How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"But you know, we haven't totally gotten away yet," Shay said. "Next time you're going to pull a fire alarm, let me know ahead of time."
"Sorry about getting you trapped here." (3.71-2)
One reason we dig this book is because we love hoverboards. (Have we mentioned that?) But another reason is that it doesn't waste time getting to its themes.The very first time that Tally and Shay meet, they're already talking about the freedom to do tricks vs. getting trapped by the system.
Quote #2
"Hoverboarding looks so fun, like being a bird. But actually doing it is hard work."
Shay shrugged. "Being a bird's probably hard work too. Flapping your wings all day, you know?" (4.18-9)
Again, we'd wear Shay's line on a t-shirt. She may be wrong at times, but she's got a great insight here about freedom and work: the hoverboard may make one as free as a bird, but being free takes work. (You're never totally free; even when you're totally free from other people, you've still got to eat, as Tally discovers with her mountain of SpagBol.)
Quote #3
"Here's option two." Tally touched her interface ring, and the wallscreen changed. This Tally was sleek, with ultrahigh cheekbones, deep green catlike eyes, and a wide mouth that curled into a knowing smile.
"That's, uh, pretty different." (5.1-3)
Now, as Tally notes, this "morpho" probably won't pass the committee; it's a little too Halloween-y for every day. So she can't make her face into anything she wants. But she does have some freedom to choose some qualities for her face. So even the thing that looks totally confining (the pretty surgery) has some limited freedom. You know, like the freedom to choose whether you want Coke or Diet Coke.
Quote #4
"I'm sick of this city," Shay continued. "I'm sick of the rules and boundaries. The last thing I want is to become some empty-headed new pretty, having one big party all day." (10.75)
Shay is sick of the boundaries—not that she respects boundaries (good little rebel that she is). For instance, she breaks into New Pretty Town pretty regularly, even though that seems to be against the law. But notice that Shay moves very quickly from "rules and boundaries" to "empty-headed new pretty," as if being turned pretty was some form of confinement. (And it kind of is.)
Quote #5
"We don't have to look like everyone else, Tally, and act like everyone else. We've got a choice. We can grow up any way we want." (11.42)
Sure, no one in the Smoke is going to give you surgery while you sleep (worst summer camp ever). On the other hand, they can't really grow up "any way" they want out in the wilderness; out in the Smoke they have to deal with all other sorts of confinement, like hunting for food and dealing with the Boss.
Quote #6
"And our city can stand a great deal of freedom, Tally. It gives youngsters room to play tricks, to develop their creativity and independence." (13.53)
Dr. Cable isn't being totally honest here: sure, that the city lets uglies play tricks, but as Tally later realizes, the city allows this little bit of freedom just so people can "blow off steam." (42.14). In other words, a little freedom makes people easier to control.
Quote #7
Tally snorted. "You're not giving me a choice."
Dr. Cable smiled. "We always have choices, Tally. You've made yours." (16.7-8)
Honestly, we're with Dr. Cable on this, sort of: Tally is being pushed and pulled and stretched in many directions. She can't keep her promises both to Shay and to Peris, but she still has something of a choice about which promise to break.
Quote #8
But at least she'd never know the real truth. The pendant was charred beyond recognition, its true purpose hidden forever. Tally slumped into David's arms, closing her eyes. The image of the glowing heart was burned into her vision.
She was free. (32.142-3)
For one moment, Tally feels free, because she only has one desire now instead of all those conflicting desires and promises. But with his usual irony, Westerfeld will soon throw Tally into the fire, when the Specials come to burn down the Smoke. At the moment she finally feels free, she's actually about to be put into a strict confinement.
Quote #9
There weren't many barriers in the city—not that you could see, anyway. If you weren't supposed to be someplace, your interface ring just politely warned you to move along. (41.61)
Confinement in the city isn't about walls and fences—it's about making the people not want to go somewhere. (It's like what David says about how the city makes you feel ugly; well, the city also makes you want to obey orders.) This is a great bit of evidence for how confinement and barriers inUglies tend to be inside of people's minds.
Quote #10
"You want to talk about brain damage? Look at you all, running around these ruins playing commando. You're all full of schemes and rebellions, crazy with fear and paranoia, even jealousy." (48.16)
This final example of freedom is probably the weirdest. In this quote, Shay argues that she's free from her old identity, the rebellious Shay who was "raging with hormones"(48.18). It's easy when we see someone in handcuffs to say "that person isn't free." But what if that person has lots of hormones or lots of anger—is that person free?