Uglies

by

Scott Westerfeld

Digital avatars that uglies make of themselves to model what they might look like after pretty surgery.

Morpho Quotes in Uglies

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

“You know,” Shay said, “I read that the real Cleopatra wasn’t even that great-looking. She seduced everyone with how clever she was.”

“Yeah, right. And you’ve seen a picture of her?”

“They didn’t have cameras back then, Squint.”

“Duh. So how do you know she was ugly?”

“Because that’s what historians wrote at the time.”

Tally shrugged. “She was probably a classic pretty and they didn’t even know it. Back then, they had weird ideas about beauty. They didn’t know about biology.”

Related Characters: Tally Youngblood (speaker), Shay (speaker)
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Uglies LitChart as a printable PDF.
Uglies PDF

Morpho Term Timeline in Uglies

The timeline below shows where the term Morpho appears in Uglies. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Facing the Future
Beauty, Science, and Influence Theme Icon
The Natural World, History, and Growing Up Theme Icon
In Tally’s dorm room, she shows Shay some morphos on her wallscreen. Option two is sleek and catlike, and Tally agrees with Shay that... (full context)
Conformity vs. Individuality Theme Icon
Beauty, Science, and Influence Theme Icon
Friendship and Loyalty Theme Icon
Finally, Shay agrees to make a morpho and lets the wallscreen scan her face. A second later, two faces appear on the... (full context)
Conformity vs. Individuality Theme Icon
Beauty, Science, and Influence Theme Icon
...if they can go hoverboarding. Tally agrees but asks Shay if she doesn’t think the morpho is beautiful. Shay says it’s just a committee’s idea of her. (full context)
The Side You Despise
Conformity vs. Individuality Theme Icon
Friendship and Loyalty Theme Icon
...direction looks like the obvious choice, but Tally remembers that when she and Shay made morphos, Tally noted that she hates her right side. She decides to take a right and... (full context)