How shallow is appearance? (Book One Project)

How shallow is appearance? I believe appearance has always been on the minds of humans.  Early in society when there were Indians and tribes, they decked themselves out in jewelry, makeup, paint, etc.. Humans have always done something to alter their original appearance. We can make the argument now that the level we are willing to go to in order to achieve this perfect image is a lot higher than it used to be. People just wake up and say “Ohh, I’m too fat!”, “My eyes are drooping too much!”, or “Wow, I’m soo ugly!” And instead of being confident in the body God has blessed them with, they complain and complain critiquing themselves until they decide to get surgery. I am not saying every person has these thoughts to this extreme, but a whopping 11.7 million cosmetic surgeries were preformed in the United States with the most common surgery being liposuction. Botox injections didn’t fall too far behind though! But earlier civilizations went to just as extreme levels by piercing their bodies and scarring themselves for the rest of life. Chinese people would bind their feet so they wouldn’t grow, causing many health issues and deformities. Kuyan people placed rings around their neck to lengthen them, all going for this certain look of “pretty” in their mind.  Just like in the novel The Uglies, they require you to have a surgery to change how you look from an “ugly” to a pretty. Do we want to be altered into something society believes is beautiful? Tally struggles to decide whether or not she should have the surgery done. It is all she has wanted her entire life, but now that she is sixteen and has met some incredible “uglies” in the Smokes, she is rethinking her decision. “One day she might wake up and realize that she couldn’t stand to live her entire life as an ugly, no matter who it would hurt or what it would cost.” (231) But are they truly ugly to begin with? Someone out there see’s the beauty in every flaw. Luckily for Tally, she has met her match who loves her for her big nose and scars on her hands. But if you really sit down and think about it, society is the one telling us she isn’t pretty. We are surrounded by perfect people everywhere we look. Every magazine has pictures of celebrities who are flawless. You click on the television and this glowing goddess pops up for a commercial, she is perfect. The lists go on and on of perfect people everywhere. No one is forcing us to be perfect, but society puts this image in your head of the ideal look, which many individuals then chase after. Tally opens a magazine while she is in the Smokes, of famous people. But these aren’t your typical faces you would see if someone was famous. These are the many faces of the uglies who have made something of themselves. “Instead of being ashamed of their deformities, the people were laughing and kissing and posing.” (198) Tally finally realizes she can be beautiful; it just took a little push from society. Now if we could get every person to have this confident attitude with the body they have been blessed with, appearance wouldn’t be so shallow.

This is a link to an article about Cindy Jackson who currently holds the Guinness Record for the most plastic surgery with 55 surgeries to this day! Cindy Jackson: The Women Who Refuses to Age Without a Fight