Pictures and Reflections

The Smoke 

           I chose to draw this picture to show what Tally was thinking when she arrived at The Smoke. From afar she mentioned that it looked like there was a fire raging in the town, however she realizes that all the smoke is from the small fires lit around the smoke for warmth use. All the constant smoke is where the town got its name. I tried to recreate that by adding many little fires that together culminate in a lot of smoke. I also tried to find what   the area around The Smoke looked like, by reading the descriptions in the book. The book mentioned a mountainous area near The Smoke and a forest as well. I added both, and made the perspective of the picture on an elevated area overlooking the smoke. 

          This picture shows exactly what the author meant by, "The Smoke". When I first read the book I was confused by the whole concept of The Smoke as I didn't understand how a few fires could give birth to that name, as I didn't think that these fires would give off much smoke. However when I drew this picture I realized that enough of anything, no matter how small can culminate into something big. Hopefully this picture will help other people realize that as well.

Prettyville


             I chose to use this picture because I wanted to show the juxtaposition between The Smoke, and what I think Prettyville would look like. The Smoke is more primitive looking but when you look at Prettyville, it is a very vibrant metropolitan area, just like the book described. It also looks like it would be a good place for the New Pretties to have their parties.


             I also wanted to choose this picture because of what was going through Tally's mind when she had to make the decisions that she was forced to make. She could have chosen this vibrant area where it looks like it would be a lot of fun to live, but she chose The Smoke which at first glance looked like a dump. I found this very interesting and it made me wonder whether living in a non-superficial environment like The Smoke, even for a few months could change what Tally's true values were. 




Rusty Ruins

             I chose this picture to show what a city like Prettyville could turn into. This is a picture of what the Rusty Ruins may look like. In fact I can't think of any other way for the ruins to look. As there are plenty of old rusty cars and such  littered throughout the picture, ruined buildings, this maybe in fact the ruins of a nuclear war that had ended and out of the ashes came a new society of Uglies and Pretties! 


             The main reason that this would be my vision of the ruins is because of how modern the things in the ruins look to us, even though they looked so primitive to the characters in the book. This truly makes the story seem like it takes place in the future. When reading the book, the characters describe the area like we (in the present day) would describe any sort of ruins that  we  ourselves had found. We would have described it as very old. However because the story takes place in the future and they are looking at buildings of the past, and we are in the present but also technically in the past as well. So it is only fitting that the past look like the present to us but very old to the characters in the book. This is how it is portrayed in the picture and it should be that way.

The Forest

               I chose this picture because it symbolised how big the world is to city person. Tally grew up in the city, and intended to stay there forever (just like everyone else) but when events forced her to stray away from home, she stumbled upon a place called Earth. Of course she was always on Earth, but what I meant by the previous statement was that she had always been in a bubble and she never would have experienced the real world if it weren't for the trouble that she had got into. not to mention the rest of the people in that society that stayed in that bubble for their entire lives! So that's why I think this picture is important to the story.

               The picture also is a symbol of breaking free. Tally got to experience things that no other human had experienced in her society. Even though she was under the orders of Special Circumstances, she did things her own way. When she was at The Smoke she decided that she would no longer work with the Specials and that she wanted to live there. This shows a lot about her character and personality. Her rebellious and care free nature are symbolized well by this picture.

Sources:
"Prettyville" http://www.tenkai-japan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Metropolitan-Area-Expressway.jpg

"Rusty Ruins" http://www.officialpsds.com/images/stocks/City-Ruins-stock3228-large.png

"The Forest" http://www.poweranimalsunleashed.com/images/forest-light-900.jpg