The UgliesThe UgliesThe UgliesThe Uglies

Study GuideStudy Guide

Chapter 1- New Pretty Town

• What are some details that suggest a time setting for this story? pg4o is Peris? pg4

•   What two towns does the river divide?pg6•     How does a pretty’s “magic” make uglies

feel? pg8•     What kind of mask does Tally wear? pg10

Chapter 2- Best Friends Forever

•    What is one of the functions of Tally’s interface ring?pg15

•   What are some of the features that make someone pretty?pg16

•     What is Tally’s plan for escaping Garbo Mansion?pg19

•     “What was worse in New Pretty Town, she wondered?  Your mansion burning down, or an ugly crashing your party?”  What does Tally’s question tell us about how pretties think?

Chapter Three-Shay•    Why are there sirens going off at the beginning of this

chapter? 21, 24•    Why did Peris have a scar that matched Tally’s? 25•     Why doesn’t Peris have his scar anymore? 25•     What are some parts of the operation to make

people pretty? 25•     How many levels of being pretty do you definitely

know about? 26

Chapter Four-Wipe Out

•     How do the crash bracelets keep Tally from hurting herself when she falls? 33

•   What is Tally’s ugly nickname? 36•    According to Tally, why don’t their pretty

friends visit Tally & Shay? 38•     What is Shay’s nickname? 36

Chapter Five-Facing the Future

   •     How many morphos does Shay have? 40•    What does “symmetry” mean? 42•     What is a morpho? 39-44•    On page 44, Shay says, “Everyone judged everyone else

on their appearance.  People who were taller got better jobs, and people even voted for some politicians just because they weren’t quite as ugly as everybody else.”  This is information from an actual study of real people from 2004.  Do you agree with Tally that making everyone the same level of pretty will help get rid of this problem? 

•    What is Shay’s opinion about becoming pretty?  Use details from both Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 to support your answer.      

Chapter 6- Pretty Boring

    To where does Shay want to make a night trip? 48

   Do you agree that “being required to have fun” is boring? Explain your answer.

   What are two topics Tally doesn’t know about? 51, 52

Chapter 7-Rapids    On pages 53 and 54, Tally notices that it’s almost like the

dorms are purposely designed to allow uglies to sneak out.  What might be a reason for the government to purposely allow the uglies to sneak out?

  How come Shay and Tally’s hoverboards won’t tell on them when they go out at night? 54

Shay thinks Peris told Tally to not take risks for what reason? 55

    What makes hoverboards hover? 58   What happens if your hoverboard leaves a safe

operating area? 59  How can the hoverboards work on the river? 60

Chapter 8-The Rusty Ruins

   Based on the details from the story, who were the Rusties? 61-63

   Do you agree with Shay that the “trick” she played on Tally by not telling her about the gap in the rollercoaster was a good trick? Explain your answer.

   Explain the process that allowed some uglies to discover the rollercoaster. 67

Chapter-9 Waiting for David

  Who is David? (71)  Is David real? (73)    Explain what Tally means when

she thinks, “Being in the city all the time made everything fake, in a way” (74). 

Chapter 10-Fight• a.    According to Tally, at what age do

you become an ugly? 77• b.   What is the prank Shay and Tally

play on the new uglies? 79-80• c.    Why did Tally and Shay wear

disguises? 79• d.   Why is swimming a “great trick”

(81)?• e.    Do you agree with Shay or Tally in

their argument on pages 82-84?

Chapter 11-Last Trick• a.    Do you think 15 year-olds should be allowed to

get plastic surgery?  Explain your answer.• b.   What is the “last trick” Shay wants to perform?

89• c.    What is the name of the place David lives? 91• d.   On page 92, Shay and Tally debate over what

it would mean if everyone was ugly; Shay says that would mean no one is ugly, but Tally thinks that means no one is pretty.  Who is right?

• e.    At what age does the pretty operation no longer work? 93

Chapter 12-Operation• a.    After listening to the description of

the operation on page 97, do you think the pretties are still human?  Explain your answer.

• b.   Why do you think that the place where late pretties live is called “Crumblyville”?

• c.    How do most middle pretties make Tally feel? 98-99, 101

Chapter 13-Special Circumstances

• a.    What are these new middle pretties like? 103, 104

• b.   Why are people’s eyes getting flashed? 98, 100, 103

• c.   What is the purpose of “Special Circumstances”? 106-107

• d.    Why would the Special Circumstances building be “designed to make its occupants vaguely nauseated” (103)?

Chapter 14-Ugly for Life

• a.    Why might Tally find it important to realize that “Special Circumstances could make mistakes”? 113

• b.   Who are Ellie and Sol? 114• c.    What is their advice to Tally? 115-

119

Chapter 15-Peris

• a.    What does “bubbly” mean? 124• b.   What does “bogus” mean? 124• c.    “Rationalize” means “to come up with a

reason to do something you want to, even though you know you shouldn’t do it”.  How does Tally rationalize breaking her promise to Shay?

• d.   The sun has risen, and Peris says “It’s almost past my bedtime” (127).  What does that tell us about how pretties live?

Chapter 16-Infiltrator

• a.    Do you agree with Dr. Cable when she says, “We always have choices” (129)?

• b.   What does Dr. Cable expect Tally to do? 132-133

• c.    How is Special Circumstances going to find Tally when she gets to the Smoke? 134

• d.   What finally convinces Tally to infiltrate the Smoke? 135

Part II

The Smoke

Chapter 17 Leaving• What are some of the special features

of Tally’s new hoverboard? 139-141• Explain the metaphor Tally makes to

compare Shay to the roller coaster. 143• What is the long flat “roller coaster”?

145,147

Chapter 18 Spagbol• How does Tally learn that in the wild,

“mistakes have serious consequences”? 150• What does Tally mean when she thinks that

she could have “ended up so much SpagBol at the bottom of the cliffs” 152

Chapter 19 Worst Mistake

• How did Tally get across the second break in the tracks? 159-160

• What lesson did Tally learn from the past? 163

Chapter 20: The Side you Despise

• Why is the right side the side Tally despises? 167

• Why does Tally try to hide her hoverboard as it charges? 170

Chapter 21: Firestorm• Who set the fire? 174-175

Chapter 22: Bug Eyes• Where are the rangers from? 180• What is the machine the rangers fly? 180• Why are there so many white flowers? 181• What is a monoculture? 181• How far into the future is this story set? 181• Why do the rangers burn the flowers? 182• What do the flowers symbolize? 182-183• What does the fact that Tally doesn’t know what a

volunteer is (184) tell us about her society?

Chapter 23 :Lies• Why is David able to find a homing

device on Tally, and why don’t the Smokies think she’s a traitor when they find the device? 188-189

• Why does Croy want Tally’s SpagBol? 190

Chapter 24: The Model• Why is Tally so shocked when she finds out on page

195 that the Smokies cut down trees?• How do the Smokies compensate for cutting down

trees? 196• Why is Tally so surprised by the magazines Shay shows

her? 196-200• Why do you think Tally is so surprised at the idea of

“work”?

Chapter 25:Work• What is it that makes the younger

Smokies seem like middle pretties? 204

• What is a latrine?• What work does Tally end up

doing? 209-210

Chapter 26: David• What does the fact that Tally is

horrified by David’s leather jacket (213) tell us about life in Tally’s city?

• What is so unusual about David? 217• What job do David’s parent’s have?

218

Chapter 27:Hearttrob• What is the reason Tally is acting

“weird” according to Shay? 224• Why hasn’t Tally activated the

homing device yet? 224-228

Chapter 28: Suspicion• What benefit did the Rusties get

from clear-cutting? 233• Why is Croy suspicious of Tally?

236-238• What is the situation between

Shay, David, and Tally? 239-241

Chapter 29: Bravery• Why does Tally think she is

“walking poison” and a “weed”? 244

• What is the big misunderstanding between David and Tally? 245-248

• What emotion makes Tally see an ugly as a pretty? 250 252

Chapter 30: The Secret

• Why is Tally surprised that David and Az look very similar? 255-256

Chapter 31: Pretty Minds

• What discovery did Az and Maddy make? 263-265

• Why did Maddy and Az run away> 266-267

• Would you choose to become incredibly good-looking if it also meant getting very minor brain damage?

Chapter 32: Burning Bridges

• How do Maddy and Az know there must be a simple cure for the lesions? 271

• When Az says, “History would indicate that the majority of people have always been sheep” (270) what does he mean?

• Do you agree with Tally that it is “not fair” (277) that some people are born better-looking than others? Why?

• Why did Tally throw her pendant into the fire? Give two reasons? 280-282

Part III

Into the Fire

Chapter 33: Invasion• What are some qualities given to the

Specials by their operation? 288-289• What two things did the Boss keep

for emergencies, and why did he keep them? 290-291

• How good is a special’s hearing? 296

Chapter 34: Rabbit Pen• Tally’s idea of “home” changes

during the story. How does she define “home”? How do you define “home”?

Chapter 35: In Case of Damage

• How did the Specials find the Smoke? 306

• Based on their conversation on pages 306-308, do you think Dr. Cable trusts Tally? Explain your answer.

Chapter 36: Run• On page 314, Tally thinks of David getting the

operation, wondering if he could “have his face filed down and replaced by a pretty mask”. This is very different than how she thought of the operation in the first few chapters. What are some of the differences, and why does Tally now view the cosmetic part of the procedure (not the lesions) as being bad?

Chapter 37: Amazing• Why doesn’t Tally tell David about

the pendant? 321-322• Do you think Tally should tell David

the truth, knowing that David will leave her alone in the woods and not let her help try to rescue the other Smokies if she tells him? Explain.

Chapter 38: Ruin• What is so ironic about the sentence, “They

smelled the Smoke long before they saw it”? 326

• Why is Tally sad the Smokies left their shoes for her? 329

• Why did the Specials destroy the library?330• Why did the Boss sacrifice his life in order to

protect some magazines?

Chapter 39 Maddy and Az

• There are obvious problems with Tally’s story of how she got away from the Specials(335-336); why doesn’t David figure out what the real story is?

• What evidence is there that Maddy and Az figured Special Circumstances would one day find the Smoke?338

Chapter 40: The Oil Plague

• Why is Tally worried that ten days might be too late to save anyone? 340

• What was the final straw that destroyed the Rusties’ civilization? 345-346

Chapter 41: Familiar Sights

• Why is David afraid they won’t be in time to save his parents? 350

• What does David not know that makes him think Shay will forgive Tally? 352

• On pages 354-355, Tally suggests that she liked being “tracked and monitored and advised every minute of the day” before she left the city. Why might she have liked that?

• Tally and David will have to jump 20 meters above and 20 meters past the Special Circumstances sensor wire fence. How many feet is 20 meters? About how many building stories is 20 meters?

Chapter 42: Accomplices

• What does mutinous mean? 306• What does competent mean? 361• How long has it been since the Specials took the

Smokies? 361• Why doesn’t Tally want to admit to the Uglies that the

Smoke has been destroyed? 365• Why do you think Tally wants these Uglies to create a

diversion?• What does this chapter title mean?

Chapter 43: Over the Edge

• What detail shows exactly how much Tally dislikes eating dehydrated food. 367

• Why is Tally’s diversion (369) almost guaranteed to draw out Special Circumstances?

Chapter 44 Inside• When Tally landed after jumping down

the elevator shaft, why were there voices from under her feet? 376-377

• What is a morgue?(378)Why didn’t David want to check it?

• How are doors unlocked in Tally’s city? 379-380

Chapter 45:Rescue• Why was Shay forced to have the

operation? 383• How does Shay feel about having

had the operation? 383-384

Chapter 46 Getaway• Why doesn’t Maddy want David to

ride with Tally? 391,385• If Shay honestly believes she’s

forgiven Tally, why won’t Tally accept Shay’s forgiveness? 397

Chapter 47: Night Alone

• What is “bogusness” 401• Explain the title of this chapter.

Chapter 48: Hippocratic Oath

• Why don’t the uglies believe in Special Circumstances? 405-406

• What does “bubbly” mean? 408• After reading Maddy and Shay’s conversation on pages

407-411, explain whether or not you agree with Shay’s contention that Shay has a better life after the operation.

• Do you agree that it is wrong to experiment on Shay?

Chapter 49: Confessions

• Do you think Tally should let Maddy experiment on her?• If Tally says she wants to have experimental treatment

used on her, but then has her mind literally changed and no longer wants the experimental treatment, do you think she should be forced to live with the treatment?

• Do you agree with Maddy that Tally is to blame for Az’s death?

Chapter 50: Down the River

• Why do you think Tally wanted Shay to write down her contract about wanting the experimental treatment instead of having Maddy do it?

• What would you change about the ending of this book?• Are you interested in reading the sequel, Pretties? Why

or why not?