Part 4

Journal Entries

1.Tally -      Today was my sixteenth birthday, the day that I was supposed to become pretty, along with Shay, but when I went to the hospital for the operation, they said that something had gone wrong with my operation. I was taken in a hovercar by a cruel looking pretty to a place with putrid coloured walls called Special Circumstances, In this place I met a woman named Dr. Cable. She told me that Shay had run away, and that they needed my help to find her and the rest of the people at the smoke, I told them that I couldn't help them, because I had made a promise. Dr. Cable seems to think that I lied to her when I told her this, because she dismissed me, telling me that if I didn't help her, I would be ugly for the rest of my life.

     When I got back to the dorm, the younger uglies had been taken away on a school trip, probably to prevent them from seeing me, from knowing right away that I didn't have the operation. When I got home, I found that the minders had not found out about the problem early enough, and all of my stuff had been recycled, and the room had been returned to it's default state.

     The younger uglies came back later in the afternoon, and i hoped that they would not see me, but a few saw me through the window, and I quickly hid from their view. The other uglies all fell silent when they walked by my room, some of them giggling. I decided to skip lunch to avoid further embarrassment, and went to get food after everybody had left, I found it sitting on a table with my name on it. I quickly ran to my room with the plate, a good thing to, because the moment I got to my room, I started sobbing.

     I finished eating the food on the plate, and my parents came to the dorm to console me. they hugged me and told me that they would get to the bottom of this problem as soon as possible. I told them about the Special Circumstances, and about what Dr. Cable had told me, and they told me that I should just do what she wanted me to do, and I would be pretty in no time. I don't know what I should do, if I help find shay, I will be breaking a promise, but if I don't I wont be able to become pretty. Maybe if I find shay, it will be good for her, because it will put her back on the right track. 

     I chose to write from the point of view of Tally Youngblood, because she is the main character of the book. The entire book is centred around her, and is written from her point of view, so I have a very good picture of how she thinks and feels about certain things. This journal will no doubt be the least difficult one to write, because a lot of Tally's opinions are already set out, however I still think that it was important to write a journal entry about her. 

     I think that Tally was very important for the development of the story, but not just because she was the main character. Tally was important because many events would not have happened the same way if she had not been part of the story, Shay would have run away to the smoke even if Tally did not exist, but if Tally did not exist, special circumstances would not have found a way to locate the smoke, and the smoke would have gone on being a peaceful village in the forest, rather than being destroyed and forced to relocate to the rusty ruins.

2.Shay -      Today later in the evening, I decided to go across the river to new pretty town, to spy on some of my older friends who already turned pretty. When I got over there, there were a lot more hovercars than usual, and wardens were walking up and down the streets, looking for somebody. While I was hiding, I saw someone crawling through the bushes, and they must have spotted me too, because they stopped where they were, and looked at me, after a while, they said "I'm sorry". The person was a girl, and as I stepped out of the shadows, she revealed herself as well, she was an ugly too.

     I introduced myself to her as Shay, and she told me that her name was Tally, and that she had been at a party wearing a pig mask, I still can't believe that! She said that she had been there to see someone, one of her friends who had turned pretty, but she was about to get caught, so she set off the fire alarm and jumped off the roof in a bungee jacket, bouncing almost all the way to here. We decided to  leave, and I suggested hoverboarding across like I had come, but she said that she would rather cross a bridge.

     A few days later, I decided to teach Tally how to hoverboard, she had a lot of trouble in the beginning, but after a while, she got really good at it. On the same day, we found out that we had the same birthday, and Tally got really excited, saying that we would not have to leave each other at all, not even for a full day, because we would turn pretty together. I really should tell her that I don't want to turn pretty, and that I am going to the smoke, maybe she will want to come with me. 

     I chose to write about Shay in this journal entry because she is also a very important character, but her opinions are largely hidden from the reader, and so I thought it would be interesting and enlightening to write from her point of view. I thought that this time in her life was a good place to write because, it was in the time just before the journal entry that I wrote for Tally, and so I thought that it would make sense to show her point of view, and her motivation for doing certain things. 

     I think that Shay was very important for the story, because she taught Tally how to ride a hoverboard, which proved invaluable later in the book. I also think that Shay was important, because if she wasn't in the book, and didn't run away, Tally would have not had any problem with her operation and would have become pretty. Also, if Shay had not existed and Tally had become pretty, the smoke would have remained were it was. 

3.Dr. Cable -      Today I was informed that one of the uglies, Shay, had run away last night, no doubt to the smoke, where her older friends had run off to months before. I had been watching over her and her new friend, Tally Youngblood for much of the summer months, hoping to find clues about where her friends had run off to. They mostly acted like any other ugly, playing childish tricks, sneaking out, and hoverboarding; and after a few weeks of observing, I began to think that Shay might not have known. I decided to continue to observe them, because she still might figure something out, or try and convince Tally into coming to "the smoke" with her. 

     I was certain that Shay didn't want to turn pretty like Tally, because she seemed completely reluctant to anything that had to do with becoming pretty. She didn't make morphos like most uglies did, and often said things that suggested that she didn't like the idea of becoming pretty. Her description of the operation is incredibly accurate, far more accurate than most uglies, this is troubling, because it means that she knows every detail about it, even the unsavoury details of the operation.

     I know that is is only a matter of time, and that sooner or later Shay will run away to the smoke, with or without Tally. If Tally chooses not to accompany Shay to the smoke, I intend to use her to locate the smoke, because I am sure that Shay will tell her something about it.

     I chose to write about Dr. Cable because she is such an unusual character. Normally when there is a villain in a novel like this, the reader is to focused on the evil of the character, and doesn't give any time to think about their point of view. With this journal entry, I am able to express opinions and views not normally considered by a reader.

     Dr. Cable is a very important character in the book, because she is the other end of the events in the book. Tally's operation was prevented because Dr. Cable wanted to use her to find Shay, Tally went after Shay because of this as well. When Tally threw the locket into the fire, it led Special circumstances to the smoke, a locket given to Tally by Dr. Cable.

4.David -      Today I met Shay's friend, Tally Youngblood. She was taken to the baldtop by the rangers, where we met her, she hugged Shay and told her about how she almost got burned alive by the fire. We found a bug on her hoverboard, and she immediately started to deny that she had put it there, almost as if she were expecting us to find a bug, but then again, she could just be shocked from the fire. we walked back to the smoke, while a couple of us went off to take the tracker far away from the baldtop. 

     On the way to the smoke, we explained to her the basic way things are run in the smoke. We told her that she should save anything she brought with her, even food, because it could be used to trade with. after a while, we scanned the environment, and found that we were not being followed, and so welcomed Tally into the smoke, we rode our hoverboards along the river until we got the the valley where the smoke is, and went down to it. 

     Later in the day, we had lunch with Tally, where she told us about her journey to the smoke and then went out to work. We got there and began working on removing pieces of the track to make hoverpaths. Tally caught on quickly, and seemed to like it a lot, and in a few hours, we had removed a large amount of the track from the ground. 

    

     I decided to write from David's point of view, because up until now, I have only written from a girl's point of view, and I wanted to write something from the point of view of a guy. I think that this time of David's life is important because, it is the first time that he meets Tally, and before then he is not really included as much, and also because this part of the book changes Tally's mindset entirely. 

     I think that David is a very important character in the story, because he changes the way Tally thinks about the government, and special circumstances. He is completely unaffected by the government's influence, because he was born in the smoke, he has never seen a pretty, and so he has a far less biased opinion about certain things, and he has self-confidence that Tally has never seen before. 

Quotations

1."Because two weeks of killer sunburn is worth a lifetime of being gorgeous" 

     I think that this helps highlight the tone of the beginning of the book, when Tally is completely concerned about becoming pretty. It describes perfectly the government's influence on her, and how she has no idea that she doesn't need an operation to be pretty. Tally absorbed everything that the government told her, and so, she is willing to do anything to have herself "fixed" 

     This is a perfect example of how easily the government influences people, and show more reasons why the government wants the smoke to be found and destroyed/ended. The people in the smoke are often smarter, and more independent of what other people think of them, and so the government wants to eliminate a threat that they could cause.   

2."There it is, home"

     I chose this  quote as my second quotation, because it marks the beginning of the time in which Tally changes her mind about being pretty. At first Tally only thinks about activating her tracker and getting back to the city as soon as possible, but over time, She starts to warm to the idea of the smoke, and how everything is run there. As Tally get's used to the smoke, and having to make things and work, the smoke truly does become her home.

     I think that this Quote represents this part of the book very well, because it takes place in the smoke, and it also goes into more depth with Tally's inner conflict between whether or not she wants to become pretty. I think that Tally just thinks that she wants to become pretty, because it takes almost no time for her to turn around completely and want to stay in the smoke, also, if she truly wanted to become a pretty, she would have activated her tracker in the library. 

3."I found that there were complications from the anesthetic used in the operation. Tiny lesions in the brain. Barely visible, even with the best machines"

     I think that this quote is very important in the story, because it enlightens you on so many things. It explains why the pretties seem so silly, why pretties don't visit their ugly friends, and why the smoke exists at all. This knowledge is the greatest factor in why Tally decides to stay in the smoke, no matter how much she wants to become pretty, she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life brain damaged. Tally tried to destroy the locket that Dr. Cable gave her so that she could stay in the smoke forever.

     When Tally found out that Dr. Cable had turned Shay into a pretty, Tally felt nothing but regret, because it had all been her fault. Learning about these lesions, Tally also realised why pretties were so confident that things would turn out okay. She also realised why her parents had always been able to reassure her.

4."yeah, Dr. C can be a major pain. it's kind of a relief though"

     This quote being my last one, I decided to use a quote later in the book than all of the other ones. This quote is said by Shay after Tally finds her, and discovers that she is pretty, as you can see the lesions have seriously altered her opinions. Before Shay became pretty, she hated the city, especially after living in the smoke for months, and she fought back against the specials more than anyone else, which is why it is clear that the operation substantially changes a person. Based on Shay, you can see that the lesions are specifically for making people more docile.

     Tally feels really badly after finding Shay this way, because she knew that Shay would never have wanted to have the operation if she had the choice. Tally also regretted working with doctor Cable because of how it changed Shay's mind, Tally never wanted to make Shay like this, she just wanted to be pretty, and now she has to feel the pain of her blindness, because she thinks that the lesions are permanent.