Uglies: Familiar Sights Summary & Analysis

Tally and David follow a river for three days until they reach the sea and then turn south. It feels like they’re the only people alive. Tally roasts a rabbit on a fire she builds herself. After a few days on the coast, dark clouds appear on the ocean and finally come ashore as a hurricane. David and Tally spend three days huddled in a tent, fascinated by the storm. When the storm gets boring, they talk. They end up having a “terrible fight,” and when David returns from cooling off outside, he insists their journey is taking too long. Tally assures him that it takes time to perform the pretty operation right. David shudders and asks what’ll happen if they do it wrong. The storm ends overnight, and the world seems transformed into a beautiful place. They finally reach the Rusty Ruins.

The ruins seem smaller than they did when Tally last saw them. They discuss how creepy and well-preserved the ruins are, and Tally explains that the city sprays them to preserve them for school trips. She realized that’s a perfect encapsulation of her city: everything must be a bribe, a warning, or a lesson. They hide their things in a decrepit building and then Tally leads the way down the river. David assures her that after they rescue Shay, Shay will forgive Tally, but Tally isn’t so sure. When they catch sight of the city, Tally feels a feeling worse than homesickness. The skyline used to excite her, but now it seems like a vacant shell. As Tally leads David to Special Circumstances, she thinks that she’s lost her home.

Tally and David ride to the greenbelt, and Tally reminds David that there’s a grid everywhere—they can ride wherever they want to. When they pass the hospital, Tally remembers being denied her pretty operation. As they leave the greenbelt, a part of Tally expects her interface ring to warn her that she’s out of bounds. Though she wore it for 16 years, she can’t stand the idea of being monitored all the time. Tally and David sneak through the middle pretty suburbs and reach the transport ring. Tally assures David that there’s no one there—the trucks are automatic—and they head up the hill. From the top, they can see Special Circumstances below. Tally explains that the fence around it is actually a sensor wire, so they can’t fly in. They realize they can jump in using bungee jackets.