Symbols in “Uglies” Essay Sample

Have you of all time wanted to be perfect? Have you of all time wanted a perfect society? Imagine a topographic point where everyone was every bit beautiful. and there were no duties or concerns. A topographic point where you were given everything you could’ve of all time asked for. If you had a topographic point this epicurean. would you still desire it? Sometimes we think our lives would be fulfilled if we were smarter. or prettier. or more athletic. It is these times that we neglect to see how great our lives already are. This is the subject of Scott Westerfeld’s novel. Tangelos. Like all great authors. Scott Westerfeld supports the subject of his novel with symbolism that is hidden in every character and event. Tangelos takes topographic point in futuristic Northern California. In this narrative. society is divided into two chief groups. the “Uglies” and the “Pretties” . These two groups are separated by a river that runs between their metropoliss. The reader first meets the chief character. Tally. when she is mousing across this river on a span to see her friend Peris. Tally quotes. “The old span stretched massively across the H2O. its immense Fe model every bit black as the sky. The span was soundless. and had ever seemed really wise…Tally pulled the fishing line until it turned into a moisture. knotted cord.

Tally so pulled the rope and lashed it to the usual tree. One clip the flight rope had pulled free from the tree and both she and Peris swung downward into the icy river. She smiled at the memory. recognizing she would instead be on that expedition-soaking moisture and freezing-than prohibitionist and warm tonight. but alone” ( Loc 80 ) . This quotation mark non merely shows Tally’s path of flight. but the emptiness she feels from the separation between her and her best friend. Peris. The quotation mark besides shows the concealed symbolism in the span. Standing over a society where everything is invariably bettering. the span represents the yesteryear for Pretties and Tangelos. It holds the same architecture from a hundred old ages ago and it is one of the lone artefacts left over from the apocalypse that ended the society before them.

There is a ground for the separation of Pretties and Tangelos in this novel. Tangelos are wholly natural. they don’t wear make-up. they go to school. and they live in residence halls on the Ugly side of the river. Pretties are the opposite. Pretties undergo a decorative surgery that makes them every bit perfect as possible. and they are given no duties in their new life. When an Ugly turns 16. they are turned into a Pretty and moved across the river. While Tally is expecting her surgery. she gazes across the river and quotation marks. “I could see New Pretty Town through my unfastened window. The party towers were already lit up. and serpents of firing torches marked wavering tracts to through the pleasance gardens…Laughter and music skipped across the river like stones thrown with merely the right spin. their borders merely as crisp against Tally’s nerves” ( Loc 54 ) . This quotation mark describes a typical dark in New Pretty Town. every bit good as Tally’s yearning to be a portion of a perfect society. Constantly we find ourselves staring upon person else’s life. wishing ours was every bit glamourous as theirs. Tally’s desire to be across the river symbolizes everyone is modern society wishing for a perfect life.

Liing on the outskirts of both these towns is the Rusties’ metropoliss. “Rusties” is a term mentioning those who lived before this new society came into drama. At first. Tally disregards these metropoliss. seeing them as merely abandoned fields. It’s non until Shay. a miss from the Tangelos town and Tally’s friend. runs off on her 16th birthday. Shay’s birthday is the same twenty-four hours as Tally’s. so Tally had expected they would come out of surgery together. However. when the hover cab comes to pick up Tally. it doesn’t take her to the infirmary. Alternatively it takes her to Particular Fortunes. When she arrives at Particular Circumstances. Doctor Cable is waiting to talk with her. Dr. Cable tells Tally that she is responsible for happening her friend. Shay. When Tally tells Dr. Cable that she made a promise to Shay that she would ne’er state anyone where she went. Dr. Cable tells Tally. “’Then I’ll make you a promise excessively. Tally Youngblood. Until you help us. to the really best of your ability. you will ne’er be pretty” ( Loc 1309 ) . After hearing this. Tally reluctantly agrees to assist Dr. Cable find Shay. This minute is of import because it symbolizes failing and selfishness in human nature.

Sometimes. we are willing to travel against person we love if it benefits ourselves. Tally wants to be perfect so severely that she is willing to turn her friend in to the governments to acquire the operation she wants. Dr. Cable gives Tally supplies to acquire to the Rusties and a cordate locket that she is to trip when she finds Shay. Once Tally activates it. Particular Circumstances will be able to happen the location of the Rusties and collar any outlaws life at that place. Tally travels for several yearss and darks and eventually gets to the Rusties. Shay is happy to see her. and instantly introduces her to all of her new friends. These friends include David. a 16 twelvemonth old that ran off from the surgery because he wanted to remain pure. When Tally meets him. she thinks to herself. “He was an ugly. but he had a nice smiling. And his face held a sort of assurance Tally had ne’er seen in an ugly before” ( Loc 2180 ) . David represents purity and world. In our universe. we classify person as beautiful if they have keen characteristics that are rare. In Tally’s universe. everyone was given these rare characteristics. which made it so they were no longer rare. David’s characteristics are appealing to Tally because they are rare to her. David has ne’er gone under the knife for decorative surgery. and she still finds him capturing.

A few yearss subsequently. David introduces Tally to his parents. Both of them were decorative sawboness who changed Uglies into Pretties. but they ran off once they learned the truth about the operation. The operation didn’t merely do your outside reasonably ; it gave you a pretty head excessively. It takes off negative emotions like unhappiness and choler. and makes you obey any authorization. After hearing this. Tally decides that she would instead be ugly everlastingly and unrecorded in the Rusties than turn them in and travel back to New Pretty Town. Tally throws the bosom pendent into a raging balefire. but she doesn’t know that the heat activates the signal. On the undermentioned twenty-four hours. Tally wakes up to happen Particular Circumstances agents all over the Rusties. She runs to a cave to conceal. and finds David in at that place.

That dark. while concealing in the cave. they have a bosom to bosom conversation that strengthens their bond. David tells Tally. “’you ever seemed to cognize how unsafe it was here in the Rusties. Somehow. you understood what the metropoliss were truly similar. You were the lone blowout who of all time got it” ( Loc 3698 ) . The particular bond between Tally and David symbolizes adulthood in human existences. As we grow up. our wants and our demands alteration. For example- a birthday nowadays that we would desire as a three twelvemonth old is non the same as a present we would desire as a 13 twelvemonth old. Similarly. Tally’s wants have changed since she has matured at the Rockies. She no longer wants to be reasonably ; she merely wants to hold a life filled with people she loves.

Tally and David shortly learn that all of their friends form the Rusties have been taken back to Special Circumstances and are now being prepped to go Pretties. When they arrive at Particular Circumstances. the two of them find that Shay has already been turned. When they ask her inquiries about the Rusties. she has no thought what they are speaking about. In possibly the most dramatic minute of the book. Shay tells them. “’You guys certain do like to do trouble’” ( Loc 4348 ) . Shay’s loss of memory symbolizes calamity in the novel. for Shay was the leader of the rebellion against the immoral Acts of the Apostless of the operation. Now. non merely has she forgotten everything she knew about the surgery. but she sees her friends as felons. Tally and David now must take up the rebellion themselves.

Tally and David free the Rusties that are being held prisoner in Particular Circumstances. so they steal hover boards and all escape back place. Once at that place. David’s parents Maddy and Az admit that they have created an counterpoison to bring around the lesions in the encephalon that are inserted during the Pretties Operation. However. they still need a topic to prove them on before they release them to the populace. Tally feels particularly guilty for everything that has happened since she arrives at the Rusties. and she voluntaries to go to Particular Fortunes and undergo the operation. In the concluding line of the novel. Tally says. “’Hi. I’m Tally Youngblood. Make me pretty” ( Loc 4850 ) . Tally’s determination to turn reasonably is important because it is really in effort to arise against the operation. non fall into it like she wanted at the beginning of the novel. This determination symbolizes alteration. which is a immense construct in the novel. The society in this novel is invariably altering ; people have the ability to alter their expressions wholly. When Tally was at the Rusties. she found it peaceable because there was ne’er any alteration. Everyone looked every bit alone as they had the twenty-four hours before. This is the ground Tally loved the Rusties so much.

Tangelos ends on a high note with Tally inquiring to go reasonably. She is giving herself to profit others. which is a far call from the start of
the book. when she agreed to turn in her friend to go reasonably. All of the character development throughout this novel was based on symbolism. Every event that Tally encountered symbolized existent virtuousnesss in human nature ; desire. selfishness. wonder. adulthood. duty. and forfeit. Scott Westerfeld did a antic occupation of concealing these elements in his narrative. By the clip the reader was finished with the book. he had tied up all loose terminals and to the full developed his characters. All in all. Westerfeld’s symbolism added up to make one large image ; beauty is defined otherwise by all of us. That was the point of Tangelos.

Plants Cited

Westerfeld. Scott. Tangelos. New York: Simon Pulse. 2005. Print.

Analysis Questions

1. I think I stuck to my original subject throughout the paper.

2. The hardest portion of this paper was remaining inside of the page bound. I had to sum up the book so the quotation marks would do sense. and that took a batch of infinite and left me really small to analyse.

3. The first alteration I made was cut downing my sum-up of the book to as few words as possible. The 2nd alteration I made was adding on to the analysis of each symbol at the terminal of each paragraph.

4. I’m most proud of this full paper. I feel like my authorship has improved greatly and I believe this paper will hold a sky-high mark.