How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"But if people like you and me want to come out here and live differently, why shouldn't we? I mean, no one has the right to tell us we have to be pretty, right?" (27.61)
Here's Shay being sweet and sensible—and totally dumb about Special Circumstances. She may be right that no one has the moral right to tell her how to live her own life, but Special Circumstances is more about power than morality. Since we know how ruthless Special Circumstances can be, this reasonable question reminds us that society sometimes involves force and violence to uphold its class system. Bummer.
Quote #8
"Nice to meet you, too, Tally," David's mother said. Tally wondered what her name was. David always referred to them as "Mom" and "Dad," words Tally hadn't used for Sol and Ellie since she was a littlie. (30.21)
Here's just a reminder that the Smoke is different from the city in little ways and big ways. There's the big issue of the pretty surgery, and the little issue of how kids and parents relate. (But mostly it's the surgery, including the brain lesions.)
Quote #9
"Our minds are fine," Maddy answered. "But we wanted to start a community of people who didn't have the lesions, people who were free of pretty thinking. It was the only way to see what difference the lesions really made. That meant we had to gather a group of uglies. Young people, recruited from the cities." (32.8)
Maddy and Az want a fresh start—a town of young people who aren't set in their ways (or brain damaged). But it's awfully hard to get a totally fresh start. Maddy and Az may want a clean slate, but all the uglies they recruit were still raised in the cities. Even Maddy and Az are from the cities: notice how Maddy calls them "uglies" before correcting herself and saying "Young people"?