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The Worst Mistake
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 hears thunder coming from the sky and crouches low as a huge flying machine approaches from the mountains. When it reaches the river, it turns and the wind from its huge blades sends most of Tally’s supplies flying. After the thing leaves for the sea, Tally creeps out, finds her clothes, and assesses the damage. She finds that she only lost two SpagBol packets, but her sleeping bag is shredded. The hoverboard is ready to go, so Tally folds it up, packs her things, and heads off. As Tally travels, she thinks that the flying machine looked a lot like a Rusty flying contraption she learned about in school but she can’t think of why anyone would rebuild “insane” Rusty machines.
Again, Tally demonstrates her prejudice when she can’t think of why a Rusty flying machine might be useful. It’s worth considering that later in the novel, Tally implies that even hovercars use the grid that exists in the city (which doesn’t exist out in the wilderness). This makes it much easier to see why someone would want to rebuild what seems to be a helicopter: it means that the pilot can travel outside the city without having to construct a grid.
Themes
Late that night, the river splits in two. It’s only been three days, but Tally wonders if her hoverboard is fast enough to make up a day of time. She tries to figure out which direction she’d despise. Neither 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 remembers Shay saying that symmetry is silly. Tally realizes that that conversation was the first time Shay talked about wanting to stay ugly. If Tally had noticed, she could’ve done more to convince Shay, and they might both be partying as pretties now.
Tally begins to see that she wasn’t a good friend to Shay: she didn’t take Shay seriously or even listen closely to what Shay was saying, and that’s likely part of the reason why Shay left in the first place. However, Tally still prioritizes conformity over being a good friend. A good friend, per the novel, validates and supports others’ desires; Tally, on the other hand, believes that she must convince Shay to conform regardless of what Shay really wants, because becoming pretty is what’s best for her.
Themes
By sunrise, Tally is convinced she chose correctly. She climbs into the mountains and sees thick fields of white flowers. The next line of the directions says to “look in the flowers for fire-bug eyes,” so Tally gets off her hoverboard to inspect the flowers. Tally notices a small bird putting its beak in the flowers. She sees nothing that looks like “fire-bug eyes,” so she continues up the hills. After a while, Tally starts to see bare stretches of earth. By noon, the river is getting smaller, so Tally decides to camp. She looks around for flying machines and wonders what the people inside would do with her if they found her. Tally unfolds the hoverboard only a little bit, hikes to the top of the hill so she can see, and goes to sleep. When she wakes up, everything is on fire.
Tally’s suspicion of the people in the flying machines makes sense given how isolated all the cities appear to be. She views people from other cities with distrust and prejudice, especially since these foreigners don’t seem to share Tally’s disdain for the Rusties. This does, however, suggest that whoever’s using the helicopters is more connected to their history. In turn, this would imply that they might have a more nuanced outlook on life and the wider world than Tally does.
Themes
