The Uglies :)

In Romeo and Juliet many different themes are enmeshed within. One that speaks to me is the theme of Style over Substance which is seen most everywhere today. In the Uglies series by Tom Westerfield the importance of looks is played upon with a new twist. For those of you who haven't read The Uglies it is about a world where at 16 everyone gets an operation done that makes you beautifu and thin but that takes out your independent-thinking brain cells. Basically you become beautiful and lose your brains. It shows what a world where everyone is beautiful might look like. When reading Romeo and Juliet, I noticed that they fall in love immediatly and Juliet even comments that she has heard him say less than 100 words and already loves him. When you have spent so little time with someone and have barely heard them talk, it is obvious that is not the brains and substance that is speaking but the beauty that they see within eachother. In the Uglies when everyone is beautiful, Tally (the main character) falls in love with someone who has escaped the surgery and not only does this coorelate with "forbidden love" theme but it also points out human nature which is that we always want what we don't have. When few are beautiful, we want beautiful; when few are ugly, we want "unique."  In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet can't have eachother because their families are fighting, however, they try to find a way around it. Tally can't have the man she loves because he doesn't live in her pretty world and the pretty world doesn't let anyone in or out besides the new pretties.

I'm not sure if this made sense, but I hope someone caught my train of thought and found this interesting :)