There, she is questioned by a beautiful but cruel woman named Dr. The day of Tally’s pretty surgery, she is taken to Special Circumstances headquarters. They part ways after Shay gives Tally a cryptic note with clues to find her should Tally change her mind. She asks Tally to go with her to the Smoke, but Tally refuses.

After a huge argument in which Shay expresses her desire to stay “ugly” and not get the pretty surgery, she tells Tally about a group of people who have shunned the restrictive nature of their society and live in a community called the Smoke. Shay also takes Tally to explore the Rusty Ruins-remnants of a prior civilization.

Shay teaches Tally how to hoverboard, and the two play pranks together. As they establish a friendship, Tally realizes they share the same birthday. While escaping back across the river to Uglyville, she meets Shay, a fellow ugly who was also sneaking around. To steal a bungee jacket, Tally sets off a fire alarm with the jacket’s protection, she then leaps from a party tower, drawing attention from pretties and wardens alike. Dismayed by their long separation, Tally sneaks over to New Pretty Town to see him, but she is surprised and heartbroken when he sends her away to wait. Tally Youngblood is a 15-year-old “ugly” waiting to turn 16 so she can get the surgery to become a “pretty” and reunite with her best friend, Peris. Teenagers who have completed surgery are called “pretties” and live in New Pretty Town. At that age, they undergo surgical procedures to alter and enhance their appearance. Children, known as “uglies,” live in Uglyville until they turn 16. Citizens are segregated based on their appearance. The novel is set in a futuristic dystopian society based on aesthetic beauty. This guide uses the May 2011 Simon & Schuster BFYR paperback edition.Ĭontent Warning: This study guide contains extensive discussions of issues related to physical appearance and body image.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld