conformity vs individuality essay

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How Conformity Can Be Good and Bad for Society

In the U.S. Federal court system, many important cases go through three-judge panels. The majority opinion of these panels carries the day, meaning that having a majority is crucial for one side or another to get the rulings they want. So, if two out of three of the judges are appointed by Democrats, it’s safe to assume that most cases will go their way.

But a study of the judicial behavior of the District of Columbia Circuit came to a surprising conclusion: A panel of three GOP-appointed judges was actually considerably more likely to make a conservative ruling than a panel of two GOP appointees and one Democratic appointee. Just one Democratic dissenter appeared to make the difference; the dissenter apparently swayed their colleagues, demonstrating how viewpoint diversity has the power to alter the conclusions of a group.

This court study is among many cited by legal scholar Cass Sunstein in his new book Conformity: The Power of Social Influences , which delves deeply into how and why individuals often follow the opinions and behaviors of groups they belong to.

The upside and downside of conformity

While the book does warn of the downsides of conformity, Sunstein doesn’t declare that conforming is always harmful to society. On the contrary, he reiterates numerous circumstances when society can benefit from it.

For instance, Sunstein notes how conformity helped encourage public smoking laws. One study found that when public smoking bans were enacted in three California cities, compliance was high, and the cities received few reports of violations. Sunstein believes that the law had an impact not because of the threat of state enforcement, but because “the law suggests that most people believe it is wrong to smoke in public places. And if most people think it is wrong to smoke in public places, would-be smokers are less likely to smoke, in part because they do not want to be criticized or reprimanded.” In other words, the power of a popular law is due partly to conformity.

But conformity also carries with it the power to make human beings ignore their own consciences, sometimes to the point of committing atrocities.

The book points to Stanley Milgram’s infamous experiment in which participants were told to deliver a series of electric shocks to another participant (actually an actor working as the researcher’s confederate), slightly increasing the intensity every time. While the experiment was a ruse, the participants didn’t know that. Milgram found that all of the participants were willing to shock the confederate at 300 volts, and two-thirds continued to administer shocks at the very highest level of voltage. The participants were simply willing to trust the instructor that what they were doing was okay.

What drives conformity

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In order to understand how conformity works—from fairly banal examples such as public smoking bans all the way up to atrocities committed during World War II—Sunstein breaks it down into its component parts:

Informational signals: Sunstein suggests that participants in Milgram’s experiment were willing to follow orders because they believed the experimenter to be a trusted expert who was assuring them that the shocks were causing no lasting harm. This represents an “informational signal”—a batch of information sent out by a trusted expert or a crowd that can help you decide how you feel or act. Signals from in-groups—people you like, trust, or admire—are far more valuable than information signals from out-groups.

Reputational signals: We may have private qualms about a point of view or given course of action, but because we want to remain in the good graces of our social grouping, we suppress our dissent and eventually fall in line. This is particularly apparent in how social media polarization operates, where people gain prestige and influence when agreeing with their cohort’s biases rather than opposing them.

Social cascades: Sunstein identifies both informational and reputational signals as helping produce social cascades: “large-scale social movements in which many people end up thinking something, or doing something, because of the beliefs or actions of a few early movers.” He identifies everything from the success of Jane Austen novels to the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump as cascades.

To demonstrate how a cascade can work, he cites a study by sociologist Duncan Watts, in which study participants were asked to rank a group of seventy-two songs from best to worst. A control group was not given any information other than the songs themselves. But eight other subgroups could see how many people had previously downloaded the songs within their subgroup.

Watts found that the songs the control group had labeled as the worst songs generally ended up toward the bottom, while the ones the control group favored generally ended up toward the top. But for most of the other songs, a burst of popularity based on early downloads predicted how well they did in the rankings. In other words, people gave higher rankings to songs they perceived as popular among their group. Results like these may explain why companies marketing certain products often try to grease the wheels of sales by creating an impression of popularity before the product is actually popular.

How conformity drives polarization

The power of conformity and cascades has deep implications for political polarization. Sunstein notes that “like-minded people go to extremes,” and cites three factors for why this happens: “information, corroboration, and social comparison.”

In homogeneous groups, people tend to deal with a limited pool of information. If you are in a social group whose members tend to be opposed to abortion rights, it’s unlikely that you will ever hear any argument in favor of these rights. With your limited information, you are more likely to move in the direction of opposing abortion rights rather than supporting them.

“Much of the time, it is in the interest of the individual to follow the crowd, but in the social interest for individuals to say and do what they think best”

Corroboration comes into play because people who lack confidence in their views tend to have more moderate opinions. As Sunstein writes, people “who are unsure what they should think tend to moderate their views. It is for this reason that cautious people, not knowing what to do, are likely to choose the midpoint between relevant extremes.” But if you surround yourself with people who share your views, this will end up corroborating your beliefs. In this sort of environment, you will become more confident that you are correct and be more likely to move in an extreme direction.

Social comparison leads us to want to be perceived favorably by members of our group. If our group is strongly in favor of gun control, we will naturally gravitate to that position to win applause from our group.

Thus, these three factors together demonstrate how excessive conformity can drive polarization.

What can we do to lessen conformity’s downsides?

For Sunstein, the downsides of conformity are most concerning in his profession: the law. He believes that conformity can undermine our system of deliberative governance, the courts, and the undergraduate and law school education.

The book argues in favor of the checks and balances that exist in the federal system, where cascades can be broken by a House and Senate that are often at odds, for instance. He also argues that freedom of association provides a safeguard against informational and reputational influences that can lead people to conform without considering the downsides of a point of view or plan of action.

Citing the raft of studies showing that the presence of a dissenting judge on federal panels can significantly change outcomes, Sunstein argues for greater diversity on the federal bench. “My only suggestions are that a high degree of diversity on the federal judiciary is desirable, that the Senate is entitled to pursue diversity, and that without such diversity, judicial panels will inevitably go in unjustified directions,” he writes.

Lastly, Sunstein dives into the debate over affirmative action in higher education. He offers a somewhat nuanced view: Racial diversity—the main topic of many higher education debates—can in some circumstances be important, but is not a cure-all. He ultimately favors “cognitive diversity”—meaning, law school classrooms should have rigorous debates with many points of view represented. To the extent that racial and cultural diversity helps promote those debates, Sunstein appears to be in favor. But he also argues that there are many paths to an ideologically diverse classroom.

In his conclusion, Sunstein again concedes that conformity can sometimes benefit society. “In some settings, conformists strengthen social bonds, whereas dissenters imperil them, or at least introduce tension,” he notes.

But ultimately, he comes down on the side of arguing that we could use a little less conformity.

“Much of the time, it is in the interest of the individual to follow the crowd, but in the social interest for individuals to say and do what they think best,” he writes. “Well-functioning institutions take steps to discourage conformity and to promote dissent, partly to protect the rights of dissenters, but mostly to protect interests of their own.”

About the Author

Zaid Jilani

Zaid Jilani is Greater Good 's Bridging Differences Writing Fellow. A journalist originally from Atlanta, he has worked as a reporter for The Intercept and as a reporter-blogger for ThinkProgress, United Republic, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Alternet .

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Module 4: Individual Personalities and Behaviors

Individuality vs conformity, learning outcomes.

• Examine how individuality and conformity work together in the modern workplace
• Describe how companies narrow the range of acceptable behavior

Diversity and individuality are vital components of today’s workforce. Differing perspectives and experiences have the ability to meld together and create a more productive workplace.

There is a huge push in today’s society for support of individuality in the workplace. The idea behind the importance of promoting individuality is that if people feel supported and have the ability to do their job the way they want to, they are more likely to enjoy their work. Employees with high job satisfaction are more likely to perform better for the company.

Therefore, if a company wants to be more successful, they should let employees do what they want at work, right? Well, not exactly.

Equally as important as diversity is a company’s ability to bond their employees together and work towards common goals and values. To do this, companies need to have regulations and guidelines in place to help streamline and regulate output standards and maintain brand integrity. Therefore, both individuality and conformity are important to modern organizations but balancing the two may prove to be challenging.

Fostering an environment of diversity and individuality is important but it also needs to be done within parameters. Allowing employees to come to work and perform when and how they want to is not conducive to running a successful business. This is where conformity comes into play. Conformity is typically defined as the expectation of employees to adapt to company policies and standards and use traditional business practices to complete job functions. This type of outlook is what gives conformity a negative reputation. Successful conformity in today’s workplace does not include limiting individuality and forcing employees to conform to societal norms. Instead, conformity includes setting boundaries for which employees are expected to complete their job functions. Both the Management by Objective strategy and competency models we discussed in a next section below are examples of conformity guidelines to help direct employees towards company goals. In this case, conformity is not the evil villain but is instead a sidekick to help lead employees to reach success and meet expectations.

Practice Question

The easiest way to narrow the range of acceptable behavior for ethical concerns is to create and enforce a code of conduct. There are also legal guidelines and standards to consider when making decisions. While these are both great examples of outlining acceptable behavior, there is much more a company can do. Acceptable behavior does not simply mean “right” or “ethical” behavior. It should also include quality of work standards, meeting deadlines, working well on a team, etc. These types of expectations may not be as cut and dry as ethics, but there are tools leaders and organizations can use to help guide their teams to act within the limits of acceptable behavior.

First, let’s explore the idea of Management by Objective (MBO) . The main idea behind MBO is the importance of goal setting. MBO can be practiced on varying levels at different organizations. Some companies may follow its outlines very strictly and others may use it as a general guideline when developing goals. In general, the focus of MBO is to have employees and supervisors work together to set clear and realistic goals. Instead of passing down orders from one level to the next, using MBO creates an opportunity for an open dialogue around the task at hand and the best way to accomplish it. (We’ll talk about MBO again in Module 6: Motivation in the Workplace.)

When creating goals within the MBO strategy, it is important to create SMART goals.

SMART stands for

• M easurable,
• A chievable,
• R elevant and
• T ime-bound.

By using this goal setting standard, you are able to create realistic goals and have details in place to hold your team accountable to meeting them. Working together to create goals gains the buy-in of everyone involved and helps maintain accountability for those responsible.

Competency models are another way to define and outline acceptable behavior. Competency models define requirements for job success. These requirements include both the knowledge and skills required to perform the job. Many competency models also have varying degrees of success outlined. There are standards set for successfully completing a job and other standards in place to show when an employee goes above and beyond the job expectations. These differing expectations can help a company identify employees that are average versus great.

Competency models are extremely useful to everyone within an organization but specifically within the human resources departments. These models help to create job openings with clear descriptions of what is expected of the candidates. Equally as important, competency models help to develop training and development courses to ensure employees have what they need to be successful in their position. Finally, competency models are used to assess employee performance during employee reviews. Competency models should be discussed and provided on day one and used as a guideline while an employee is performing their job functions. Therefore, reviewing each part of a competency model should easily reveal whether or not an employee met the company’s expectations.

Companies that utilize both MBO and competency models are setting both their managing team and employees up for success. By clearly outlining and discussing expectations and goals, organizations are able to narrow the range of acceptable behavior and minimize confusion. Establishing clear standards and goals makes it easier for companies to identify top performers and also makes it easier to identify employees that need additional assistance or those that may not be a good fit for the organization.

Examples of Conformity in the Workplace

Examples of conformity in today’s workplace include but are not limited to: working hours expectations, dress codes, compensation guidelines, code of ethics, and timely communication expectations. Each of these components may differ from company to company. Companies may also choose to change parts of these guidelines to better meet the needs of their employees.

For example, companies may choose not to have a strict dress code and promote a casual workplace in order to allow people to dress how they prefer. However, that same company may still have dress code regulations in place to prevent people from coming to work barefoot or wearing clothes that are too revealing. Another company may allow their employees to work from home two days a week while still having a 24 hour or less response time in place for all communication. The point is, regulations differ from one organization to the next and may not allow complete freedom for employees to do whatever they want. While employees may advocate for a policy change, they must still follow company guidelines until a change has been made or they may face consequences.

It is important to keep in mind that when applying for any job there are certain company expectations you will be asked to comply with. This is how companies maintain their brand integrity, company reputation and desired output. While individuality is welcomed on many levels (differing communication styles, varying approaches to a project, innovative ways to tackle a problem, etc.) it must still fall within the general parameters of the company’s guidelines and regulations.

While individuals can influence the modern workplace in a variety of ways, it is important to keep in mind that all three levels of influence in organizational behavior are at play in every workplace. As we just discussed, individuality is important to a successful company. At the same time, group and organizational guidelines and regulations equally shape the workplace into what it is today.

Ashe-Edmunds, Sam. “Examples of Conformity in the Workplace.” The Nest. July 14, 2016. Accessed May 06, 2019. https://woman.thenest.com/examples-conformity-workplace-14454.html .

“Competency Model.” Training Industry. May 23, 2013. Accessed May 06, 2019. https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/performance-management/competency-model/ .

• Individuality vs Conformity. Authored by : Freedom Learning Group. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
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POV: Schism in the Methodist Church Explained

Marsh chapel dean reflects on what’s behind the split and what it means for the denomination’s future.

Photo via AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski

Robert Allan Hill

Given the completion of a split within the United Methodist Church last month, people have asked several questions as the divorce is being finalized. Here is an attempt to respond to some of these interests.

Why have a quarter of American Methodist churches left the denomination? 

Like other Protestant denominations (Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc.), the United Methodist Church (UMC) has faced decades of conflict, largely over the full humanity of gay people. Like other denominations, after years of national and other meetings (“conferences,” in Methodism), the denomination has at long last come to a conclusive point. As a result, some 20 to 25 percent of churches and members have departed the denomination.

Why now? 

The schism, finally and fully ratified in April, has been fully present since at least 1970, and has been debated, avoided, postponed, and dreaded since before I entered the ministry in 1979. The determinations of the General Conference (the governing body of the UMC) have at long last, and with both grace and truth, come to a conclusive point on the gay issue. It has been a long time coming.

How have politics played a role in the schism? 

The more than 200-year history of Methodism (as of 1968, United Methodism) in general—and directly with regard to the current split—has most certainly been influenced by “politics,” in the sense that Methodism has always been the most national, most representative Protestant denomination, with at least one local church in every county of the 50 United States. 

For instance, even our current Book of Discipline affirms a moderate pro-choice position on abortion, one of the things those leaving the denomination oppose. Methodism has more than a century in advocacy for the rights of women, including the right to ordination, which those leaving the denomination largely oppose. The issue of gay rights and, more broadly, issues related to lifestyle, parenting, schooling, and other topics, have percolated not only through the body politic of the country, but also through the community and communities of faith. There is a direct relation and correlation between the two.

Some of that is simply the presence of John and Mary at the school board on Tuesday evening and then in worship together on Sunday morning. More of it is lodged in different perspectives on local vs. national authority, and state vs. federal authority. Having had the privilege of preaching from 10 different pulpits, it has been quite impressive to me just how localized, how culturally distinctive each congregation becomes, in matters great and not so great.

What about the issue of LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage? 

Much of our April division comes in regard to, or directly as a result of, this issue, especially as this issue is biblically understood—or, better, misunderstood. Let me here add the biblical background to this.

There are, in the full stretch of the Bible—in all 66 books, both Hebrew scriptures and New Testament—some 30,000 verses. Exactly 6 of those—6 out of 30,000—arguably have anything directly to say about same-gender relationships. It is not exactly a central theme for the biblical writers. But what makes this matter so vexing for modern Methodism is not the near absence of any biblical material related to this theme that so bedevils the departing segment of our denomination, but rather the very clear, centrally admonished teaching otherwise.

For instance, in Galatians 3:28, Paul (often, ironically, a favorite for conservatives) writes: “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female.” In this letter—what theologian Martin Luther called “the Magna Carta of Christian faith”—we have the setting aside of religious, economic, and sexual distinctions, on the power of the unity of faith, of baptism and the Gospel of Christ. “There is no male and female,” but rather the unity of faith, hope, and love in the person of Christ, crucified and risen. 

The fundamentalists leaving the denomination, purportedly on biblical grounds, have not read the Bible—or at least have not read it carefully, faithfully, and fully, especially as regards Galatians 3:28 and similar passages, within the full and fully liberating arc of biblical theology.

What does this all mean for the Methodist denomination?

It means hard work. It means the ongoing struggle to support urban ministry with poor and underprivileged people, the struggle to support growing churches in Africa and Asia, the struggle to support summer camping ministries, campus ministries, elder care ministries, and many other forms of service that our connectional system has effectively and efficiently provided over decades—with fewer people, churches, and far less money. We will have to cut in all these areas and others: administrative overstructures, district superintendencies, the number of general superintendents (bishops), and so on. But it also means a new day, a chance for creative repositioning, a moment for younger clergy coming-of-age to find their voice and influence, and the kind of freedom that comes with change.

What does it reflect about American religion? American politics? The intersection of the two? 

Politics is downstream from economics, which is downstream from culture, which is downstream from religion (I mean religion very broadly). What happens in religion really matters and reflects the broader American landscape, for good or ill—or very ill.

The Rev. Robert Allan Hill , dean of Marsh Chapel and a professor of New Testament and pastoral theology at the School of Theology, can be reached at [email protected] . This column is adapted from a recent sermon.

“POV” is an opinion page that provides timely commentaries from students, faculty, and staff on a variety of issues: on-campus, local, state, national, or international. Anyone interested in submitting a piece, which should be about 700 words long, should contact John O’Rourke at [email protected]. BU Today reserves the right to reject or edit submissions. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of Boston University.

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Conformity — Conformity Vs Individuality In The Lord Of The Flies

Conformity Vs Individuality in The Lord of The Flies

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Uglies plunges the reader into a futuristic, seemingly utopian world in which one’s physical appearance at birth doesn’t matter—at age 16, all teens, who are known as “ uglies ,” undergo extensive plastic surgery that turns them into “ pretties .” Fifteen-year-old Tally looks forward to her operation so that she can join her best friend, Peris , in New Pretty Town across the river and enjoy the endless party that is life as a “new pretty.” This is what Tally has spent her whole life waiting for: a chance to finally be gorgeous and happy, just like all of the other pretties. However, when Tally’s new friend Shay runs away to a mysterious place called the Smoke so that she doesn’t have to receive the operation, Tally (under threat of not being allowed to become pretty herself) grudgingly agrees to cooperate with a government agency known as Special Circumstances to retrieve Shay. As Tally’s journey unfolds, she’s forced to confront the fact that becoming a pretty means conforming to societal standards she didn’t even know existed and that, upon closer inspection, make conforming look significantly less attractive. Through this realization, Uglies makes the case that although at first glance conformity may appear ideal while individuality appears risky and undesirable, in actuality the opposite is true: conforming deprives a person of who they truly are, something the novel portrays as irreparably damaging and even dangerous.

Tally’s government goes to great lengths to make it seem as though conforming is truly the only option. All young people are raised to look forward to their 16th birthday and their pretty surgery, which many see as the first day of their real lives—being ugly is considered a purgatory of sorts, and not truly living. Everyone is taught to desire life as a pretty, in which one is happy, parties nonstop, and is treated kindly and reverently by everyone else. In Tally’s society, then, conforming to the required pretty surgery is the only accepted path to achieving a good life. There are, as far as Tally knows, no other options—while there are rumors that some people are refused their operations, these stories are unproven and possibly just hearsay. Conformity, then, is equated with happiness. This idea gains traction in Tally’s world in part because of the way uglies—that is, the only people who are told that they’re not cute or pretty—are treated. Uglies arrive in Uglyville at age 12, after they graduate from being an adorable littlie (a child). Uglies are the only group in Tally’s world that cannot move freely between the different parts of the greater city—the only time they can legally leave Uglyville is if they go to their parents’ house in the suburbs. Out in public, pretties visibly recoil away from uglies. Uglies like Tally are essentially told that their individuality is horrific, and are the ones who are most heavily policed—in comparison, conformity looks like paradise.

At first, Tally is horrified and bewildered when her friend Shay says that she’s serious about not wanting to undergo the pretty operation. However, when Tally agrees to cooperate with Special Circumstances and follows Shay to the Smoke a few weeks after Shay disappears, it only takes a few days before Tally starts to suspect that there’s something to be said for individuality. Though part of this has to do with living in a culture that outright rejects the idea of “pretty” on principle (as well as her budding romance with David , the young leader of the group), Tally begins to learn how truly dangerous conformity can be when David takes Tally to visit his parents, Maddy and Az , former cosmetic surgeons from Tally’s city. As doctors and researchers (Maddy was part of the “Pretty Committee,” the global group that conducts research and decides what constitutes pretty each year), Maddy and Az got an intimate look at how pretty surgery works. Disturbingly, Maddy discovered that after surgery, most pretties had lesions on their brain that she suspects makes pretties pliant and happy—but individuals who worked in professions where they had to think on their feet and make decisions, such as surgeons and the government agents in Special Circumstances, didn’t have them. What Maddy and Az essentially discovered, and what begins to truly change Tally’s mind about becoming pretty, is that all pretties seem happy for a reason—but that reason isn’t because they finally fit in. Rather, the government has altered their brains to make them happy and deprive them of all independent thought. This major revelation brings about all manner of other revelations regarding independence for Tally. Though as an ugly she was one of the more independent kids who liked doing “tricks” (sneaking out and playing pranks) and thought that habit made her edgy and cool, Maddy notes that many uglies who grow up to work in thinking professions and lose their lesions are the ones who started life as tricksters. She believes it’s possible that the fact that uglies can get away with tricks at all in their overbearing, surveillance-heavy society is because tricks are a test—tricks may be framed as acting out and misbehaving, but those uglies who do tricks might be doing exactly what’s expected of them.

With this, Uglies presents a world in which even the little bit of individuality uglies can achieve may not actually be individuality at all, but part of a greater system of surveillance, control, and brainwashed conformity. Given this, Tally comes to the novel’s most important conclusion: while conforming to the status quo may look like happiness, it’s actually something quite sinister that deprives people of the ability to understand who they are and the culture they inhabit. Genuine individuality, meanwhile, not only gives people control over their lives, but gives them the tools to ask important questions—and, hopefully, to change their culture for the better.

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Conformity vs. Individuality Quotes in Uglies

There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. 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.

“Yeah, and people killed each other over stuff like having different skin color.” Tally shook her head. No matter how many times they repeated it at school, she’d never really quite believed that one. “So what if people look more alike now? It’s the only way to make people equal.”

“I didn’t know these things weighed so much.”

“Yeah, this is what a board weighs when it’s not hovering. Out here, you find out that the city fools you about how things really work.”

“You can’t change it by wishing, or by telling yourself that you’re pretty. That’s why they invented the operation.”

“But it’s a trick, Tally. You’ve only seen pretty faces your whole life. Your parents, your teachers, everyone over sixteen. But you weren’t born expecting that kind of beauty in everyone, all the time. You just got programmed into thinking anything else is ugly.”

“It’s not programming, it’s just a natural reaction. And more important than that, it’s fair.”

“Look, Skinny, I’m with you,” Tally said sharply. “Doing tricks is great! Okay? Breaking the rules is fun! But eventually you’ve got to do something besides being a clever little ugly.”

“Like being a vapid, boring pretty?”

“No, like being an adult. Did you ever think that when you’re pretty you might not need to play tricks and mess things up? Maybe just being ugly is why uglies always fight and pick on one another, because they aren’t happy with who they are. Well, I want to be happy, and looking like a real person is the first step.”

Mountains rose up on her right, tall enough that snow capped their tops even in the early autumn chill. Tally had always thought of the city as huge, a whole world in itself, but the scale of everything out here was so much grander. And so beautiful. She could see why people used to live out in nature, even if there weren’t any party towers or mansions. Or even dorms.

Tally sat back, shaking her head, coughing once more. The flowers were so beautiful, so delicate and unthreatening, but they choked everything around them.

The boy smiled again. He was an ugly, but he had a nice smile. And his face held a kind of confidence that Tally had never seen in an ugly before. Maybe he was a few years older than she was. Tally had never watched anyone mature naturally past age sixteen. She wondered how much of being ugly was just an awkward age.

“Maybe they’re just worried because we’re kids. You know?”

“That’s the problem with the cities, Tally. Everyone’s a kid, pampered and dependent and pretty. Just like they say in school: Big-eyed means vulnerable. Well, like you once told me, you have to grow up sometime.”

Then Tally trembled inside, realizing what the feeling was. It was the same warmth she’d felt talking to Peris after his operation, or when teachers looked at her with approval. It was not a feeling she’d ever gotten from an ugly before. Without large, perfectly shaped eyes, their faces couldn’t make you feel that way. But the moonlight and the setting, or maybe just the words he was saying, had somehow turned David into a pretty. Just for a moment.

Tally remembered crossing the river to New Pretty Town, watching them have their endless fun. She and Peris used to boast they’d never wind up so idiotic, so shallow. But when she’d seen him... “Becoming pretty doesn’t just change the way you look,” she said.

“No,” David said. “It changes the way you think.”

For that matter, shallow and self-centered was how brand-new pretties were supposed to be. As an ugly, Peris had made fun of them—but he hadn’t waited a moment to join in the fun. No one ever did. So how could you tell how much was the operation and how much was just people going along with the way things had always been?

Only by making a whole new world, which is just what Maddy and Az had begun to do.

She scanned the captives, looking for Shay and David. The familiar faces in the crowd were haggard, dirty, crumpled by shock and defeat, but Tally realized that she no longer thought of them as ugly. It was the cold expressions of the Specials, beautiful though they were, that seemed horrific to her now.

David nodded. “It’s kind of creepy how well preserved it is. Of all the ruins I’ve seen, it looks the most recent.”

“They sprayed it with something to keep it up for school trips.” And that was her city in a nutshell, Tally realized. Nothing left to itself. Everything turned into a bribe, a warning, or a lesson.