In The Future, Being Pretty Makes You Happy.

Genetics





(I’m not sure if I should copy a chapter from the book? It would be a lot to type and I can’t find it online. But I’m focusing on the chapter called “Facing the Future.”)

I think it would be awesome to pick exactly how you looked like, but Tally kind of forces it. Not just Tally, I mean it isn’t her fault; she was basically programmed since she was born to think that she was ugly until she had this surgery. All “uglies” do until it’s time to have the surgery is obsess over what they look like and what they want to look alike. And in our society where all we talk about is how we look, I could see this happening in the future. People already go for plastic surgery, this is plastic surgery taken to the next level, and they are able to fix anything you want. They can change your eye color, your facial structure. Whatever you want done, the doctors can change to your liking, as long as it’s within the laws the government have made.

And once you become a “Pretty” you have no worries! This sounds so awesome, honestly, it’s like the world has given you permission to party and not worry about your life for a certain amount of time before you choose a career and then become an “Oldie”

But then again, the government or “Specials” control your life. And you’re stuck in Ugly town, then you’re stuck in Pretty town, and then you go to where the Oldies live. There are no surprises! I’d get really bored; all new pretties do is party. And I don’t know, I guess I’d get sick of it. I guess I’m more like Shay than Tally in that way.

Westerfield definitely wrote this book to emphasize how dependent we are with our looks and plastic surgery. There are hundreds of people who have plastic surgery done just because they want to look some way. He puts them all living separately. People who haven’t gotten the surgery are in one place, the ones who have in another. Also, the differences between the towns show difference between being pretty and ugly. New Pretty Town has all of the new technology, while Ugly town doesn’t. It shows that if you’re pretty, you get the best things and have more fun. While the uglies just sit and wait for the day they turn 16 and can be pretty too.

This view of the future is an example of what could happen if our society keeps focusing on how someone looks. Beauty does not mean happiness, but in this book, it does. According to this, if you’re ugly, you will not be happy until you have the surgery.