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Your inside scoop on the world of “Uglies”....
Feature Article: What is Tally Youngblood’s real story? The Truth weekly has a revealing interview with Tally’s best friend, Shay. February 10th 2012 Issue
Prologue Hundreds of years into the future, the world as we know it is gone. Our generation, or the “Rusties” as we are called later on, destroyed the earth sometime ago and left it to a new generation to fix it. This new genration is more advanced than we had ever dreamed of, but they are also destroying the world in their own way, They decided that many of the conflicts that humans before them had were because of apearance. So why not make everybody equal? In this new world, once a person turns sixteen they indergo a surgery to make them “pretty”. Everybody is equal in beauty, and there are no conflicts. But soon people start to realize that the surgery doesn’t only change your looks; it also changes the way you think and act. So all this time the surgery has been controlling the world, and controlling everybodies thouhgts and beleifs. For what? A world with no conflict? Tally Youngblood and her friends think there are other ways to keep the population in line without alter-
ing people completely, but not everybody agrees. How hard will it be to get people to realize what has been going on?
Is it not good to make society full of
beautiful people?
-Yang Yuan, quoted in the New York
Times
An Introduction into Tally’s world.
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The Truth about Tally Youngblood? We find out in An interview with her best friend, Shay.
Page 5: Is Tally Youngblood
Lost!? The Truth Weekly continues an Continued interview from page 8: with shay. Should We explain “Uglies why we think be in the it should. Curriculum? We analize our new favorite Uglies in the curruculum song: Lost! continued.....
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Page 7: Tally
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The new fad is chocCake! reveals her Grab your peice today! past!
Table of COntents
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An Interview with Shay Most people can’t wait to turn 16 so that they can be turned pretty. But evidently not everybody feels this way. Recently, Shay, 16, decided to run away from the city and escape to a mysterious place called The Smoke. Shay grew up like every other ugly, so what were her motivations for this drastic decision? We will find out soon in this revealing interview with Shay. Q: So recently you ran away from the city even though you were about to be turned pretty. What were your motivations to run off instead of doing the surgery?
Q: What are your thoughts on the surgery? Do you believe that it is wrong to change people even if it may solve conflicts?
A: I was against the surgery and believed that I would be happier living in The Smoke with all of my old friends, rather than living in the city and being somebody I didn’t want to be.
A: I believe that there are many other ways to resolve conflict other than changing the way people look. We need to figure out a way to accept each other and be a peaceful nation without
the surgery. Q: You haven’t been at The Smoke that long, but what do think of all the hard work? Do you find that the city didn’t prepare you for this at all? A: I don’t think that the city prepared me at all for the work at The Smoke. In the city everything is done for us, we can just ask for something and it appears. In
The Smoke, we have to work for everything and all items are worth something. Everything is a lot more valuable to me now, and I find the city very superficial after living in The Smoke. Q: You seem very passionate about hover boarding , which seems to be a hobby of yours. What are some of your others hobbies that you enjoy doing? A: When I lived in the city I did the same things a lot of other uglies did.I liked trying to pull off elaborate tricks and dangerous missions, like sneaking off outside of the city at night. I also liked playing around with the wall screen in my room and choosing different backgrounds. In The Smoke we don’t have much time for hobbies like that, because we have to work all the time. I don’t really mind the work though, and it can actually be a lot of fun.
Q: I have been informed that you are close friends with Tally Youngblood, and left her a note telling her how to find the Smoke. Did you really believe that she would come, or were you surprised when she showed up? A: For a while I was really sure that Tally would follow me, but once about 6 days passed I started to doubt that she would ever come. I tried to keep on thinking that she would, but 6 days is a long time, since travelling to The Smoke only takes 4. I was really excited when she finally showed up, but I was surprised that it took her 9 days to get here. But once she was here it didn’t really matter how long it took for her to get here, I was just happy I got to see her again. Q: By leaving the note you broke a promise you made to some of your
old friends. How did they react to Tally showing up and finding out that you led her to The Smoke? A: Most of my friends were pretty suspicious of Tally when she first arrived, because it took her so long to get here. Once they got to know her though, I think they really liked her. Some of my friends are still upset that I risked compramising The Smoke’s location, but most of them forgive me.
“We need to figure out a way to accept each other and be a peaceful nation without the surgery.”
Lost! C
o y ldp B lay
Just because I’m losing doesn’t mean I’m lost, doesn’t mean I’ll stop doesn’t mean I will cross, just because I’m hurting, doesn’t mean I’m hurt, doesn’t mean I didn’t get what I deserve, no better and no worse, I just got lost, every river that I’ve tried to cross And every door I ever tried was locked, ooh-oh, and I’m just waiting till the shine wears off...you might be a big fish in a little pond, doesn’t mean you’ve won, cause along may come a bigger one, and you’ll be lost, every river that you tried to cross, every gun you ever held went off Ooh-Oh, and I’m just waiting till the firing starts Ooh-Oh, and I’m just waiting till the shine wears off Ooh-Oh, and I’m just waiting till the shine wears off Ooh-Oh, and I’m just waiting till the shine wears off…
Coldplay’s song “Lost!”, released in 2008, reflects the feeling Tally Youngblood feels as she battles her way through a world of secrets, lies, and friendship. I think the writers message in the song is that he is simply trying to find his way through life. They are saying that even though they might seem a little bit lost they are just trying to find their way and they will get through it. In the song, they talk about how “every door I’ve ever tried was locked.” They then continue to explain that they are just waiting for the “shine to wear off.” They haven’t given up hope, and they know something has to go right at some point, and a door will open. Later in the song, they say that “you might be a big fish in a little pond, doesn’t mean you’ve won, because along will come a bigger one.” They know that once that door has opened, it doesn’t mean everything is finished, because there will always be bigger opportunities and other people that may challenge you. The song shows Tally’s will to keep on fighting for what she believes in even when she feels completely “Lost!” I thought that the song “Lost!” truly represented the feelings anybody in Tally’s situation might feel. She isn’t sure what she should do or where she should go, but she is determined to find her own way and make things right, just like in the song where it says “I’m just waiting for the shine to wear off.” One of the lines in the song also showed some of Tally’s emotions and her personality. The line was “you might be a big fish in a little pond, doesn’t mean you’ve won, because along will come a bigger one.” Tally is the oldest and most experienced in her world, and lots of people look up to her as a leader. She seems to have mastered everything in that old world, but then so many more challenges come along and she has trouble facing them, and Tally feels a little lost in this new world. Even though everything might be different, she attempts to find her way and make an impact.
Analasis
Song
I am from
sunblock patches adhered to my skin, and manicured emerald green lawns, from watching feathery clouds journey peacefully across the sky, the sun city blinding me from the truth, I am from my first few seconds on a hover board, struggling to keep my balance from forbidden trips across a river as foreboding as a barbed wire fence, the stroke of satin leaves across my face And missions to complete ugly tricks, I am from summer secrets leading me to the Smoke, from packaged SpagBol dinners and water purifiers, I am from salty tang of meat stew we made ourselves, and the days spent collect ing rough wood , to keep us warm, I am from the dull pain of abandonment, from teetering on the edge, staring into the stormy pathway of death, behind me a glittering utopia of dreams, I am from these memories, minutes, hours and days ‌ passed by as if a hazy dream...
Why “Uglies” Should be a Part of Our Learning
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“Is it not good to make society full of beautiful people?” asks Yang Yuan from the New York Times. This quote, also used in the book “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeild, really speaks about the theme of the story. “Uglies” talks about the pressures of the media and the unfair views we have of what people should look like. It shows us a picture of what our world could become if we keep on going the way we are. I believe that “Uglies” should be included in the grade 8 curriculum and would be much enjoyed by students our age. This book includes realism and an incredibly suspenseful storyline that keeps you turning the pages, all the while doing a beautiful job of developing characters to the point that you think you know them. I think that “Uglies” would captivate Grade 8s, and it would be thoroughly enjoyed. The storyline may seem a little unrealistic at first glance, but if you take a closer look, the world created in “Uglies” doesn’t seem so unlikely. In their world people have such a warped image of what beautiful is that they countdown the days until their 16th birthday so that they can get a surgery to turn them “pretty”. Their world is divided in two, Uglies and Pretties. The world we live in now could quickly turn into something like this; given the pressures we put on people to be perfect. I think that the main character in the book, Tally, deals with her problems in a similar way to how we would. The author makes it possible for us to understand Tally’s decisions throughout the book and relate to her. It is extremely important for the readers to see some realism in a book. If a book is complete fantasy there is no way it can be understood or applied to our everyday lives. Scott Westerfeild also deals with the importance of friendships in “Uglies”. Tally and her best friend, Shay, are a pair of friends that I feel many can relate to, and simply another way that Westerfeild makes this novel very relatable. They have disagreements and conflicts that come up in real life, about things such as body image and what they feel they should do with their lives. I think that readers my age could definitely relate to the issues that come up, and it could be applied to our everyday lives. Every page in “Uglies” is filled with heart-wrenching decisions and suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Lots of times, novels assigned in class can seem extremely long and pointless, because they don’t have a very suspenseful storyline or a reason to keep on flipping pages. For example, at one point in the book it says “and the world was on fire,” right at the end of the paragraph. I makes you wonder what is coming next and pushes you to keep reading. With this much suspense in a book, it would make the reading curriculum for grade 8 much more in teresting and engaging.
The characters in “Uglies” are incredibly well developed and captivating. After and while reading the book you feel like you know them and can understand why they do the things that they do in the book. During one part, both of the main characters reveal their thoughts on the surgery that they undergo to make them pretty. They both have opposing views, but what they tell each other really helps you understand their motivations and the kind of person they are. Some readers might connect more with Shay’s feelings and beliefs, while others might find they closely resemble Tally. The characters aren’t all thrown at you at the same time, the author makes sure to properly and creatively introduce each one and make you feel like they are a real person. Having characters that are well developed and relatable will make this book a great read for 8th graders and other audiences, too. So, the three points I made above clearly inform you that “Uglies” is a wonderful book to put in the grade 8 curriculum, and is a piece of writing I feel should be shared with a lot of people. I displays a lot of qualities that a great book should have, like character development and suspense. Readers could learn from this book and use it to improve their own writing while enjoying the storyline. “Uglies” can also teach us something about where our world is going and how cautious we should be when dealing with topics like appearance and body image, e specially when it is such a huge factor in our world today. To conclude, I think “Uglies” should be added to the grade 8 curriculum and read by everybody.
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