Uglies

by

Scott Westerfeld

Peris Character Analysis

Tally’s best childhood friend who turned pretty a few months before the novel begins. He and Tally knew they’d be friends from the moment they met and they even made a blood promise to stick together and become pretty together. Their bond is strong enough that Tally primarily yearns to become pretty so she can be with Peris again. When Tally finds Peris at a party, however, Peris seems very different: he’s not happy to see Tally, for one, and he accuses her of being childish and naïve. He’s gorgeous, however, and so he’s able to make Tally feel warm and compliant. This is also how Peris is able to talk Tally into cooperating with Special Circumstances to bring Shay back to Uglyville. After this point, Peris doesn’t appear in the novel again, but Tally still thinks about him often as she gradually comes to understand what, exactly, the pretty surgery entails. It’s easy for her to see that pretty Peris has little in common with the Peris she once knew. Ugly Peris mocked pretties for their conformity and would’ve happily lived in the Smoke, but as a pretty, he wastes no time in joining the endless parties in New Pretty Town and seems derisive of the activities he and Tally once did together.

Peris Quotes in Uglies

The Uglies quotes below are all either spoken by Peris or refer to Peris. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Conformity vs. Individuality Theme Icon
).
Best Friends Forever Quotes

There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain.

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood, Peris
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Bravery Quotes

Then Tally trembled inside, realizing what the feeling was. It was the same warmth she’d felt talking to Peris after his operation, or when teachers looked at her with approval. It was not a feeling she’d ever gotten from an ugly before. Without large, perfectly shaped eyes, their faces couldn’t make you feel that way. But the moonlight and the setting, or maybe just the words he was saying, had somehow turned David into a pretty. Just for a moment.

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood, David, Peris
Page Number: 236-37
Explanation and Analysis:
Pretty Minds Quotes

Tally remembered crossing the river to New Pretty Town, watching them have their endless fun. She and Peris used to boast they’d never wind up so idiotic, so shallow. But when she’d seen him... “Becoming pretty doesn’t just change the way you look,” she said.

“No,” David said. “It changes the way you think.”

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood (speaker), David (speaker), Maddy, Peris, Az
Page Number: 254
Explanation and Analysis:
Burning Bridges Quotes

For that matter, shallow and self-centered was how brand-new pretties were supposed to be. As an ugly, Peris had made fun of them—but he hadn’t waited a moment to join in the fun. No one ever did. So how could you tell how much was the operation and how much was just people going along with the way things had always been?

Only by making a whole new world, which is just what Maddy and Az had begun to do.

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood, David, Maddy, Peris, Az
Page Number: 258
Explanation and Analysis:
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Uglies PDF

Peris Quotes in Uglies

The Uglies quotes below are all either spoken by Peris or refer to Peris. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Conformity vs. Individuality Theme Icon
).
Best Friends Forever Quotes

There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain.

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood, Peris
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Bravery Quotes

Then Tally trembled inside, realizing what the feeling was. It was the same warmth she’d felt talking to Peris after his operation, or when teachers looked at her with approval. It was not a feeling she’d ever gotten from an ugly before. Without large, perfectly shaped eyes, their faces couldn’t make you feel that way. But the moonlight and the setting, or maybe just the words he was saying, had somehow turned David into a pretty. Just for a moment.

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood, David, Peris
Page Number: 236-37
Explanation and Analysis:
Pretty Minds Quotes

Tally remembered crossing the river to New Pretty Town, watching them have their endless fun. She and Peris used to boast they’d never wind up so idiotic, so shallow. But when she’d seen him... “Becoming pretty doesn’t just change the way you look,” she said.

“No,” David said. “It changes the way you think.”

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood (speaker), David (speaker), Maddy, Peris, Az
Page Number: 254
Explanation and Analysis:
Burning Bridges Quotes

For that matter, shallow and self-centered was how brand-new pretties were supposed to be. As an ugly, Peris had made fun of them—but he hadn’t waited a moment to join in the fun. No one ever did. So how could you tell how much was the operation and how much was just people going along with the way things had always been?

Only by making a whole new world, which is just what Maddy and Az had begun to do.

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood, David, Maddy, Peris, Az
Page Number: 258
Explanation and Analysis: