Pretties Part 2

        What's up? Tally, that's who. To escape from New Pretty Town, Tally caught a ride on a hot air balloon. Tally and Zane were being watched and their every move was being recorded by the bracelets on their wrist. To get them off they had to jump into a hot air balloon and put their hand into a fire with just a little sliver of plastic protecting them. (I chose this balloon because they were riding in a pig balloon, which relates to the first book in which Tally had on a pig mask.)

        After the bracelets were safely removed, Zane jumped out onto his hoverboard (exactly what it sounds like, a board that hovers with metal). While Tally was delayed because her best friend Peris wanted to stay pretty and live in New Pretty Town. Because Tally was delayed so much, she ended up not going where she was supposed to and broke her hoverboard by trying to land to harshly. A group stumbles upon Tally and I found this interesting because these people are practically cave men. These people have a completely different appearance then anybody Tally has ever seen and they live in the wild. When they found Tally they planned to kill her but because they saw her pretty face they thought she was a god.
      Where Tally landed; turned out to be a reservation where pretty scientists' can study 'underdeveloped people'. From what I got, the reservation is only a thing that scientist know about. I got this because at first Tally didn't know where she was, but when she was taken to the 'end of the world' she couldn't pass because the Pretties had put in a security system to keep the cave men in.
     "This was a reservation.
       And Tally was trapped inside."(289)
     While Tally was trapped inside with Andrew (the one who could speak the 'gods' language) she learned some things about him and their culture. Apparently there are multiple tribes and they are all fighting with one another and killing each other, when it's their turn to kill. If you live in a world without war and murder I guess you can say it was quite a culture shock. Because Tally was raised in a city and lived there her whole life (except when she was in the Smoke) she had never been exposed to anybody but her 'kind'. It shows that the city can change your actions. A person who has lived in the reservation thinks killing is normal, why a person born in the city, thinks it's barbaric. Andrew's behavior reminded Tally of something Dr. Cable had said to her. This is a conversation between Tally and Andrew:
         "I was glad to see that it was you that they brought home, and not a kill. So that it is still our turn, and I may still be there for my father's revenge."
         Tally found herself speechless. In seconds, Andrew Simpson Smith had changed from a grieving son into some kind of . . . savage.
          She forced herself to stare at Andrew's grim expression, his weird delight in the heft of the knife in his hand.
          Then she remembered D. Cable's words. Humanity is a cancer, and we are the cure." (279-280)

 

           I chose this quote and video because it shows that people do think humanity is a cancer. That they are savages that need to be controlled. Pretties is not the only book/movie to do this concept. Do you think that this means humans should be controlled? That we are a cancer and without a proper vaccine, we will end up killing everything and everyone around us. Do you think that if humans are not controlled that they will reverse to cavemen type people who believe that murder is the only way to solve a problem?
          After this conversation Tally started to think about how maybe humanity should be controlled. She may never be fully on board with the idea but she can see the appeal. In the end, Tally ends up becoming Special. Do you think this means that ne matter how far you run, you can't outrun destiny?

 

    

Pretties part 1

         So now that I've talked about Uglies, I can start talking about Pretties. Pretties starts off a couple weeks after the ending of Uglies. I liked that because it seemed like Tally was a completely different person in the first few chapters. In the first book Tally was hesitant for most of the book, and she only got a little bit of confidence at the end of the book. She seemed like any regular teenager but in Pretties she seemed like she had become not mature but older. Which she obviously had changed, it was just so dramatic, that it showed you how different the lesions actually made you.
         Now that Tally's pretty her priorities went from if she was going to survive in the woods, to what dress she should wear for the party that was happening that night. While Tally's at a party she sees someone dressed as a special and she decides to follow them. She eventually finds them and is given an address "Valentino 317" . It turns out that the person in the special costume was a person from the Smokies. It turned out that Valentino 317 didn't exist in the building in the building but on it. I think the author did this to show that just because someone implanted something into you and essentially brain washed you; it is possible to get over anything. People don't control you and no matter how hard someone can try and change you, you will always have that little spark inside of you that makes you, you. Tally proves this point (although she did have the help of her friend Zane, who kept her 'bubbly'), she overcame the obstacles keeping her from being herself and ended up finding the cure that David's mom had been working on.
         Zane takes one of the two pills, while Tally takes the other. After taking the pills they both start to get some of their old selves back. Zane and Tally are apart of a group called the Crims (a.k.a. Criminals). The Crims take pride in performing tricks. Tally and Zane convince the group to break the ice skating rink (because this is 300 years in the future, the ice skating rink is hovering in the air). After the prank Tally is approached by Dr. Cable, 
       "You resist conditioning well very well."
        "Conditioning. That's what you call it?" Tally swore. "Like it's a hair treatment or something?"
        "Amazing." Dr. Cable leaned close again, her eyes focusing on Tally's as if trying to bore through her brain. "Somewhere in there, you're still a tricky little ugly, aren't you? Most impressive. I could use you, I think." (pg. 132).
        After this Dr. Cable talks about how Tally would be perfect for Special Circumstances. Tally obviously denies, but Dr. Cable reveals that most Specials were like Tally and all of them became Special. How would you feel knowing that your life was practically taken from you the day you were born? Knowing that when you turn sixteen, you will get turned into a completely different person? That if you try to change and go against your destiny, you will be hunted down and changed against your will.

 

Do you believe you have free will or is everything already decided for you?





Ugly

        Hello! I actually read two books in the same series and really liked the second book in the series called Pretties. But before I start talking about Pretties, I have to tell you about the first book, Uglies.

This book is about a girl named Tally. All her life she has wanted to become 'pretty'. You only become pretty when you're sixteen. You do this through surgery, they peel off your skin, grind down your teeth and make you look exactly like everyone else in the world who is a pretty. Oh and did I mention that they put a little extra something in your brain so that it keeps you 'bubbly' and compliant. Sounds fun right? Well, Tally's friend Shay didn't think so.
        A couple of Shay's friends had actually run away with a man named David to a place called the Smoke. The Smoke was a place for people who didn't want to become pretty to go. Shay wanted Tally to come with her to the Smoke but why would Tally, who only ever want to be pretty leave to be ugly the rest of her life? In the end Shay leaves with the mysterious David that Tally never met and Tally waits a few more days to become pretty and go to the city and party with her old friends. 
       Unfortunately for Tally, Shays wrongdoings have gotten Tally some unwanted attention from some higher up people, A.K.A. Dr. Cable. Dr. Cable is a 'special' they have a certain type of appearance and presence that gives you chills.
       " Instead of wise and confident, the man looked cold, commanding, intimidating, like some regal animal of prey" (101).
         Specials are also extremely strong and can put anybody in their path on the ground.
      "They moved in a blur, without any weapons that Tally could see, leaving everyone in their wake lying on the ground, bound and dazed. They were superhumanly fast and strong" (288).
      Dr. Cable wanted to find the Smoke but needed Tally's help to do it, for if you weren't ugly you would never find the Smoke. Shay had left Tally instructions on how to get to the Smoke if Tally ever wanted to go. Dr. Cable wouldn't let Tally get her operation unless Tally found the Smoke. Her choices were to betray all her friends to become pretty or stay ugly her whole life. She chose betrayal.
      After a long adventure Tally finally found the Smoke but she wanted to stay for a typical teenage reason: she found love. <3

She tossed the locket that gave away her position to Dr. Cable in the fire, very dramatically I might add and went to sleep. It turned out that Tally gave her position away by trying to be dramatic and all the Specials were there the next day to gather all the little uglies. 
     In the end Tally ends up becoming Pretty because David's mom comes up with a cure to the lesions( the things inside your brain) but they don't have a willing pretty to try it on. So Tally becomes pretty for the cause. Do you think you would have the courage, like Tally, to give up your free will to save people you don't even know?