Confronting Beauty Standards in Scott Westerfeld's 'Uglies

Abstract

This study attempts to reveal the beauty standard concept that is confronted by the main character in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies (2005) novel. It focuses on the issue of beauty standards criteria and the way the main character confronts it. In Uglies, Westerfeld depicts two female characters that one of them praise the standard of beauty and one another confront to it. Meanwhile, Uglies novel also portrays the women as the object of beauty standard icon in practising the cosmetic surgery. In overcoming the problems in this novel, the concept of feminism from Naomi Wolf (2002) entitled “Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women” is applied with qualitative approach that presents analysis in the form of essay focuses on culture, work, hunger, and violence. The result of this study shows that beauty standard which is created by society drives the women to an excessive beauty obsession and makes them as the object to end up on the operating table. However, the main character can confront it by self-love and making decision.

Keywords: Beauty Standard, Confronting Beauty Standard, Cosmetic Surgery, Culture, Feminism, Woman.