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Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Pages this week: 176
Pages total: 1502

Style Mapping: Peers
1. "Annie Proulx creates a poetic and loose style that has somewhat of a country twang which creates a melodious sound." -Swimstrong
2. "It is easy to see, each writer has their own style that is unique to them. From Gainman, to McCarthy, to Martin, they are all different." -Viking Death Metal
3. "Meanwhile, the language used in "The Duff" is far coarser, exact, and disregards sound than the other two." -Less Than Three

woooow... Thank you blogger for only originally posting HALF of my work... 

The Betrayal

This is where my forest picture goes, but it doesn't work right now.

Tally Youngblood, the protagonist in Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, has just entered the Smoke and has a choice to make: activate the heart pendant (a tracking device that is activated only by scanning Tally's eye) and lead Special Circumstances to the Smoke and destroy their way of life, or stay and live here with her friend Shay and remain an ugly. Tally cannot choose quite yet and ends up stalling her decision, and with each day, the decision becomes more difficult to make.

First, Tally must convince the people of the Smoke that she is not a spy, even though she kinda is a spy. The people are suspicious of everybody, but since Tally came alone, they are convinced that she had help from the city. Then, as Tally is about to tell Shay the truth, Shay butts in with an idea that the heart pendant is from a lover that Tally met in the city before running away. Tally goes along with the lie. At the same time, Shay's crush, David, seems to be falling for Tally. As Tally is about to tell David the truth of her arrival, David confides an important secret in her. Tally waits longer. Later, David takes Tally to meet his parents. His parents were doctors and reversed their "pretty" surgery. His parents tell her about their discovery of lesions found on the brains of the pretties that did not hold jobs requiring quick thinking. This is another secret that most of the people in the Smoke do not know until later in life, and yet Tally, a newcomer, is being entrusted with this knowledge. As Tally and David go back to the center of the forest they call home, Tally and David kiss. Tally has firmly decided that she will not betray the people of the Smoke and cannot tell anybody about Special Circumstances. The morning after Tally burns the heart pendant, Special Circumstances shows up and chaos breaks loose.

P.S. The internet is not always my friend. It took me a half hour to get it to let me post this!

Technology in the Future

The technology in the world of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is very different from ours. This world is several centuries ahead of our time. Instead of applying sunscreen as a lotion or spray, they put on a sunscreen patch. When we want bubbles in our bath, we add a liquid soap while they have packages of massaging bubbles. I'm very jealous of both of these inventions. Another invention, typically used for travel, are the food packets. These are used like instant ramen; just add water and your food is ready. Tally has "SpagBol" packets, which is short for spaghetti Bolognese. She has 2 weeks worth of SpagBol for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This meal will no longer be her favorite after her trip!

While on her way to "The Smoke," she encounters a huge, archaic, metal machine. This machine is exactly as she pictured it from her history class teachings. It creates a huge tornado and flies. Not too much later, she sees the machine again, with "Pretties" inside! And these people are setting fire to the white orchids that surround Tally for miles. Tally gets caught in the firestorm, luckily the pretties rescue her from a terrible death. Tally learns that these pretties are rangers and their job is to set fire to the orchids. In this time period, orchids are a weed that are choking out every other plant in the wilderness. A Rusties (our time frame) scientist invented a way to rapidly grow orchids since orchids were rare and valuable. This experiment went wrong, of course, and now orchids are weeds. The pretties in the machine tell Tally that will drop her off at the next location for her trip. Tally also learns that the Rusties' strange machine is called a helicopter.

Observing Language: Style Mapping

 
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld uses lower language that is harsh and connotative. The word choice is more familiar and blunt, grating and clattering, and also suggestive and imagistic. Words like "cat vomit," "scudding," "bottomless," "cold," and "sucks" suggest familiar, imagtistic, and grating language. On the nearly-opposite pole is Master & Commander by Patrick O'Brian, with the use of high, musical, and connotative language. O'Brain's words for scholarly, fancy, and archaic as he describes the buildings, people, and music. His words are sweet, harmonious, lyrical and imagistic when he describes the violin player and other musicians. Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian is similar with its scholarly words that flow together with a more poetic, suggestive nature.