Pretties question

i think that Tally's put into a really interesting situation in this series - and i'm not at all surprised that there's a worthwhile conversation here about whether you would prefer her or her 'friend'. while there were definitely times that i felt that she was being a little too literal as a teen - and other times when she took things too far - i feel like i enjoyed her. What really gets me though is that they take her on so many roller coasters in this series, and while you see her evolve, you never really get to know the real Tally since control is taken away from her in the sense of ruling her own destiny. she's forced to work for people and get transformed as they want her and it's just complicated.

Yeah, I like Tally as a character but I think that the situations she is put into force her into a little box where she is stuck as a character throughout the series. If the events in the books didn't happen the way they did, Tally would have shined much more. We would have been able to understand her and relate to her much better than we do now.

Shay, on the other hand is given more choices throughout the series. I am pulled between whether the choices she makes are the best ones for her or not, but I think that in a lot of ways, she is definitely stronger than Tally as a person. I didn't love Shay, however, mostly because she was a bad influence, and I didn't see her as an overall good person. Really, she seemed like she was just looking out for herself.

Although neither Tally nor Shay are the best of friends, I liked them each in different ways.

Shay was so much more adventerous and out there though Tally was the one that always saved everyone!!!

Tally most definitely, because aside of having her be the main character,she also isn't crazy like Shay. Shay is something else, even though she may seem cool......shes a nuance.

Tally because she may be selfish sometimes but she is smart. Tally was under a lot of pressure and yeah she made mistakes but she tried to fix them.

I have to say I prefer Tally. Yes she isn't the best character and sometimes makes not the best choices (like with the necklace in book 1 and when they were in the balloon in book 2) but she is just such a loveable character. It was hard for me to see her as a pretty, both of the actually, but still I loved the way she dealed with all of the situations she was thrown into.

Shay on the other hand... I liked her at the beginning of book 1 but since the part of her being jealous because David had feelings for Tally and so on I disliked her. I understand that she is hurt and angry and why but the part that she just centered every of those situations around her and didn't even try for a second to understand Tally that is what make me not like her. I mean come on she is supposed to be her best friend but she doesn't behave like one.

Most of the times it's technically Tally's fault about what happens to Shay but still Tally never ment to do those things. She was always forced in some kind of way.

So the end of the book totally shocked me. I thought Tally would become a special to take Zane with her and to safe him from a pretty fate again but that Shay did this to her.

That Shay became a special that was the biggest betrayal in the book for me so far. I am just shocked.
It's really like they are supposed to be enemies.

Tally and Shay are both protagonists and we are meant to go for both of them/ their side in Uglies. The author portrays both characters similarly but with a few differences: Tally is shown as someone who wants to do the right thing but is too attached to her culture to go against the system completely. Shay is portrayed as a rebel who wants to beat the system but who does not really understand the big picture enough to be confided in by characters like David.

I prefer Tally: through the first person view of the book, we can clearly see and have evidence to support the fact that she wants to help her friends and not become a betrayer. I view Shay, on the other hand, as someone who had the right idea (beating the system/avoiding the operation) but who didn't really understand the true meaning of her actions (fighting for the right to be judged not on looks). We have evidence of this because David told Tally that Shay didn't understand the meaning of the Smoke as much as Tally did herself. Some would say that Shay was a better person because she never thought of betraying her friends. To this I would say that that makes her a fine person, but in comparison to Tally, who almost betrayed her friends but who came to her senses and fought on their side, it is a smaller accomplishment. Tally faced her doubts and fears to reach this conclusion while Shay seemed to just be folowing her friends' idea. Even then, someone might say that Tally was clearly a weaker character than Shay, who always fought for what was right. I would reply that yes, Tally was not as strong in her decisions initially, but she fought her inner demons to finally reach the conclusion of whose side to fight on.

In sum, I say that Tally is a better character because she battled with her societal morals (not unlike Huckleberry Finn) and her true morals won; whereas Shay followed her friends and did not exhibit true understanding of what the Smoke stood for. (Also, she displayed things like jealousy and anger that was not based off of all the facts).
This is why I prefer Tally.

I love shay more because she's more sassy and the true hero, there was definitely double standards for tally and shay.

i like tally, but her attitide aout herself started to change not in a good way, where as shays was always pretty consistent.