accountable for her decisions, and personally assumes the responsibility for the situation she created. In the classroom, I could ask the students to think of a time when they told a lie, then had to face the negative consequences that resulted from it. Or, I could ask them to think about a time when they had been hurt by someone else’s dishonesty. To incorporate writing into reading, I could ask them to write an alternate scenario in which Tally promptly tells the Smokies the truth about her mission from the Specials.

Body Image

I didn’t love this book, but I know that my teenage sister did. She recommended it wholeheartedly to me and read the entire series. Because it is written about a teenage girl, I imagine this is the audience it appeals to the most. Girls that age face an immense amount of peer pressure to look good— to be pretty. While I didn’t love the book, I did like that it emphasized that fitting into the norm, becoming like everyone else, and giving up your individually actually has a lot of negative consequences. This book does a good job of breaking down the stereotypes of “desirable qualities” that our society has created. In the classroom, I could ask my students to think about their heroes. A few may describe orally what they admire in that person. Chances are good that the majority of these positive qualities would not be beauty. In the book, Uglies were trained to believe they were ugly by the government, teachers, and each other. The nicknames they gave themselves were one of the primary reinforcements to this negative thinking. For students focusing on this aspect of the book, I would challenge them to act out mock scenarios where they give compliments and practice graciously receiving them.

Living Green

I feel like Scott Westerfeld was attempting to make a statement with his descriptions of the Rusty Society. I hope my students would be able to make the connection between the Rusties in the book and our current society. The Rusties relied heavily on oil, which ultimately resulted in their downfall. They did not use renewable energy or attempt to preserve natural resources. In contrast, Tally’s city focused heavily on preserving the environment. Everything was recycled and Tally abhorred the idea of even cutting down one tree. Students could be taught what it means to reduce the size of your ecological footprint. They could read expository articles about climate change, habitat destruction, and renewable energy. I could ask my students to write a short story entitled “A Day Without Gas.” These stories could be humerous, but I would encourage them to consider how their everyday lives would be changed if no gas were available.

Bioethics

The surgery performed in the city to change people pretty also causes lesions on their brains that suppress their desire to repel and their ability to make quick decisions. By the end of the book, the surgery is considered a punishment to the Smokies. They don’t want the surgery to turn them pretty. Today in our society, there are many people who would rather not obtain certain medical interventions. For example, some religions object to blood transfusions, some parents don’t want vaccinations for their children, and some people would rather die than receive extensive treatment. Examples like these could be shared with more advanced children in a classroom. I could ask them to choose one topic within bioethics, and write a persuasive opinion paper as to what extent the government should be allowed to force citizens to receive treatment against their will.

While I think this book is primarily written for teenage girls, there are many subthemes in it that can be analyzed by different genders and maturity levels. Uglies attacks many of the pervasive stereotypes that exist in our society today. It is a great demonstration that you cannot accept everything that you are told from authority figures. I hope this book will encourage children to test the concepts they are taught, look for reason behind action, and question the norm.

by Kelli T