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.