Pretties

Tally is the main character of Uglies and Pretties, as her story continues from the first book to the second. As Pretties begins, Tally has undergone a surgery to make her beautiful—a surgery that also inserts scars on her brain to muddle her thoughts and make her follow the status quo. Tally fights against this by taking an experimental cure and working toward being “bubbly,” or clearheaded. Tally’s physical description is vague, with an emphasis on her large eyes, clear skin, and healthy immune system. This presents Tally as someone who blends in with the crowd, making her seem like just another pretty girl in a world full of beautiful people. Tally’s real changes occur internally and mentally, which is the focus of the novel.

Tally begins the novel with the main concern of joining the Crims social club. As the novel progresses and she experiences clearheadedness, she increasingly appreciates the value of free will. She rejects the social norms that demand she be mild and noncombative and with them the broader society. She denies Dr. Cable’s claims that being pretty-minded is good for people: Tally values consent and individualism, wanting the other Crims to experience “bubbly” life even knowing it comes at the expense of her own fractured relationships.