The Uglies is about a girl named Tally that lives in a post America world that everyone believes your nothing if you’re not pretty. The government brainwashes them to believe that everyone should look, act and think a certain way. The Uglies plot is really good.
All authors write dystopian basically the same. There are always different groups/ towns and their trying to defy their current government. The man character is also always in some sort of love triangle as well. Kirkus Reviews describes the plot “With a beginning and ending that pack hefty punches, this introduction to a dystopic future promises an exciting series.” The statement is partially correct. The ending was exciting but the beginning was not. The Uglies is very interesting but the book didn’t start to get good until the ending. The main characters Tally lives in Uglyville and has this plan her whole life to become pretty, planning out what she’s going to look like and act. After her best friend becomes pretty before her she meets another girl that doesn’t want to be pretty and is rebellious. Just when she’s about to be pretty she has to betray her friend and find her to reveal to the government were the people who don’t want to be pretty live. After she spends time with them she finds out what really happens when you turn pretty and she meets a boy and falls in love. Writing a dystopian society is hard because it involves an author to use your imagination on what life would be live if the current government collapse and they have to use issues that they have today to incorporate that into their writing. Then to make the dystopian book interesting they have to add some sort of conflict between the government and the main character. Also they have to add love interest in it as well.
Scott Westerfeild does a really good job developing the characters in the book. Especially the main character Tally, the whole beginning of the book is about her wanting to be pretty and how she feels when it comes to the government turns you. You also get a good understanding of her and her best friend Pervis’ relationship and how it hurts her when she goes to visit him and he doesn’t want her there. Then her character changes when she goes on the journey to get to the Smoke. She finds out that she doesn’t want to be pretty and that she doesn’t need to be pretty. She doesn’t refer to herself as ugly either. To get Tally to do what they want they tell her “…until you do help us, tot eh best of your ability, you will never be pretty.” (110) That quote shows how Tally felt before that journey because she goes on it to become pretty. You also see her; self vs. self-conflict when the government finds out were they are and invades the Smoke and she wants to tell people it’s her fault. Also when she figures out she loves her best friends boyfriend. You see the character development of her best friend Shay through dialog and how they interact and what shay thinks about turning pretty and how she doesn’t want to. Then when Shay turns pretty her opinions change and she said that it’s her fault that Tally is not pretty. Her self vs. self conflict is really describes when her and David are talking and he says “you’re not sure about it all” (216). He’s saying that she’s not sure yet if she entirely doesn’t want to be pretty anymore, there’s still part of her that wants to be.
The theme of the novel is relevant to what is going on today people believe that they have to be pretty to get what they want and do things to make them pretty. Kilatt describes the theme of the book by saying “This book, the first in a trilogy, asks engaging questions about the meaning of beauty, individuality, and betrayal…” Westerfield really does an amazing job of exploring this theme and giving his ideas of what it means to be pretty through his characters in the book. The writing style of the uglies is there are long sentences, a lot of dialog which helps you with the character development.
Overall this book is a 4 out of 5 stars because the book didn’t get interesting until the ending but the author had really good character development and writing style.
No comments:
Post a Comment