Part 2

Outline the Society

The society detailed in this novel is one in which the government makes everyone at the age of 16 pretty by operating on them.The operation not only changes their physical apearance, it also alters their minds, making it easier for the government to impress ideas on them and lead them, like a flock of sheep. This alteration also prevents them from making informed decisions, and so they never think to wonder why they have to become pretty. In a way, the operation is like mandatory plastic surgery, but on ridiculous levels.

What Are the Social Injustices That the Author is Trying to Describe?

      In This book, I think that the author is trying to describe a society in which no person can really make a decision based on their own opinions. The citizens of this society are brought up being told by their teachers that they are ugly, and that the only way to change that is to have the operation. They grow up feeling badly about their image and so think that having this operation is a good thing. When the citizens turn 16, almost all of them want the operation, when in reality if they hadn't been called ugly their entire lives, they wouldn't have sought out the operation at all.

     Another example of this social injustice is the smoke. Most of the uglies sneak out at night and find ways to widen the area of their freedom, but some of the more ambitious uglies go farther out than the other uglies, and do more complicated things to cover their tracks. Some uglies sneak out into the forest to go to the "Rusty Ruins", the ruins of a city from our time in society, and some have realized the truth about the operation and don't want that to happen to them, these people run away to "the smoke", a small settlement made up of a large group of uglies that grows every year from more runaways. 

     The existence of the smoke does not describe the social injustices in this book well, as it is the decision of people who do not wish to have the operation. What really describes the social injustice of the government is their response to discovering the smoke. When Shay runs away early on in the book, Tally is brought to a secret location, where she is questioned by the about where Shay might have gone. Rather than allow people to make their own decisions, the government tries to search them out and end any actions that contradict the wishes of the government, which then comes back to the theme of the government not allowing people to make their own independent decisions.



What Are the Injustices that the Author is Trying to Make the Reader Aware of in the Reader's World

     The author describes social injustices that often have to do with unorthadox ways that the government deals with the populace. The government in Uglies is almost completely unknown to the populace, and runs in more of a dictatorship form of government. The people in this community have no say in what they want, they have no way of electing their own leaders, or even finding out what the government is doing. This is similar to tactics used by some governments in real life as well, there are countries where people do not have any influence at all, not even in who will lead them.

     Another example is the way the government deals with the smoke. The government does anything in their power to make sure that nobody finds out about the smoke, as well as find those who do. This is similar to government silencing or blacking out press in real life, the government doesn't want people to know that they aren't the omnipotent force that they seem to be, so they prevent anyone from finding out, or they create an elaborate cover story.

     The author is trying to make the reader aware of different ways that governments subtly ensure that they remain in power. The government in this book has complete control over the population of the community, and will do anything to keep it that way. The government has established special forces for the sole purpose of maintaining power, the "special circumstances" were created by the government to make sure that everyone did what the government wanted them to do, which is why the smoke is top on the special circumstances' priority list.

Evaluate the Author's Message

     The author sends a message throughout this book, by describing certain aspects of life or what people are and aren't allowed to do, that describe the limits that the government has implemented into the society. The uglies are monitored at night, to make sure that they are not going out after a certain time. Every device they use is monitored to make sure that they are not using it improperly, or going were the government doesn't want them to go. Because of the hints and information that appear through the book, and the existence of special circumstances, I think that this book delivers this message very well.