Uglies

"In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly."

▶ What can you imagine about this novel from this sentence?

Facing the Future

Tally, the main character, is in her bedroom with her friend Shay. Tally is making a
"morpho" for Shay. A morpho is a computer-modified picture of a person. In their world,
everyone is ugly until the age of 16. Then everyone has an operation to become pretty. Tally
wants to show Shay what she will look like after the operation to transform her into a pretty
person.

Tally turned her interface ring to bring up a menu on the wallscreen. The screen’s camera
flickered with laser light, and a green grid sprang up on Shay’s face, a field of tiny squares
imposed across the shape of her cheekbones, nose, lips, and forehead.
“First, the basics.”
5 The software took over: The eyes gradually grew, reducing the size of the nose between
them, Shay’s cheekbones moved upward, and her lips became a tiny bit fuller (they were
already almost pretty-sized). Every blemish disappeared, her skin turning flawlessly smooth.
When it was done, Tally whistled.
“Wow, that’s pretty good already.”
10 “Great,” Shay groaned. “I totally look like every other new pretty in the world. I want to go hoverboarding.”
“Sure, great. But first let’s get this right.”
"What do you mean ‘get it right,’ Tally? Maybe I think my face is already right!”
“Yeah, it’s great.” Tally rolled her eyes. “For an ugly.”
Shay scowled. “What, can’t you stand me?”
15 “Shay! Come on. It’s just for fun.”
“This whole game is just designed to make us hate ourselves.”
Tally groaned and flopped back onto her bed, glaring up at the ceiling. Shay could be so weird sometimes.
“Right, and things were so great back when everyone was ugly. Or did you miss that day in school?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Shay recited. “Everyone judged everyone else based on their appearance. People who were
20 taller got better jobs, and people even voted for some politicians just because they weren’t quite as ugly as
everybody else. Blah, blah, blah.”
“Yeah, and people killed one another over stuff like having different skin color.”
Tally shook her head. No matter how many times they repeated it at school, she’d never really quite believed that
one.
25 “So what if people look more alike now? It’s the only way to make people equal.”
“How about making them smarter?”
Adapted from Uglies, by Scott Westerfield, 2005.
1. Reorder the events to respect the chronology of the text:
_____ Shay complained about the morpho, she was upset.
_____ The computer modified Shay's picture to make her pretty.
_____ The computer covered Shay's face with lines.
_____ Tally and Shay repeated what they learned at school about the reasons why everyone had to become pretty.
_____ The computer took a picture of Shay's face.
2. Add the vocabulary from the text to the face.

________________________________ __________________________________

_________________________________ __________________________________

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3. What happened to Shay's face in the morpho?
a. Complete with the comparative forms of these adjectives: high, big, small, full.
Her eyes became _______________________ , her nose became ____________________ , her cheekbones became
________________________ and her lips became _______________________ .
b. "Every blemish disappeared, her skin turning flawlessly smooth." Tick the correct answers.
A blemish is ... □ a mark on her skin □ a sign of old age on her skin □ a tattoo
"Flawlessly smooth" means ... □ white □ transparent □ perfect
4. Two verbs indicate the girls' different reactions to the morpho of Shay's face. Find the verbs and indicate what they
mean. _______________________________ = a positive reaction, this girl approved of the morpho, she was impressed.
_______________________________ = a negative reaction, this girl disapproved, she was displeased.
5. Why didn't Shay like the morpho? Justify your answer(s) with a quote from the text.
□ She just didn't like morphos in general, she wanted to go have some fun on her hoverboard.
□ She wanted to look different from other people.
□ She thought she already looked fine.
6. What was Shay's opinion about the computer game that made morphos?
□ It's a stupid game and it isn't as fun as hoverboarding.
□ It's dangerous because it makes players dissatisfied with their appearance.
7. What did Tally and Shay learn in school about the past?
□ Everyone was ugly in the past. □ Everyone was pretty in the past. □ Some were ugly and some were pretty.
□ Life was better. □ Live was worse. □ Life was the same.
□ Appearances counted a lot. □ Appearances didn't count.
□ Pretty people had advantages. □ Pretty people didn't have advantages. □ Everyone was treated the same.
8. So why did everyone become pretty in the new society? Give a quote from the text: __________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9. What is your opinion concerning the "history lesson" that Tally and Shay learned at school?
10. What do you think about Shay's final question? What does the question reveal about the pretties?

The debate: are you for or against school uniforms?

A. What is the parallel between Uglies and the debate about school uniforms?
B. Place the following ideas in the chart.
▶ Uniforms can be expensive. ▶ Uniforms help create a team spirit.
C. Find more ideas to complete the chart.

For uniforms Against uniforms

D. Make sentences to link the ideas from the two columns with these linkwords:
▶ To express opposition: yet, however (cependant) / on the one hand..., on the other hand... (d'une part..., d'autre part..)
▶ To express concession: although (bien que)

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 Uglies

"In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly."

▶ What can you imagine about this novel from this sentence?

Facing the Future

Tally, the main character, is in her bedroom with her friend Shay. Tally is making a
"morpho" for Shay. A morpho is a computer-modified picture of a person. In their world,
everyone is ugly until the age of 16. Then everyone has an operation to become pretty. Tally
wants to show Shay what she will look like after the operation to transform her into a pretty
person.

Tally turned her interface ring to bring up a menu on the wallscreen. The screen’s camera
flickered with laser light, and a green grid sprang up on Shay’s face, a field of tiny squares
imposed across the shape of her cheekbones, nose, lips, and forehead.
“First, the basics.”
5 The software took over: The eyes gradually grew, reducing the size of the nose between
them, Shay’s cheekbones moved upward, and her lips became a tiny bit fuller (they were
already almost pretty-sized). Every blemish disappeared, her skin turning flawlessly smooth.
When it was done, Tally whistled.
“Wow, that’s pretty good already.”
10 “Great,” Shay groaned. “I totally look like every other new pretty in the world. I want to go hoverboarding.”
“Sure, great. But first let’s get this right.”
"What do you mean ‘get it right,’ Tally? Maybe I think my face is already right!”
“Yeah, it’s great.” Tally rolled her eyes. “For an ugly.”
Shay scowled. “What, can’t you stand me?”
15 “Shay! Come on. It’s just for fun.”
“This whole game is just designed to make us hate ourselves.”
Tally groaned and flopped back onto her bed, glaring up at the ceiling. Shay could be so weird sometimes.
“Right, and things were so great back when everyone was ugly. Or did you miss that day in school?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Shay recited. “Everyone judged everyone else based on their appearance. People who were
20 taller got better jobs, and people even voted for some politicians just because they weren’t quite as ugly as
everybody else. Blah, blah, blah.”
“Yeah, and people killed one another over stuff like having different skin color.”
Tally shook her head. No matter how many times they repeated it at school, she’d never really quite believed that
one.
25 “So what if people look more alike now? It’s the only way to make people equal.”
“How about making them smarter?”
Adapted from Uglies, by Scott Westerfield, 2005.
1. Reorder the events to respect the chronology of the text:
4 Shay complained about the morpho, she was upset.
3 The computer modified Shay's picture to make her pretty.
2 The computer covered Shay's face with lines.
5 Tally and Shay repeated what they learned at school about the reasons why everyone had to become pretty.
1 The computer took a picture of Shay's face.
2. Add the vocabulary from the text to the face.

forehead nose

cheekbones lips

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3. What happened to Shay's face in the morpho?
a. Complete with the comparative forms of these adjectives: high, big, small, full.
Her eyes became bigger , her nose became smaller , her cheekbones became higher and her lips became fuller .
b. "Every blemish disappeared, her skin turning flawlessly smooth." Tick the correct answers.
A blemish is ... □ a mark on her skin □ a sign of old age on her skin □ a tattoo
"Flawlessly smooth" means ... □ white □ transparent □ perfect
4. Two verbs indicate the girls' different reactions to the morpho of Shay's face. Find the verbs and indicate what they
mean. to whistle = a positive reaction, this girl approved of the morpho, she was impressed.
to groan, to scowl = a negative reaction, this girl disapproved, she was displeased.
5. Why didn't Shay like the morpho? Justify your answer(s) with a quote from the text.
□ She just didn't like morphos in general, she wanted to go have some fun on her hoverboard.
□ She wanted to look different from other people.
□ She thought she already looked fine.
6. What was Shay's opinion about the computer game that made morphos?
□ It's a stupid game and it isn't as fun as hoverboarding.
□ It's dangerous because it makes players dissatisfied with their appearance.
7. What did Tally and Shay learn in school about the past?
□ Everyone was ugly in the past. □ Everyone was pretty in the past. □ Some were ugly and some were pretty.
□ Life was better. □ Live was worse. □ Life was the same.
□ Appearances counted a lot. □ Appearances didn't count.
□ Pretty people had advantages. □ Pretty people didn't have advantages. □ Everyone was treated the same.
8. So why did everyone become pretty in the new society? Give a quote from the text: "It's the only way to make people
equal."
9. What is your opinion concerning the "history lesson" that Tally and Shay learned at school?
10. What do you think about Shay's final question? What does the question reveal about the pretties?

The debate: are you for or against school uniforms?

A. What is the parallel between Uglies and thhe debate about school uniforms?
B. Place the following ideas in the chart.
▶ ▶
C. Find more ideas to complete the chart.

For uniforms Against uniforms

Uniforms help create a team spirit. Uniforms can be expensive.

Nobody can laugh about what we wear. Thanks to your clothes, you've got your own personality.
Uniforms allows us not to make social differences. No everyone likes the uniforms.
It's easier to dress in the morning. Children learn to accept differences.
There's no physical judgement. You have your own identity.
There won't be any discrimination.
You can hide behind your uniform.

Uniforms prevent pupils from wearing inappropriate Uniforms aren't necessary for that, a dress code is enough.
clothes.
Uniforms don't reveal the money you have, you can't wear Society has become more tolerant on apperances and
brands, your social class isn't visible. People can make fun racism so pupils don't judge each other as much.
of you if you don't wear brands, you can be judged on your
clothes.
You can express your personality outside of school, this You can't personalize your uniform so everyone looks the
isn't a problem. same. Uniforms suppress your personality. Moreover, pupils
School is a place for studying, not for expression oneself. spend nine hours a day in school so that's a long time to
The constitution also guarantees brotherhood, which limit their freedom of expression and choice, which is
uniforms promote. guaranteed by the constitution. Brotherhood doesn't mean
With a uniform, you don't stop at a person's appearance, similarity or uniformity, it means acceptance of others with
you can make friends with people you wouldn't be friends their differences.

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with because of their appearance.
Wearing a uniform is the same as refusing religious clothes
or symbols. It helps fight discrimination.

D. Make sentences to link the ideas from the two columns with these linkwords:
▶ To express opposition: yet, however (cependant) / on the one hand..., on the other hand... (d'une part..., d'autre part..)
▶ To express concession: although (bien que)

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