1. Using magazines (Vogue, Seventeen, People, etc.) create a collage depicting a personal idea of what it means to be beautiful and societies perception of beauty.
2. Write a comprehensive review of both current sources and emerging new forms of energy.
3. Watch selected video clips from the movie, Food Inc. and Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire, with Uglies as a supporting text.
4. Find articles that illustrate how the idea of beauty changes between cultures. For example Foot-binding in Asia or jewelry in Africa.
5. Trace how the relation between citizens and government has changed throughout history.
6. Research a utopian community or create a utopian community based on either Scott Westerfeld’s, Uglies, Plato’s, Republic, or Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan.
Potential Essay Questions:
Select a character from Scott Westerfeld’s, Uglies and describe how they change (or don’t change) throughout the novel. What prompts them to by dynamic or remain static? Be sure to support and explain your answer.
Interpret the ecological message Scott Westerfeld communicates in his young-adult novel, Uglies. What is the author trying to say about the environment and humankind’s relationship with nature? Do you agree or disagree with his position? Incorporate at least two outside sources in your response.
Analyze government’s role in Scott Westerfeld’s, Uglies and compare it with another example from history. What similarities or differences exist between the two? How are citizens expected to behave and what are the consequences for resistance? In your response include a minimum of five outside sources that support your argument.
