Analysis Paper Prompt

Analysis Paper Prompt

Have you ever been watching the news and think to yourself, “How did the world become such a bad place?” Well, what makes a society bad has been a common debate for quite a while. In Uglies and Ship Breaker, the theme of a dystopian society is very clear. The controversy over what shifts a utopian society into a dystopian society is very fickle, however. The line is very thin as to what exactly crosses the line and what is deemed beneficial to society. We are continually seeking advancements and more sustainable ways of life, but we often find ourselves in very morally questionable situations. Many times, scientific manipulation of nature and life are involved in these developments, and opinions are very split as we may be “playing god” too much and messing with the natural balance of life. On the other hand, when we don’t control anything, it becomes chaotic. Both the Uglies and Ship Breaker exemplify how our society contains detrimental characteristics that lead these two societies to be how they are.

In the Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, the society that the book takes place in is introduced as a utopian society. Initially, Tally is very absorbed in the way of life that is considered normal. Her life surrounds becoming a pretty, and all she looks forward to is becoming pretty. Her best friend had already been turned a few months prior, and her love for him and desire to see him again is a massive factor in why she has her sights set on becoming a Pretty. She is now worried whenever she sees him that he’s going to treat her differently or not want to talk to her because he is Pretty and she’s not. This sets the tone for the rest of the book because of how insignificant those who are Ugly are treated. Every time Tally meets a new person, and she automatically judges their appearance without even thinking about it.

“Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. Somewhere in the back of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help to see them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it a part of the human brain.” (Westerfeld 16).

It had been so pressed into Tally’s mind that she wasn’t pretty and recognizing these “ugly” features on her face that she could no longer have a conversation with someone without analyzing their look for imperfections. Our society conditions us to be this way as well because when we see touched up versions of people in the magazines, we can’t help but compare them to ourselves. We understand every little flaw in ourselves because we don’t look like the models, and we will start comparing every person we meet as well.

As the book continues, it begins to cross a line when suddenly the measures taken to create this perfect society involve changing the structure and function of the brain. It is a known fact that the way our minds work and differ from each other makes us our beings. We all have differences in personalities and the decisions that we make. In the Uglies, David’s parents explain that they had found lesions on the brains of those who underwent the rough surgery to become pretty. “Almost everyone had them, and they were always in the same place.” She pointed to a spot on the top of her head.” (Westerfeld 264). He explains that the lesions were on the top of the head, which is known as the occipital lobe of the brain. The occipital lobe of the brain control spontaneity, problem-solving, impulse control, and social behavior. This is concerning in terms of government control when they change portions of this lobe because it takes away an individual’s freedom. They can no longer act as they want or make confident decisions that they usually would. Many people believe that as science progresses and we can have the ability to manipulate functions of the brain more efficiently, the risk for government control increases. Tally is conditioned to believe that she needs to be pretty to be validated in her society, and this gives her government a great deal of power. When she meets Shay, she is challenged by her rebellious attitude but decides to stay in the city and become a Pretty. When Special Circumstances tells her she can’t be pretty until she helps them find Shay and the rest of her friends, she is so easily persuaded to give them up since she has longed to have the surgery for so long and doesn’t know what her life would be like any other way. While the surgery seems crazy to us, it is normal for her, and it’s difficult to see something wrong with the procedure when everyone else is doing it. This can also be said about our current society, as we are conditioned to believe that those who are pretty are more important to the community.

An example of this is how we look up to and idolize celebrities like the Kardashians, who are edited in pictures to remove scars and stretch marks. We are criticized when we don’t have picture-perfect body types and faces full of makeup. This book depicts what our society could look like in the future because of this need to be perfect and how if we let it take over our daily goals, it will drive us to compromise our moral standards of manipulating the way that we naturally look. When Tally looks at the magazine from our era when she reaches the Smoke, she is appalled by the faces she sees.

“They aren’t freaks,” Shay said. “The weird thing is, these are famous people.”

“Famous for what? Being hideous?”

“No. They’re sports stars, actors, artists. The men with stringy hair are musicians, I think. The gruesome ones are politicians, and someone told me the fatties are mostly comedians.” (Westerfeld 198).

Throughout the book, every person Tally meets her thoughts automatically go to their physical appearance. Even though the faces in magazines are edited to look “perfect” for our generation, by this time, it has been taken so far that our modern idea of perfect is no longer the ideal image. Our definition of beautiful has changed quite a bit since even ten years ago, and they will continue to evolve as we set our focus on worldly beauty.

In Ship Breaker by Paulo Bacigalupi, we follow a young boy, Nailer, who works for a crew that digs for lost metals on the bottom of the ocean. In this society, there is a vibrant group in their social structure and a very impoverished group. They hope that by digging for riches under the ocean, they will find their ”lucky strike” to become wealthy and bring their families out of poverty. Nailer is part of the impoverished group, and his father is an aggressive, relentless, and greedy man who thrives on scavenging and stealing riches. This book epitomizes what is wrong in our current society because while there is more of a middle class than there is in Nailer’s community, we do have a lot of people considered as in poverty. Greed is present in everything we do, whether in politics, relationships, or our occupations. Nailer is faced with a callous decision where he must choose between loyalty, friendship, and morality and escaping poverty.

When Nailer and the remainder of his crew find Nita in the wreckage of her ship, they are immediately focused on the treasures in the form of jewelry that she is wearing. Pima tells Nailer that she’ll “put her down first” (Bacigalupi 146), but Nailer intervenes and says that they can’t make a lucky strike by taking the girl’s life. Like Nailer’s father, Pima does not seem hesitant to end the girl’s life because she is only concerned about the money, but they soon realize that she is worth more money if they keep her alive than kill her. Pima’s greed for wealth and status overrides any moral obligation to do the “right thing.” If kept alive, Nita can bring them more wealth, and that is Nailer’s primary objective. “‘ Alive, I’m more valuable than gold.” Nailer exchanged glances with Pima. This girl knew what they wanted, knew them inside and out.” (Bacigalupi 169). This parallel’s our modern society because it can be said that we are far too willing to compromise our beliefs and morals to gain status and money. Even our president is known for giving up a moral compass to achieve wealth. And while Nailer is more understanding and tries to save Nita, his real intentions behind this are still not pure.

Another way that Ship Breaker shows similarities between modern society and Nailer’s society is that we are taught that to make it in the real world, we must be sturdy and a little bit ruthless. Our society currently seems to reward those who are mainly concerned with themselves and how to better their own lives. From aggressiveness in sports to competitiveness in the workplace, we are conditioned to think that without this sense of self-centeredness, you cannot achieve a higher status. Feelings are invalidated as society tells us they will not be beneficial for us in the grand scheme of life. In Ship Breaker, Nailer is forced to kill his father. After this event, Nailer begins to feel bad about it and wonder if he is turning into Richard Lopez. Pima assures that he is not because his father would never feel any guilt for what just occurred. “Richard never felt a thing when he hurt people. Just didn’t give a damn. It’s good that you feel something. Trust me. Even if it hurts, it’s good.” (Bacigalupi 476). Nailer’s emotion that he shows in this chapter is what separates him from his father. As we question what is considered good and what is considered evil, there is so much controversy, and the lines are extremely thin. Nailer initially thought that an attitude like his father’s in respects to taking what he wanted and not caring about other people so much would prove, to an extent, to be more beneficial to him. He learns after meeting Nita that he can achieve wealth and escape the social tier he is a part of while still acknowledging his conscience. This ability to obtain wealth while still maintaining his morals is what causes the separation between being “good” and “bad.”

While the two books both speak to our current society and the problematic nature of it, they choose to focus on these in different ways. Uglies introduce their culture as the ideal way of life and talks about how technological advancements have positively served the community. Ship Breaker, on the other hand, highlights the financial struggles of those living in this community and sees from those that have not benefited from the social structure. In Uglies, however, we see it from Tally, who is set to “benefit” from the society just as everyone else has. She has her life very planned out and regulated. It is incredibly consistent between everyone, and once they are made to be pretty, everyone’s equal. David refers to an idea they had been told about why it had been beneficial to make everyone pretty. “And now everyone is happy because everyone looks the same.” (Bacigalupi 267). If everyone looks the same, there is equal opportunity for everyone, everything is provided for them, and they all live happy, stress-free lives while eradicating poverty. Nailer has quite a different experience, where everyone is desperate for money to survive, and there is a large gap between social classes. They were either rich or poor, and it was tough to change which one you were. They both include aspects of our current society, where an intrusive government and wage gaps both exist. It can be argued that the society depicted in Uglies is based on what would occur if, as a community decided to help fix the gap between classes and the society depicted in Ship Breaker is how it might be if we abandoned the poor and let them fend for themselves.

When Tool is having a conversation with Nita, he shows little concern for those living in poverty when she inquires why they don’t make a boardwalk for the boats. “Spending money on the poor is like throwing money into a fire. They’ll just consume it and never thank you.” (Bacigalupi 313). Many people in the world today already have this thinking that it’s their money, and those in poverty are there because of conscious decisions they made, so it’s no one’s responsibility to help. Help is looked down upon, and so are the people in need of it. After help is received just because they still are unable to change their social class, it is assumed that they only used the money or the wrong things. Ship Breaker shows this same thinking because the rich don’t think twice about the impoverished like Nailer and his crew.

While both Ship Breaker and Uglies bring up issues that create dystopian societies, they also significantly different from one another. The two stories contrast courses our society can take today’s community already shows similar values to those in Tally and Nailer’s societies. Whether we focus on greed, the desire to be beautiful, or that lack of morality, we can see that our culture today embodies these problems.

Works Cited

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. Little, Brown, and Company, 2017.

Westerfeld, Steven. Uglies. Simon & Schuster Children, 2018.