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For Tally, the roller coaster in the Rusty Ruins becomes a symbol of her coming of age. It throws into sharp relief all that she doesn’t know about the Rusties, and becomes undeniable proof that what she believed to be true about the Rusties doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s shocking for Tally when Shay explains that the roller coaster was for having fun; Tally never realized that the Rusties had any fun. In this way, the roller coaster becomes the catalyst for Tally’s coming of age and intellectual growth, as it forces her to humanize the Rusties and question what her own society has told her about their predecessors, two things that the novel suggests are essential to maturation.
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The Roller Coaster Symbol Timeline in Uglies
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Roller Coaster appears in Uglies. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Wipe Out
...compliment that Tally is getting better and is confused when Shay uses a word, “ roller coaster ,” that Tally doesn’t know. With a sigh, Tally steps back onto her board and...
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Pretty Boring
...makes Tally flinch. Shay pulls off her interface ring and promises to show Tally a roller coaster .
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The Rusty Ruins
...of the ruins. They finally reach a metal wavy thing that Shay says is a roller coaster . A roller coaster, Shay explains, is for having fun, which shocks Tally—she’s never considered...
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...but then thought it was cool. Tally calms down and asks who showed Shay the roller coaster . Shay says that older friends did, and suggests that uglies have been coming here...
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Ugly For Life
...and reads it, looking for clues. It’s a poem and it mentions a long, flat roller coaster , a “side” that Tally despises, and flowers with “fire-bug eyes.” None of it makes...
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Leaving
...that Shay shouldn’t have trusted David. Tally hikes to the Rusty Ruins and finds the roller coaster , where she tries to decipher what “Take the coaster straight past the gap” must...
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Tally takes the roller coaster at top speed, and before the turn after the gap, Tally continues straight, looking for...
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Spagbol
...several Rusty cities filled with burned-out cars. In one town, she discovers that the flat roller coaster was for moving items between towns. Near dawn, Tally reaches the sea and thinks of...
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