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Ugly For Life
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Uglies, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Conformity vs. Individuality
Beauty, Science, and Influence
The Natural World, History, and Growing Up
Friendship and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
Tally hides in her room during the day, peering into her mirror. She feels like now, she really knows what it means to be ugly. Her hair seems frizzier, zits erupt, and her small eyes look angry. At night, she sneaks out and rides her new hoverboard, which is tricked to function at night like Shay taught her. The fourth night after her birthday, Tally races along through the greenbelt. She realizes that she’s almost as good as Shay and continues to ride until just before dawn, hoping to tire herself out so she can sleep all day. When she crawls back into her room, Peris is sitting by her window. Tally quickly sprays medicinal spray on her scratched face and hands and explains that she was hoverboarding.
Hoverboarding at night is a way for Tally to feel independent and in control; it’s something she can practice and feel good at, which helps to counteract her grief and confusion. Now that Tally has passed her 16th birthday, she also thinks she looks even uglier. She’s not accustomed to seeing so-called uglies who are older than 15, so being 16 and ugly feels especially wrong to her. This reinforces that Tally doesn’t think she has choices in life. She has one job—to become pretty—and being prevented from fulfilling that role has sent her into a tailspin.
Themes
Confused, Tally asks how long Peris has been here. He says that he came the moment he figured out where Tally was. Tally turns away, thinking she didn’t expect Peris to want to see her now. The thought of what Paris must think she looks like overwhelms Tally, and she collapses in tears. Peris gently brushes her hair and asks her about hoverboarding and her current trick—that is, the fact that she’s not pretty yet. He says his friends are fascinated, especially since it’s rumored that Special Circumstances is involved. Peris’s eyes widen when Tally says it’s true. Peris tells Tally that once she’s pretty, she’ll be able to get into all the parties, and he asks her to bring him along.
Tally feels so ashamed and disgusted with herself because that’s how she’s grown up thinking about uglies. Given what she’s been conditioned to believe, Peris shouldn’t think she’s worth his time if she looks like this. In Tally’s mind, Peris shouldn’t be kind to her, nor should he be trying to associate with her at all. However, Peris’s presence suggests that turning pretty hasn’t entirely compromised his loyalty to his friend.
Themes
Tally interjects that she can’t, because they want her to tattle on a friend. Peris insists that if it’s just for a trick, she should tattle, but Tally insists she made Shay a promise. Hurt, Peris reminds Tally that she promised him something too. Slowly, Tally looks into Peris’s eyes, knowing that his beautiful face will destroy her resolve—but now, she has an excuse to break her promise to Shay. She tells Peris she’ll be in New Pretty Town as soon as possible. They hug and Peris excuses himself after kissing Tally’s cheeks. Tally knows that her doubts will resurface if she waits, so she immediately sends Dr. Cable a message agreeing to cooperate. Tally falls back onto the bed as Dr. Cable’s reply arrives: a car will pick Tally up in 20 minutes. Tally tries to nap but she can’t.
In the past, Tally has talked about how important tricks were to her and Peris. It’s concerning that he’s so dismissive of this “trick,” as it implies that he no longer thinks that the entire basis of his friendship with Tally is worthwhile anymore. Some of this may have to do with jealousy—it’s understandable that he’d feel hurt, since Tally seems to be prioritizing her friendship with Shay—but it also suggests that Peris and Tally are operating in entirely different realms at this point.
Themes
