Quotations

QUOTE 1

“We're not freaks, Tally. We're normal. We may not be gorgeous, but at least we're not hyped-up Barbie dolls.”

I believe that this is a great and important quote since it shows the significant message that the author is trying to convey.It does not matter what you look like on the outside because even if you are as fake and pretty as someone like Barbie your inside is what makes you special. These Uglies are told to believe that they are worthless and different.  The society is set up so that they are on the bottom with no respect and appreciation. This quote represents that Shay believes strongly that she is equal to pretties. The pretties which she means as Barbie dolls are fake objects that the society looks up to when the normal people are actually discriminated.

Text to Self

I have also sometimes  bought something or dressed a certain way just because of the society pressure. Once the media labels a certain object as “cool” everybody must have it and if you don’t, you are labeled as not normal or as Shay thinks “Freak”.  I understand how people like Tally want to be part of the “cool” group, but sometimes it is much more important to stay true to yourself and to be unique.

Text to World

A lot of young people of today are misled by the media’s and majority’s perception of beauty. In most cases, magazines, and shows, and advertisements show that you are only beautiful if you look a certain way, which most times is like a Barbie doll. This passes normality because with such pressure many people feel insecure. In fact, we have to  admit that this  also leads  to bullying and even suicides among young people.  When someone labels another person as a freak this is a form of bullying; unfortunately, you can find  behaviors as this in many schools. There is no such a thing as 'a freak' exactly as Shay says. Everybody is unique and different in their own way.

Text to Text

In the book “Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom” by Susin Nielsen, the main character Violet deals with some tough decisions when her Hollywood stepmom tries to make friends with her. Violet felt angry and jealous because her dad left her mom. When her stepmom offers a fun day to go to the salon and get a makeover, Violet refuses since she believes that beauty is not on the outside. Just because you live in Hollywood or the fact that your appearance is nice doesn’t make you more superior than other people. In a way, Violet is very similar to Shay refusing to follow the society’s idea of beauty.  

QUOTE 2

“Perhaps the logical conclusion of everyone looking the same is everyone thinking the same.”

This quote depicts the dystopian society in the story. Every single being is made the same when the pretty operation occurs. The people are forced to believe that Pretties are beautiful when in fact they are all the same and boring (perhaps a logical consequence).  In any human world a sense of identity and difference must be found in every person. If eventually everyone is made to look the same what will follow? The thoughts and beliefs will also be made the same. This quote is significant since it shows the great secret of the pretty world; the lack of independent thinking and identity. People like Shay who want to remain themselves run away from the society, but the government must force everyone to become pretty so that a rebellion never takes them down. A society where everyone is the same is no society at all.

Text to World

In the world today many people are losing themselves. The media is advertising products that make the users essentially the same. Once a commercial is so tempting and clever, all of the viewer’s think that this product is actually useful when in fact, it is not. In addition, the globalizing of the world expands size so that every person has access to the same products which leads to unifying especially young people not always in a positive way. Media and advertising is a major problem for people’s identity because sometimes the pressure to be like everybody else is too much. It is the way society turns people into “Pretties”

Text to Text

           “Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way."( Christopher Hitchens's closing statement of the debate with William Dembski, 2010)

There are many great minds who describe the importance of independent thinking and it is for a reason. The whole world has evolved and changed due to the people who thought differently and valued their own wisdom.  This particular quote shows what the society described  in the book lacks. When Uglies become pretty, they lack the risk of independent thinking because the government has restricted them of it. When you think your own mind, it is most possible to find the greatest truth, happiness and wisdom. When you follow someone else's thoughts , you are not yourself. If every society nourishes  the independent thinking of its citizens rather than acquiring  beauty,  it would evolve as a place for people to be themselves and to find true happiness .

QUOTE 3

    

“Out here, you find out that the city fools you about how things really work.”

This quote explains the Shaw's deep realization how the life in the nature and the Smoke really differs from the bright lights of the city. It does not matter if you are pretty or ugly, the world shouldn’t be that way. That is what the quote means: uglies, pretties, government, whatever it is, it should not be the way it is in the book. The perception of all the people has been influenced by the government, so that one loses sense of what the real world looks like. This Pretty city is just one closed prison so that no one can ever find the magic of the real world. People are treated like robots. They cannot be free and leave the city. The world is a fascinating place and pretties will never find that out because their town is just a perception of fun and beauty.

Text to Self

            I feel that whenever I leave the city to go to my cottage or to visit the lake, the world is a much different place. There is a spiritual world out there with all of its vitality, aliveness and peacefulness.   Everything is so pure and natural. At night you can see how the stars light up the whole place while in the city you lose sense of the nature that surrounds you . The busy buildings, honking cars, crowds of people are all around you..., but when you leave and go somewhere close to nature, it is just you and the world. That connection, I believe, is what Shay felt in the wilderness when saying the quote. “Out here” it is just magnificent and moving and I know what she feels.

Text to World

            Today in many large cities like New York and Toronto (which were actually called The Big Smoke), people are bombarded with ads and things to buy right away. Everything in the city is about making money! The construction industry, the commercialization, restaurants and stores create enormous stress and do not let people escape from this burden of things to acquire. Nature is the calmest place on earth and humans must relax from the city more often. It's a well known fact that people who often come in contact with nature are happier and develop a different philosophy of life. Individuals like Shay have had enough of this city's pressure and just don’t want to lose their natural attentiveness to the world in all.

Text to Text

               Cities force growth, and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

           

         In today’s world, same like the Pretties, the busyness of the big cities often pushes people to rush and follow schedules which turns them into worrisome robots who do not live in the present. They don’t experience the whole aspect of real life with the small joys and simple pleasures. As a result, we can say that  people become “artificial” as Emerson describes them. The connection between both quotes shows what modern cities and societies transform people into vain, less sensitive individuals. The Pretties may be so gorgeous and happy, but they are fake. It’s not the real them! This happiness and beauty lays in someone else’s idea, not theirs. No one else should live your life and no one else should ever control you. Freedom is lacking from the Prettytown since people cannot be who they want to. They are so confused and lost that they forget about what the real world really is. 

QUOTE 4

“The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.”

This quote sets the tone for the entire book. As an opening sentence it really grabs the reader’s attention and the mood feels different than any other book. There are rarely any stories with an opening sentence that can never be forgotten. This quote to me felt like something wrong and bad would follow in the story. If the book starts off so drastically, there must be something even more dramatic in the plot.  Right away after the opening quote you find out that Tally is lonely and sad since her best friend Peris left her to become pretty.  “Any other summer, a sunset like this would have been beautiful. But nothing had been beautiful since Peris turned pretty”. The awkward beginning quote was an introduction to the awkward world in the story.

Text to Self

I myself have experienced the haze in which the sun goes down during summer. I find it so magnifying how all those colors are like one big painting in the sky. It is quite a beautiful experience. Some things such as  just stopping to look at the sky are so easily passed by people who always rush. Life is meant to enjoy the simple things like just admiring the summer sunset. The world really is a magnifying place.

Text to World

Sometimes learning to stop and look up to everything that is going on in the nature can have such a big impact on our lives that we remember forever. With an good opening descriptive sentence about just plain nature you can already predict what is going to happen since humans are so connected to the natural world. There was time when Life as informed by nature and the earth's cycle drove the daily round of walking, working and sleeping. Somehow we have forgotten our small place in the grand scheme of things.

Text To Text

Recently one of the books that had an awkward yet very fascinating starting quote was “Stargirl” by Jerry Spinelli.  “When I was little, my uncle Pete had a necktie with a porcupine painted on it.”
 I find the stories with interesting opening sentences and quotes to be by far the best reads. The authors are different and unique which makes the style of writing intriguing. Both authors that I mention are very special.
 The first sentence really hooks the reader to read the rest of the book. 
Can you say the opening sentence of the book you are reading right now?