Moral Depth

I finished Uglies yesterday.  My conclusion?  A very good book in that it is well written, engaging, and contains thought provoking themes.  Where it is lacking is in character follow through.

In the end, (spoiler alert!) you find out that Tally is, after all, going to become pretty.  As I read the recaps of the rest of the books in the series, I realized that, for whatever stated reasons in the book, she ends up also becoming a special.  I don't know that it would be so bad, if it weren't for the overall feeling that despite all of the author's arguments against being focused on appearances and abilities, the main character inadvertently advertises their value.  I get that, in the end, it is more about overthrowing the government, more about the problems with pretty minds than it is about pretty bodies.  I just find it sad that the morals I began to pick up on aren't carried through.

I would have liked to see a story with moral depth, that highlights the fact that all faces are beautiful, and that you have within you incredible abilities, without the need for artificial enhancements.  I'm probably speaking too soon, because I haven't read the next books yet.  But after reading the chapter of Pretties at the end of Uglies, I'm not sure I can handle living in Tally's pretty mind.  At least not yet anyway...

Distorted Perception of Beauty

I decided that I needed a little light reading to go along with all these thick classics that I am working on.  I chose Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, because it has fascinated me ever since I first heard about the story line.  (People are considered ugly until they turn 16 and get an operation to make them pretty.)  I know that I tend to be a great books/classics snob, so I am going to try reading this book critically to see if I can draw out as many great ideas and morals as other books that have stood the test of time.

The very first sentence of this book is excellent, because it embodies what I expect to be the whole idea of the book itself.  It starts, "The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit."  What does this tell you about the main character's perception of beauty?  How many of us have looked up at any sky and though, "yuck"?  This distopian society has taken beauty and turned it into an artificial accomplishment.  Is this real beauty, beauty that must be manufactured?

The subtitle of Uglies says "In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly."  How does this apply to our society?  And there is a quote on the title page of Part I: "Is it not good to make society full of beautiful people?"  --Yang Yuan, quoted in The New York Times.  What does this say about our society?

I'm sure I will have more to write about this later, but for right now I am just pondering on what beauty really means.  What does it mean to you?