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In Case of Damage
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 has never hoverboarded barefoot before and she struggles to stay on. She also realizes that she’s not wearing crash bracelets and she can hear hovercars behind her. Tally heads for the railroad tracks, reaches the river, and crouches down to try to hide in the trees, wondering where David is. One of the hovercars seems to spot Tally, so Tally leaps over to the iron vein, which doesn’t follow a straight line, giving her an advantage. The hovercars shoot past Tally twice as she makes switchbacks, and then they slow down, seemingly following Tally using her body heat. Tally thinks of the cave that David showed her, which would hide her body heat. The hovercars lose her for a moment as she shoots down the tracks and then squeezes into the cave. Tally says aloud that she’s dead, and someone answers her.
Without the crash bracelets, the consequences of making a mistake on the hoverboard are serious—if Tally falls, she’ll be injured or killed. As Tally rides without shoes or crash bracelets, she essentially sheds the last few bits of the city that kept her artificially safe, which is an important part of her coming-of-age. Even though hoverboards are manmade objects, it’s not necessary for Tally to shed hers in order to grow up and become independent, since the hoverboard is essentially a tool that enables Tally to think and act for herself.
Themes
