Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Surges

So, I was thinking (a rare occasion, I know...) about the surges in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. Extras specifically. I mean, plastic surgery is pretty creepy, right? But some of the surges are pretty damn cool. Infrared vision...flash tattoos...manga eyes! Creepiness aside, I must admit that it sounds kind of awesome. But then I think about the Pretties system before the mind rain, and am really disgusted by my thinking that it sounds cool.

I wonder...would I surge? I'd love to be certain that I would have the will and the strength to refuse to succumb to the pressures of society. But I'm not sure. I think I would be a very different person if I had been born into a society that was built upon such extremes of fame.
Then again, it really isn't so different from now. And I have no intention of ever having plastic surgery. Because...ew, and stuff.

Though I will content myself in deciding that I would not surge, I wonder what I would do if I were to. Nothing like the original pretties. But it would be cool to have infrared vision. And maybe manga eyes. But probably not. That would be really weird.

What would you have done?

Pondering...Avery Trelaine

7 comments:

Twyla Lee said...

I honestly don't think I would be able to resist surging. I'm not so much about following what other people do, but I'd love to be able to sport my own ideas.

I disagree with the "Then again, it really isn't so different from now." You had to get surged in the series...here, for us, it is a choice of vanity and weirdness.

Anywhoos, those are just my thoughts and response.
Your loving cousin,
Twyla Lee

ReaderGirl said...

Oh no I think they're awsome! I'd get the computery mind thing! and... hmmm I dunno the eyes that tell time... did I make that up? XD I dunno there was an eye thing though! There all pretty cool! Havn't finished Extras yet so I'm sure there's col ones in there too!

Aislinn Ai said...

The thing is, it's IMPERMANENT. I mean, it's sugery, but it can be fixed really, really easily. So asking if you'd surge is like asking, I don't know... if you'd dye your hair. Or change your wardrobe.*

So yes, I would surge. But I would change it a lot. Yeah.

-- Aislinn Ai

Bri said...

i would probably change my hair all the time. fix my eyesight too. kill my acne. nothing extreme. that would simply freak me to the core.

Unknown said...

Dyeing your hair isn't as impermanent as you might think, miss Aislinn Ai. I dyed mine once, a few years back, and it regrew a different colour. It still hasn't returned to its original hue.

The Baron Aaros of Ahnduron

Unknown said...

Oh, right, the actual question . . . I'm certain that I wouldn't. I'd love to have some wacky idea for a surge to expand upon, but no, I just have stuffy old IDEALS. Tsk tsk.

The Baron Aaros of Ahnduron

PS -- Did that sound obnoxious? Wasn't intended thus.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Scott's books. They're the fawesomest. I would totally do surge. Not like the entire Pretty change, with my face and shape. I would want the Special strength, bones, muscles and reflexes. I would get orange eyes, ability to see in infrared, skintenna, and the eyescreen from Extras. Totally icy. But I would surge because it's cool, not because "Everyone else is doing it". I'm not that kind of person. Never have been, never will be.