Pages 398-425

The very end of this book is when they arrive back at the Ruins and try to figure out their next course of action. Maddy told David that his father had died while being experimented on in an effort to erase his memories and to bring him back to society under control, not spreading his "crazy" beliefs. Doctor Cable had told Maddy about Tally's betrayal and eventually told David about it too. She also explained to them that she had found a way to erase the lesions from pretty's minds through some of Dr. Cable's previous work. It was after Shay refused to be altered by any of Maddy's cure for the lesions that Tally made a fateful decision in an effort to help other pretties who wanted to be free from government control.. Tally chose to turn herself in to Special Circumstances and would sign a release saying she wanted to take the cure no matter what she said after her operation. She sacrificed herself to become what she hated the most which showed how much she had changed throughout the book and was no longer a selfish person who did everything for her own gain.

Pages 359-397

They got their bungee jackets by stealing them from the Uglyville art school and found some uglies looking for David back at the Ruins. David convinced Sussy, An, and Dex to distract Special Circumstances the following night to aid in their escape after taking back their friends. By midnight of the following night, Tally and David chose to make their break-in. Once they had successfully managed to break into the bunker undetected, they went in search for their friends. In their search, they ran into Dr. Cable and had to knock her out, but then right behind her they found Shay, and she was pretty. She had all the attributes of a newly turned pretty, beauty, flawlessness, and the absentmindedness. Shay saw Tally as her best friend and said she didn't care that she had been betrayed twice, but instead forgave her and felt there was no need to hang onto her anger. This attitude of forced forgiveness was even worse to Tally than her anger and decided the only choice she had was to help her friends to escape and try to resolve their issues once they were safely away from the city limits.

Pages 304-358

After Tally's meeting with Dr. Cable and discovering how she inadvertently betrayed her friends to them, she artfully managed to escape from Special Circumstances by stealing a hoverboard and racing to the tunnel with the railroad. While in there, she found David had escaped too and she vowed to make the wrong she did right. Then after rushing to see if David's parents were alright, they discovered that their house had burned down and there was no evidence of their remains. Both of them then decided that they would rescue their friends and family, no matter what the cost.

On their way back to the city, Tally got a history lesson. David told her that the reason the Rusties destroyed their own society was because of the amount of wars they got into. It was during one of these that one scientist discovered a bacterium to eat up oil and cause it to catch fire on contact with air. He explained to her that was why all of the vehicles were left in the Ruins and he filled in some of the missing pieces that they were not told under such a strict society. Then when they did arrive back at the city, Tally came up with the idea to use bungee jackets to break in to Special Circumstances and rescue their friends.

Best and Worst Parts

The worst part of this book is when Tally decided to betray her friend for her own personal gain. It was so she could spend her days partying with her friends and becoming like everyone else that she chose to help Special Circumstances. She went against Shay's wishes when she followed her and repeatedly lied to everyone that cared about her as to why she ran away to the Smoke. But she battled with herself the whole time she spent there and finally realized that everyone was entitled to their own opinion on how to live their life and to me that was the best and most important part of the book. Everything that followed her changed mindset went along with her idea and she stays true to her beliefs. It's the fact that she doesn't change her mind in when facing danger that epitomizes her new way of thinking and what makes this book so good.

Recommendation

To me this was one of the best books I have read. It shows a girl battling her selfish desires but also an innocent who doesn't want to go against everything she has ever known. It would be hard to realize your whole life had been a lie, but she doesn't blindly ignore the facts when they are presented to her. Instead she accepts them and chooses to do what she can to fix the wrongs she has done. This story sends a positive message to the reader, especially teens who may struggle with wanting to give into peer pressure and be like everyone else, that you have to be your own person. You shouldn't form yourself to what others expect of you, but rather to think for yourself and develope your own character. I would recommend Uglies to all readers but especially younger teens struggling to find out who they are.

Conflict and Resolution

The main conflict in this book was the issue of Special Circumstances putting lesions in people's minds during the operation. When that happened, none of the new pretties would realize what had happened and would never think anything was different due to them. That was the reason why Az and Maddy ran away, because they knew it wasn't right for people to be controlled by others and everyone had a right to think and act for themselves. So after Special Circumstances rounded up all the members of the Smoke and killed Az, Tally resolved to do everything in her power to help Maddy develop an antidote to the lesions inserted in people during the change. The only way she could think of how to do this, she had to become a pretty and later allow Maddy to try her drug on her. And because this is how the book ended, with her going back to the city to become a pretty, the conflict is not resolved and leaves the reader wondering how the events will play out until the next book.

Character development

In the beginning of this book Tally was an average ugly, pulling tricks and having fun just trying to pass the time before her dream of becoming pretty became reality. It was after her best friend abandoned her to have his operation and never visited her afterwards that she began to wonder how a surgery to change your looks could make you forget about your friends. Then when she was able to see him, his attitude seemed different and didn't act like the Peris she remembered growing up with. After their visit and Tally met Shay, she started to realize that some people wouldn't want the operation and to be their own ugly selves. And although she didn't understand why no one would want it, she accepted this fact and didn't judge her for her opinion. Then when Special Circumstances forced her to find the Smoke, she discovered a whole different world outside the strictly run community she had lived in all her life and began to live for herself. With hard work and learning to live off the land, Tally began to become a new person, one who wanted away from society and live in peace where she could think for herself. Then when David took her to meet his parents and she found out the truth about the operation, she officially chose to live her life with him. That night when she burned the transmitter and it alerted Special Circumstances to their whereabouts, she promised herself that she would make everything right no matter what. This showed that she had learned to value things other than herself and people did have a right to live their lives and not being controlled by others. Tally' s sacrifice for others at the very end proved that she was not the selfish, self-centered person she was at the beginning. All she ever wanted was to be pretty and have fun with her friends, but at the end she decided to do what she hated the most. And it was all in an effort to save her new friends and the innocent people she had accidentally betrayed by her rash actions to atone for her misdeeds and accept responsibility.