"The big eyes and lips said: I’m young and vulnerable, I can’t hurt you, and you want to protect me. And the rest said: I’m healthy, I won’t make you sick. And no matter how you felt about a pretty, there was a part of you that thought: If we had kids, they’d be healthy too. I want this pretty person…"
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
People not only look for a pretty person because of how they look, but because of all the benefits that come with being a pretty. People are afraid of the Uglies and they even have a stigma attached, no one wants to have their children or love them, everyone wants the pretty people because of the things that they think that they offer. Evolution has a way of embedding these things into us and these are now what we look for and what we want in a person. Not just perfect looks, but perfect health. We want to have healthy and perfect children, so we look for people who look like they can provide that for us. Much like todays society. Generally, we try not to have children with a person who doesn't look like we could produce the best children with ourselves, and biology has a way of telling us who exactly that may be.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Biology
"It was biology, they said at school. Like your heart beating, you couldn’t help believing all these things, not when you saw a pretty face like this. A pretty face. A face like Peris’s.”
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
I think it's absolutely disgusting that along with the natural parts of life, these children learn in school that looking pretty is all that really matters. They act like having life altering plastic surgery is just another part of biology and human nature. That's not how it's supposed to be. People are so superficial, and in this world, it's a lot more upfront and a lot less subtle. In our society, it's okay to receive plastic surgery as long as you don't say anything, but in this world it's mandatory to receive plastic surgery to be pretty. They make it seem as natural as breathing, eating and living. There's more to life than being pretty, and these people are so wrapped in their own looks that evolution has caught up with them. If we're not careful, this will be our future sooner rather than later.
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
I think it's absolutely disgusting that along with the natural parts of life, these children learn in school that looking pretty is all that really matters. They act like having life altering plastic surgery is just another part of biology and human nature. That's not how it's supposed to be. People are so superficial, and in this world, it's a lot more upfront and a lot less subtle. In our society, it's okay to receive plastic surgery as long as you don't say anything, but in this world it's mandatory to receive plastic surgery to be pretty. They make it seem as natural as breathing, eating and living. There's more to life than being pretty, and these people are so wrapped in their own looks that evolution has caught up with them. If we're not careful, this will be our future sooner rather than later.
Markers
"There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain."
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
The Uglies focuses on changing a persons physical appearance, and they've been doing it for so long that it's innate human evolution that forces them to look for these markers that show them that this person has undergone the surgery, and is now no longer considered ugly. People in this society look very heavily into appearances, and no matter how hard they try to change themselves or the way that they look at people, they will always look at how a person looks and if they underwent the surgery or not. Much like how women are drawn to rich and smart men, and men look for physical appearances and the ability for a woman to carry a child. Those things are innate within us, and there aren't something we can change, in fact most people don't even realize that they do it or that it's what they look for in a person. This quote shows that over time, biology changes us and makes us do things that we don't even realize that we do. And if we're not careful, we'll start to look and scan for all of the wrong things.
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
The Uglies focuses on changing a persons physical appearance, and they've been doing it for so long that it's innate human evolution that forces them to look for these markers that show them that this person has undergone the surgery, and is now no longer considered ugly. People in this society look very heavily into appearances, and no matter how hard they try to change themselves or the way that they look at people, they will always look at how a person looks and if they underwent the surgery or not. Much like how women are drawn to rich and smart men, and men look for physical appearances and the ability for a woman to carry a child. Those things are innate within us, and there aren't something we can change, in fact most people don't even realize that they do it or that it's what they look for in a person. This quote shows that over time, biology changes us and makes us do things that we don't even realize that we do. And if we're not careful, we'll start to look and scan for all of the wrong things.
Nature
“Nature didn't need an operation to be beautiful. It just was.”
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Nature is beautiful, and has many beautiful connotations. We try not to destroy it and to preserve it's beauty by being delicate and careful. We don't try to change it. People on the other hand, we try our absolute hardest to manipulate and change them. We try to morph each and every single person into exactly who and what we want them to be. We try to pressure them into getting surgeries and into wearing different clothes. We are a part of nature, and we're beautiful but most people don't seem to see it like that. We see each other as pieces of clay, dying to be changed into something beautiful. People like Tally are inspiring. Despite the social pressure, she's continuing to be herself. She doesn't want the surgery or to change into what they want her to be. She's her own person and no one else seems to respect that. This quote is telling us that they most beautiful things in life aren't plastic or silicone, they're natural.
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Nature is beautiful, and has many beautiful connotations. We try not to destroy it and to preserve it's beauty by being delicate and careful. We don't try to change it. People on the other hand, we try our absolute hardest to manipulate and change them. We try to morph each and every single person into exactly who and what we want them to be. We try to pressure them into getting surgeries and into wearing different clothes. We are a part of nature, and we're beautiful but most people don't seem to see it like that. We see each other as pieces of clay, dying to be changed into something beautiful. People like Tally are inspiring. Despite the social pressure, she's continuing to be herself. She doesn't want the surgery or to change into what they want her to be. She's her own person and no one else seems to respect that. This quote is telling us that they most beautiful things in life aren't plastic or silicone, they're natural.
Clear cutting
“Clear-cutting" was the word for what the Rusties had done to the old forests: felling every tree, killing every living thing, turning entire countries into grazing land. Whole rain forests had been consumed, reduced from millions of interlocking species to a bunch of cows eating grass, a vast web of life traded for cheap hamburgers. "Look, we're not clear-cutting. All we're doing is pulling out the garbage that the Rusties left behend," David said. "It just takes a little surgery to do it.”
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
The world of the Uglies is one of necessity. Instead of beautiful rain forests, stunning wildlife, and a beautiful earth just for convenience and cheapness. There are so many people on this earth that they need cows and they need to clear out the beautiful parts of the earth just to maintain and feed all of these people. I think this book is telling us to slow down because we're growing to be an outrageous size and we're over populated. The earth was not meant to have this many creatures on it, and if we're not careful we'll destroy everything that means anything to us. We'll kill the beautiful and replace it with what we think we need because of our rapidly increasing size.
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
The world of the Uglies is one of necessity. Instead of beautiful rain forests, stunning wildlife, and a beautiful earth just for convenience and cheapness. There are so many people on this earth that they need cows and they need to clear out the beautiful parts of the earth just to maintain and feed all of these people. I think this book is telling us to slow down because we're growing to be an outrageous size and we're over populated. The earth was not meant to have this many creatures on it, and if we're not careful we'll destroy everything that means anything to us. We'll kill the beautiful and replace it with what we think we need because of our rapidly increasing size.
Beautiful
"What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.”
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Tally lives in a world where at a certain age, these people are required to go through extensive plastic surgery to make herself beautiful, and that's not what she wants. She likes her self the way she is and she doesn't find anything wrong with her appearance, but society is pressuring her to change herself to fit into their mold and to what they consider to be beautiful and visually appealing. I think that they're society is a lot like ours because we're pressured into wearing certain things and into looking a certain way or else we're considered freaks and outcasts. Our society mostly focuses on clothes, make up, and other phsyical and material things whereas the society in the book they focus solely on physical appearance and how your face looks, face structure and etc. Both of our worlds are very vain and materialistic and we're shallow and never look below the surface, except in the Uglies, they're much more upfront and blunt about their expectations of each person within society.
The Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Tally lives in a world where at a certain age, these people are required to go through extensive plastic surgery to make herself beautiful, and that's not what she wants. She likes her self the way she is and she doesn't find anything wrong with her appearance, but society is pressuring her to change herself to fit into their mold and to what they consider to be beautiful and visually appealing. I think that they're society is a lot like ours because we're pressured into wearing certain things and into looking a certain way or else we're considered freaks and outcasts. Our society mostly focuses on clothes, make up, and other phsyical and material things whereas the society in the book they focus solely on physical appearance and how your face looks, face structure and etc. Both of our worlds are very vain and materialistic and we're shallow and never look below the surface, except in the Uglies, they're much more upfront and blunt about their expectations of each person within society.
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