Rethinking Social Classes with the Help of Body Standards


 Hey, it's Hazel.

Lately, I have been reading a book called Uglies. It is the first book in its series. I am just in the beginning of the book, so I will keep you updated as I keep reading, but here are my thoughts so far.

There are spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk. You've been warned.

Uglies has a very interesting idea behind it. It is a city where there is a kind of "social class" in a way. You reach the next "class" by reaching a certain age. It goes from Littlies, Uglies, Pretties, and more. The main character, Tally, is currently an Ugly. Once she reaches 16, she will have a mandatory surgery to get rid of her every imperfection, just like everyone else who turns 16. After the surgery, everyone has a perfect body, perfect face, perfect everything. Then, they leave everyone who hasn't yet had the surgery, to move to New Pretty Town, a town for all of the Pretties. They spend their time partying and having fun.

So, in a way, it's like everyone is divided by their class, which is determined by their appearance. I think this is a really interesting point the author makes. It reminds me of unnatural body standards today and having to "fit in" to a certain standard.

I think it is very interesting that the author never addresses if the "Uglies" look similar to how we look. They have certain descriptions like asymmetrical faces, which are pretty common for regular people. This makes me wonder if the Uglies actually look like normal people, they are just constantly compared to people with lots of plastic surgery. Sounds familiar right? People feeling bad about themselves because they were compared to others. This makes me think the author wanted to address how body standards can divide people. And I could be totally wrong. I have not finished the first book yet, but I will keep you updated if I think this might be truthful as I get further into the book.

Thanks for reading!

-Hazel 🐸

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