Essay Questions

'That was the whole point of being Special: You existed to make sure everyone else behaved, but that didn't mean you had to'. Explore the theme of hypocrisy in the text.

The role of the Cutters is undeniably hypocritical since they are all ex Crims that have been recruited to Special Circumstances' mission. There is an irony present in the fact that the people tasked with keeping the citizens from thinking are the ones who could break free from the mind-altering effects of the pretty surgery. Moreover, the Specials' sense of superiority is not even rightfully theirs. Though they are genetically engineered to be faster and sharper than the Pretties, they are given brain lesions that result in 'sudden flashes of anger or euphoria, countersocial impulses, [and] feelings of superiority'. In short, being Special requires people to go against who they really are, fuelled by a sense of superiority bestowed upon them by an operation. Though they see themselves as better, the differences between them and the Pretties are few and far between.

Examine the struggle between man and nature in 'The Uglies' series.

The Rusties' downfall came from meddling with nature, and it is this that sets the tone for 'The Uglies' series, the Rusty Ruins being a city that has been overcome by nature and a lesson for the people of Tally's city, which is vegetarian, recycles everything, and is environmentally sustainable. However, this comes at the price of what makes mankind human, which is free will. Tally never truly gets over the way that freedom and the destruction of nature come hand in hand. She is shocked in 'Uglies' that the Smoke burns trees, though she is placated by the fact that they replant them afterward. However, in 'Specials', she sees that Diego, the free city, is clear-cutting forest just as the Rusties did. The past seems doomed to repeat itself so she and David become the New Special Circumstances, mediating between man and nature in the hope that the future can find a balance between free will and destruction.

'Keep challenging the gods,' is Andrew Simpson Smith intelligent or ignorant?

As someone who lived his life in an anthropological experiment, Andrew Simpson Smith's view of the city is one of the only unbiased ones in the 'Uglies' series. He sees the Pretties as 'gods' and their totems as 'gifts' and, in 'Pretties', thinks that the world takes seven days to cross, which seems to paint him as uneducated at best and foolish at worst. However, in 'Specials', he is shown to be perceptive, asking Tally which side she is truly on, a question that she herself does not know the answer to. He is also able to speak two languages and traverse the wilds better than even Special Circumstances, which demonstrates that he is a clever and insightful man, whose world experiences give him a unique view of the Pretty Cities and their inhabitants.

What is the function of beauty in the novel?

In the previous books in the 'Uglies' series, beauty is a goal and a mark of success - Tally wants nothing more to be pretty in 'Uglies' and does not know the sinister aspects of it for most of 'Pretties'. However, in 'Specials', beauty marks people as lesser. The brain lesions inflicted on New Pretties to keep them docile and compliant make Special Circumstances look down on them, seeing them as little more than thoughtless creatures. By contrast, they fear the New Smoke, which is led by Uglies, and create a different sort of beauty in themselves. The 'cruel pretty' appearance of the Specials is a way for them to see themselves as different to the Pretties and better than the Uglies; they are aesthetically perfect but terrifying to look at, which marks them as unique. David and Tally go against this when they are finally reunited at the end of the book, as a Special and an Ugly should never be in a relationship. However, with the removal of mankind's brain lesions, they are finally free to go against 'five million years of evolution' and love each other for themselves, not their appearances.

Is ambition a vice or a virtue in 'Specials'?

Ambition in 'Specials' is initially presented as a virtue, since neither Tally nor Shay would be as successful as they are without it. The reason that Shay is such a good special is because she believes in herself, Westerfeld stating that 'it didn’t matter what you looked like. It was how you carried yourself, how you saw yourself. Strength and reflexes were only part of it—Shay simply knew that she was special, and so she was. Everyone else was just wallpaper'. It is this attitude that drives them to reach Diego and to join the rebellion. However, ambition is also devastating when left unchecked. It is Zane's ambition to be normal again that leaves him brain-dead, it is Dr. Cable's ambition to control the city that leads to war, and it is Tally's never-ending ambition that leads her to be a 'big collection of brainwashing, surgeries, and cures', meddled with by scientists until she is not sure which parts of her are hers and which parts are not. This leads to Tally standing against unchecked ambition, allowing the people of Diego and other cities to expand in the same way as the Rusties but telling them to 'be careful with the world, or the next time we meet, it might get ugly'. She is aware that ambition and altruism have a careful middle ground, and it is important that mankind continues to tread this if the mistakes of history are to be avoided in the future.