The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification In Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Trilogy more

The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo As a genre, science fiction provides a uniquely fertile medium from which we can extrapolate the defining characteristics of personhood, explore our future potentials, and project our current selves onto tomorrow. One such example is the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. The series builds on a socially stratified environment, akin to Huxley’s Brave New World, but built around the contemporary surge in popularity of cosmetic surgery instead of a prenatally-determined class system. The world created by Westerfeld suggests that while body modification is for many today an expression of individuality or chosen community, it is creating a new and coercive “normal body.” The extreme and abnormal becomes the norm. Once extreme body modification measures are adapted, new rogues will push the boundaries again to stand out as individuals. Beauty standards reflect a cycle of rebellion, conformity, and rebellion. Westerfeld’s trifecta of uglies, pretties, and specials are subversive political images targeted at the young, the potential early-adopters of body modification, highly susceptible to peer influence and with considerable disposable income. Through the Uglies lens the body is a transformational medium, a social commentary carved with a knife in flesh. Thus, this paper will seek to juxtapose the changing nature of the body with social dynamics from a humanistic perspective. Key Words: science fiction, body modification, cosmetic surgery, youth culture, beauty standards Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. – Margaret Mead The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ The body serves as the most tangible feature of what it is to be human, encapsulating our humanness in form and providing an outlet for humanity. While this body signifies a primary commonality, differences in appearance fuel the ongoing blight of human interactions. Stave for this universal shape, the human body provides an artistic and political canvas for intentional manipulation, a malleable vehicle we can use to distinguish ourselves from or align ourselves with other members of the species. The ability to customize one’s body as a measure of individualistic or collective identity is a practice inherent in human history. It is a characteristic that makes us unique. With technology at our disposal, humans are taking this uniqueness to extremes as the boundaries of what constitutes the human body are changing. The desire to adorn, decorate, enhance and maul the body modifies its natural composition and creates new aesthetics of human form and beauty. Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy fashions a rich venue to explore the role of body modification as it relates to today’s youth and society as a whole. Body modification covers a broad spectrum of seemingly enhancing and/or disfiguring adjustments to the body. The adjustments can range from routine medical alterations (such as, male circumcision), bodily adornment (such as, tattoos), cosmetic surgery (such as, rhino plasticity), to extreme technological advancements (such as, bio-carbonate prosthetics). The continuum from minor to extreme body modification is clearly diverse both in the degree of alteration and social acceptability. Body modification will be loosely defined as permanent or semi-permanent deliberate altering of the human body for non-medical reasons, such as spiritual, social, or aesthetic motivations. In this commentary, some of the modifications illustrated in the science fiction novels Uglies, Pretties and Specials correlate to primitive techniques. Scott Westerfeld’s dystrophic future presents a socially stratified environment centred on beauty as an indicator of societal position. Children, littlies, live at home with their parents in Crumblyville.1 School-age children and adolescents move to Uglyville, a semi-structured environment without parental guidance but technical supervision, where the uglies await their “pretty” future segregated from the rest of society while making friends and playing “tricks” of a delinquent nature to occupy their time. At sixteen, they undergo a transformational operation, an extreme total-body modification from flawed appearance to a culturally ideal standard of beauty. The pretties then move to New Pretty Town leaving their ugly life behind and joining social groups they can identify with as their prettier selves. The cycle continues with operations throughout their lives transitioning them from new pretty to middle pretty, with “just the right amount of laugher, age, and wisdom,” to late pretty.2 With each operation, they move to communities 2  Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo ______________________________________________________ 3  designated to their corresponding stage and interact infrequently with others outside that status. These total-body modifications are dictated by society in order to satisfy and pacify the masses. The “pretty-making” operation was designed to alleviate human beings from our problematic nature. This society refers to the rusties, a highly economically based and materialistically driven era similar to our contemporary world, as a flawed generation that almost brought about the demise of the human race. Both uglies and pretties value the operation because of what they are told it has prevented and changed.3 When it comes to human kinds, all differences are equal: equally minor, because we can find differences so easily between any two people; and equally grave, because once a difference is taken seriously, it has the power to alter thoughts and feelings.4 These differences are elements that the operation seeks to eliminate. In the Rusty era, wars were waged based on appearance alluding to racial intolerance.5 The culture valued physical appearance to the extent that most were generally dissatisfied, pleasing aesthetics garnered popularity and prosperity while the alternative elicited discrimination thus the cosmetic market flourished.6 In fact, they were told that some people used to starve themselves to attain unrealistic body images, but the operation eradicated the eating disorder epidemic by equalizing beauty for all.7 They do consider a few people from the rusty era naturals, a rare occurrence of being born naturally pretty, and revere these makeshift idols like other cultures would gods.8 The new pretties include references to naturals in complimentary lingo, such as “a milli-Helen is enough beauty to launch exactly one ship,” and their names adorn several buildings in New Pretty Town.9 Like the rusties, their concept of ideal beauty is created by the culture. However, it’s the city’s Pretty Committee that determines the standards of beauty and guidelines for the operation.10 While “some cities allowed exotic operations…the authorities here [New Pretty Town] were notoriously conservative,” the cities considered the global context to ensure that residents of one city would not be prettier then others.11 These operational limitations express one method of control the society has over its people. As mentioned earlier, uglies are taught they are born “ugly” and that being “pretty” is the evolutionary ideal. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. 4  The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain. The big eyes and lips said: I’m young and vulnerable, I can’t hurt you, and you want to protect me. And the rest said: I’m healthy, I won’t make you sick. And no matter how you felt about a pretty, there was a part of you that thought: If we had kids, they’d be healthy too. I want this pretty person…12 In this society, the majority conforms to the normative practices of the culture. The continued social consent of adults is largely based on the values learned in childhood.13 These beliefs become fundamental constructs that influence their perceptions as confirmatory bias continues to reinforce them. The pretty society fosters the innate quality of human beings to conform. Some of which, are even aware that “History would indicate that the majority of people have always been sheep.”14 Coercion by the social, political, and economic structures perpetuates conformity, and the people are motivated to go along with the system when it is individually advantageous. Censorship of dissent, promotion of the status quo and peer influence reinforce this inclination to conform.15 Nonconformism often begets social hostility as “standard behaviour is not salient; it is just the opposite with unusual behaviour…salience draws scrutiny…[and] effect. 16 Essentially those that stand out are noticed and those that blend in are not. Pockets of rebellion do occur but it occurs within the same environment that fosters conformity.17 Rebellion is “warped” by these views and over time works “to undermine it-thereby returning society, repeatedly, to a new conformism. New conformism…is a recurrent problem, a recurrent stifling of rebellion, resistance, dissent.”18 In the texts, the majority accepts the beauty ideal and accompanying social structure as normal and do not seek to rebel against it. This cycle plays itself out in texts as the main characters learn the truth about the operations. In Uglies, we are introduced to our two main characters Tally and Shay. Tally’s greatest desire is to become pretty and she only has three months left to go before the pretty-making operation. She is sad because she is the last of her friends to do so, but meets Shay after her best friend Peris moves to New Pretty Town.19 Tally is particularly “tricky” meaning that she breaks the rules of Uglyville and performs accomplished pranks. Shay is also tricky, and so the two form a fast bond.20 While the girls are counting down the days until they will become pretty, it soon becomes evident that Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo ______________________________________________________ 5  Shay is not nearly as interested.21 Shay takes Tally to Rusty Ruins, the desecrated remains of an old Rusty city, which is an area that uglies are not supposed to go.22 She points out to Tally a different view on the surgery, “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.” 23 This idea is too foreign for Tally, so she dismisses it and longs for the operation and the time when Shay and her can be pretty together. She has already experienced losing one friend and does not want to lose Shay too. Tally believes that the operation does not change who you are just how you are perceived. She counters Shay’s remark by questioning her certainty and alluding to what might happen if she does not have the operation. Are you sure about that? That you can beat evolution by being smart or interesting? Because if you’re wrong…if you don’t come back by the time you’re twenty, the operation won’t work as well, you’ll look wrong forever.24 Shay, not one to give in too easily, does not want to give in to the pressures of change. She retorts, Or maybe when they do the operation – when they grind and stretch your bones to the right shape, peel off your face and rub all your skin away, and stick in plastic cheekbones so you look like everybody else – maybe after going through all that you just aren’t very interesting anymore. 25 Their relationship suffers from mild resentment because of Tally’s reluctance to accept her as she is. Since she is content with her appearance, she feels that Tally should be also. When it becomes evident that Tally is not going to change her mind, Shay gives up the fight. Nevertheless, right before their birthdays, Shay tells Tally about her plans to runaway and join the Smoke, a makeshift community of people that do not have the operation thus staying “ugly” forever. 26 Tally bids Shay goodbye and chooses the operation. Shay, not wanting to close the door on their friendship, leaves Tally cryptic clues about how to locate the Smoke should she ever change her mind. Unfortunately, Special Circumstances, a covert organization that keeps order in their society, blackmails Tally with the threat of never receiving the operation.27 They feel justified in this “special circumstance” because The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ rebellion against the operation undermines the city and force Tally to betray her friend. Life in the Smoke provides a glimpse of life in the pre-Rusty era and introduces the girls to matured uglies.28 Tally meets David who was born outside of the city. His parents were surgeons that became disillusioned by the operation and chose to flee the city. David shows the girls an alternative reality and unites them on the idea that there is beauty in nature and in remaining ugly, i.e., natural. David and Tally are drawn to each other which then becomes a point of contention for Shay who fancied him first. This jealousy remains a conflict throughout the trilogy and sparks a love/hate relationship between the two. Tally learns the secret behind the operation from David’s parents, who tell her that the operation adds lesions to your brain that makes you “easier to mange.”29 David’s father explains their concept of evolution is conditioning, a cruel trick, and David claims “the worst damage is done before they even pick up the knife: You’re all brainwashed into believing you’re ugly.”30 After finding out about the brain lesions, his parents began researching a cure for being “pretty-minded” and formed the Smoke. Tally decides to stay with the Smoke in a dramatic display that inadvertently alerts Special Circumstances of their whereabouts. The Smoke is forced to relocate and Tally agrees to test the cure in the future by becoming pretty. Both girls undergo the operation, Tally willingly and Shay against her will.31 Today, the idea of beauty is about more than just “passing” since some believe that “bodies are not to be judged against other real bodies but against the ideal forms of bodies in art.”32 Admittedly, there is both a scientific and an artistic element in creating the biologically and evolutionarily “perfect” face. Once pretty, the potential for body modification does not stop with the operation in the same way that it does not today. The pretties are free to engage in a variety of cosmetic enhancements. These extravagant and beautiful methods of artifice are not typical forms of rebellion but rather extravagant societal norms. It was common for new pretties to “surge,” meaning they get radical body modifications for primarily decorative purposes. Shay’s eye surge consisted of “twelve tiny rubies ringed around glowing softly red against emerald irises” forming a clock that runs counter clockwise.33 She solicited Tally’s approval of the new surge and eventually Tally got one to match. Tally got a lacework flash tattoo on her face that was in tune with her heart rate.34 After a while, many of the other Crims got “heart triggered” tattoos as well, including Shay. However, the transformation from ugly to pretty also alters Tally and Shay’s identities and they lose their sense of subjectivity, “one’s existence as thinking, feeling person…to loose one’ subjectivity is to loose 6  Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo ______________________________________________________ 7  one’s identity entirely.” 35 For Tally, she forgets the promise she made to the smokies and engages in typical “pretty-making” behaviour, mostly attending parties and hanging out with her clique-the Crims. Tally connects with Zane, the leader of the Crims, and the two quickly become close. He is a bit rebellious, like the girls, and pushes the limits of the Pretty Committee. The operation guidelines wouldn’t let you have jet-black hair, which the Committee thought was too extreme, but Zane dyed his with calligraphy ink. On top of that, he didn’t eat much, keeping his face gaunt, his stare intense.36 While the Pretty Committee authorized the extreme total body operation, they monitored keeping everyone within similar parameters. Zane’s hair colour, a relatively minor change in contrast to the operation, was on the fringe. Zane was like Tally, they were both different then the other pretties. Tally eventually realized, with the help from some old and new friends, that she and Zane could adamantly resist being pretty-mind through starvation and being “tricky.” They called their clear-headed state being “bubbly.”37 Shay feeling left out again, like before with David, came up with her own method to get bubbly. Shay took her persistence to another level and started “cutting” her body and collecting followers. She saw this as her way to be different like Tally-her version of a cure. Tally and Zane, were horrified by Shay’s bloodletting, worried that there would be “hundreds of pretties dying to become Crims-bleeding to become Crims.” 38 Shay’s cutters did eventually form their own group leaving the Crims who had to recognize that “She’s not one of us anymore.”39 The relationship dynamics change when Shay becomes a cutter. Tally and Zane leave the city in search of the cure, and once again, Special Circumstances enters the scene. Dr. Cable, the director of Special Circumstances, has that “terrible beauty” characteristic of all specials.40 She explains to Tally that Special Circumstances watched her and other uglies like her to look for those who stood out as especially “tricky.”41 It is a test to see who might someday be a good candidate to join them. Almost the entirety of our daily lives is built up on this set of unreflective expectations and practices, for which some degree of broad social conformity is clearly necessary. Individual 8  The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ nonconformism is almost invariably perceived as a threat to that practical identity.42 The threat nonconformism is what Special Circumstances were designed to control. Ironically, those pretties that eventually became specials were the ones most likely to rebel against the system. Specials are the most extremely modified of all in this society, feared for their “cruel” human looks and less than human behaviour. Dr. Cable continually tries to persuade Tally that “humanity is a disease, a cancer on the body of the world…Special Circumstances…we are the cure.”43 The specials represent what happens if body modification is taken to far, the loss of humanity. The control over humanity and the diminishment of human nature are exactly what Special Circumstances were designed to protect. Dr. Cable points out that without regulation, we, as human beings are doomed to repeat our problematic mistakes. We are under control, Tally, because of the operation. Left alone, human beings are a plague. They multiply relentlessly, consuming every resource, destroying everything they touch. Without the operation, human beings always become Rusties.44 Their society revolves around in-groups and out-groups in addition to the body modifying operations. These groups play a large role in the characters individual and collective identities. Whether it be a choice about what type of new surge to get or which party to attend, or what side of the city you are on, uglies and pretties particularly look to their peers for guidance. In addition to her close encounter with Dr. Cable, Tally is reminded by her old friends, the new smokies that she voluntarily became a pretty and agreed to test the cure for the lesions.45 Tally began to remember, how months before, she was able to see the beauty in nature how, “Even then, her mind had started to change, realizing that nature didn’t need an operation to make it beautiful, it just was.”46 This time, Shay willingly and Tally unwillingly become specials, something neither one of them had envisioned nor originally wanted to be. Dr. Cable had turned them in to what she wanted, what she had described to Tally before, but even more dramatic and severe. Throughout this process they learn that perhaps there must be a balance between extremes. While Tally and Shay are specials, the new smoke moves to a more open minded city and begins distributing the cure to everyone. The city, Diego, shelters runaways from cities all over the world since their more relaxed beauty standards make it a good location to foster rebellion.47 When Tally goes there to try to stop them, she notices that new Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo ______________________________________________________ 9  pretties and uglies associate without issue; that most people are cured; that costume surge is the norm (exotic surge usually reserved for parties); and some people have chosen to remain “bubblyheaded.”48 Tally is concerned about the cliques of people that dress alike, look alike, and include a variety of skin colours that would not be allowed in her city.49 She fears it is a return of rusty ways. Here in Diego, diversity is accepted and encouraged, and she is scared of that freedom. Though Tally remains uncured, she learns that the special operation increases her feeling of superiority. While she is sequestered in the hospital, the Diego’s New System informs her that her body is a “morphological violation” and she is considered a “dangerous weapon.”50 Of course, that is the whole point of being “special” but this city does not agree with the extreme measures taken by Special Circumstances and their specialized body modifications. After escaping from the hospital, Tally and the other specials try to stop the war that Dr. Cable set in motion.51 Apparently Dr. Cable’s fear of humanity was warranted, we do all become rusties in the end. Even those designed to suppress our human nature, the specials, can not control it as Dr. Cable is an integral player in this regression. Eventually, Dr. Cable is admonished, thus putting an end to Special Circumstances. Tally found the ability to think for herself and made her own path even while under the influence of the operations.52 All the specials are cured and the pretties are being cured as well. Dr. Cable helps Tally escape without being cured, but before leaving Dr. Cable tells her to “keep yourself special. The world may need you, one day.”53 She joins David in an isolated area, and together sends out a message to the world at large: We’ll be out here somewhere-watching. Ready to remind you of the price the Rusties paid for going too far…Be careful with the world, or the next time we meet, it might get ugly.54 Westerfeld’s inventive world showcases extreme body modification as the norm but mirrors the real world in some respects. Body modification has always been a part of our collective human history, “…right at the heart of this symbolic universe, which sets our species apart, is the art and language of the styled, customized human body.”55 Primitive or traditional tribes have used body modification, in forms such as tattooing, piercing, or scarification, to express an informative message about their culture.56 Contemporary societies have adopted many of these types of modification, but in the Western world, we are generally more focused on decoration rather than communication.57 The disconnect relates to the values The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ of our culture. Tribal tattoos have become increasingly popular in recent years. In fact, Tally’s flash tattoo is loosely based on the Moko style of the Maori tribe from New Zealand.58 However, many subcultures today adopt body modification practices as part of their group identities. In addition, people seek out body modification as a method of expressing their individuality. Contemporary urban and suburban culture, however, as part of the general shift away from all forms of ritual, has banished as barbarous the ancient notion of a physical rite of passage. Without these rituals people's lives are often empty, lacking in meaning and demarcation, and nowhere is this more evident than in Western teens, who seemed dazed and confused by the ambiguity of their social status. Neither children nor adults, hungry for a significant ritual to mark officially their transformation to adulthood, one reason for the extraordinary popularity of piercing might be that it provides (even if self-imposed) a powerful, focused occasion when ordinary life recedes to the fringes of consciousness (which is what ritual aims to accomplish) to herald a transformation, a rite of passage.59 The popularity of body modification may be a result of Westerners, particularly, looking to satisfy that need for ritual. Modern Primitives seek out “body play,” which focuses more on the process rather than the result. The experience is the goal. In addition, those seeking the experience are pushing the envelope by moving away from now mainstream tattoos and piercings into less socially acceptable scarification, bloodletting and pain.60 Traditional cultures have used these types of painful body modification to achieve “altered states of consciousness.” This correlates well to the Cutters. Shay found that by cutting herself she could stay bubbly. To them, bubbly was an altered state outside of the pretty mind. Not only did the process cause a shift in perception, it left her arms scarred as well. As young adult fiction, the Uglies trilogy has been immensely popular, as all three books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller’s List. The series has received international acclaim as well and the movie rights have recently been announced. In addition to beauty centred body modifications, the books’ creative slang and unique technical gadgets, such as hover boards, offer the youth culture ideas about our potential future. The contemporary audience is one that is highly desirable to advertisers and marketers.61 Though Westerfeld’s message about the dangers of going to extremes is evident, the success of the series and its 10  Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo ______________________________________________________ 11  target audience creates a window of opportunity for the adoptability of similar trends and the commercialization of future products. The books offer an impetus for an important dialogue about beauty standards and our culture’s obsessive captivation with them. Why am I unhappy…because the city makes you the way they want you to be, Peris. And I want to be myself…their reasons don’t mean anything unless I have a choice…and they don’t give anyone a choice.62 Tally’s analysis is a good place to start. One should be able to have the choice whether or not they want to conform to societal standards as far as beauty is concerned. Whether mandated or through social pressure, one should have the right to choose whether they want to become pretty or stay “ugly.” As we move into the future, society will continually follow its pattern of conformity and dissent, extremes and norms. Body modification has been around since antiquity, and it will continue to push the limits of social acceptably. Since the youth culture is susceptible to early adoption of trends, prone to conformity within in-groups and non-conformity within outgroups, we can look to them to see what the future holds in terms of beauty. However, the following should be kept in mind. …Francois Xavier Bichat’s (1771-1802) paradox, as paraphrased by Charles Darwin: if everyone were cast in the same mould, there would be no such thing as beauty. If all our women were to become as the Venus de Medici [sic], we should for a time be charmed; but we should soon wish for variety; and as soon as we had obtained variety, we should wish to see certain characters a little exaggerated beyond the then existing common standard.63 At the time of this paper’s release, several of the technologies that Scott Westerfeld had envisioned in his books that were fantasy have become a reality, even to his own surprise. In addition, some of the dramatic aesthetic appearances described as extreme have been showing up in contemporary society. As discussed, it is only a matter of time now before these extremes become the norm. With that in mind, we look forward to seeing what comes next. 12  The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ Notes S Westerfeld, Uglies. Simon Pulse, New York, 2005, p. 118. S Westerfeld, Pretties. Simon Pulse, New York, 2005, p. 185. 3 ibid., p. 135. 4 D Berreby, Us and Them. Understanding Your Tribal Mind. Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2005, p. 120. 5 Westerfeld, Uglies, p. 267. 6 ibid., p. 44. 7 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 162. 8 Westerfeld, Uglies, p. 18. 9 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 24. 10 Westerfeld, Uglies, p. 262. 11 ibid., p. 39. 12 ibid., p. 16. 13 P C Hogan The Culture of Conformism. Understanding Social Consent. Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2001, p. 74. 14 Westerfeld, Uglies, p. 272. 15 ibid., 67. 16 ibid., 33-4. 17 ibid., p. 12. 18 ibid., p. 12. 19 ibid., p. 28. 20 ibid., p. 30-1. 21 ibid., p. 37-41. 22 ibid., p. 51. 23 ibid., p. 89. 24 ibid., p. 93. 25 ibid., p. 50. 26 ibid., p. 91. 27 ibid., p. 110. 28 ibid., p. 189. 29 ibid., p. 272. 30 ibid., p. 276. 31 ibid., p. 317-425. 32 S. L. Gilman, Making the Body Beautiful. A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1999, p. 87. 33 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 7-9. 34 ibid., p. 102. 35 Hogan, p. 91. 2 1 Kristi N. Scott and M. Heather Dragoo ______________________________________________________ 36 37 13  Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 51. ibid., p. 65. 38 ibid., p. 176. 39 ibid., p. 176. 40 Westerfeld, Uglies, p. 101. 41 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 134. 42 Hogan, p. 32-3. 43 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 136. 44 ibid., p. 135. 45 ibid., p. 89. 46 ibid., p. 347. 47 S Westerfeld, Specials. Simon Pulse, New York, 2006, p. 217. 48 ibid., p. 225. 49 ibid., p. 277. 50 ibid., p. 255. 51 ibid., p. 279-88. 52 ibid., p. 359. 53 ibid., p. 358. 54 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 135. 55 T Polhemus, Hot Bodies Cool Styles New Techniques in Self Adornment. Thomas and Hudson Ltd, London, 2004, p. 8. 56 Polhemus, p. 29-30. 57 ibid., p. 45. 58 S Westerfeld, ‘Flash Tattoo Watch 01, westerblog, 2008, retrieved 19 May, 2008, < http://scottWesterfeld.com/blog/?p=206> 59 Polhemus, p. 79. 60 ibid., p. 60-1. 61 J. B Schor, Born to Buy. The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. Scribner, New York, 2004, p. 19-20. 62 Westerfeld, Pretties, p. 232. 63 Gilman, p. 151. 14  The Baroque Body: A Social Commentary on the Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy _____________________________________________________________ Bibliography Berreby, David. Us and Them. Understanding Your Tribal Mind. Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2005. Burke, P. J., ‘Identity Change.’ Social Psychology Quarterly, vol. 69.1, 2006, pp. 81-96. David, F. D., and V. Gecas. ‘Autonomy and Conformity in Cooley’s Self Theory: the Looking-Glass Self and Beyond.’ Symbolic Interaction, vol. 15.1, 1992, pp. 49-68. Hogan, P. C., The Culture of Conformism. Understanding Social Consent. Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2001. Gilman, S. L., Making the Body Beautiful. A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1999. Niedzviecki, H., Hello, I’m Special. How Individuality Became the New Conformity. First City Lights, San Francisco, 2006. Polhemus, T., Hot Bodies Cool Styles New Techniques in Self Adornment. Thomas and Hudson Ltd, London, 2004. Schor, J. B., Born to Buy. The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. Scribner, New York, 2004. Stryker, S., and P. J. Burke. ‘The Past, Present, and Future of an Identity Theory.’ Social Psychology Quarterly, vol. 63.4, 2000, pp. 284297. Westerfeld, S., ‘Flash Tattoo Watch 01, westerblog, 2008, retrieved 19 May, 2008, < http://scottWesterfeld.com/blog/?p=206> Westerfeld, S., Pretties. Simon Pulse, New York, 2005. Westerfeld, S., Uglies. Simon Pulse, New York, 2005. Westerfeld, S., Specials. Simon Pulse, New York, 2006. Kristi N. Scott Student, Masters of Arts in Liberals Studies, University of Southern Indiana Intern, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies M. Heather Dragoo, MPA Sponsored Research Specialist, University of Southern Indiana Student, Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies, University of Southern Indiana