The Body in Utopian and Dystopian Futures

I just completed Scott Westerfeld's YA trilogy Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. They were a really fun read, although I can't say how much I loved the ending of Specials. I need to ruminate on it a bit. It was a little disappointing and part of that is because I very much wanted a Happy Ever After ending. Specials definitely does not give us that and I need to think a little more and sort out my thoughts before I talk anymore about it.

But, what these books did leave me with is an interest in the body as read through ideas of a utopian or dystopian future. How is the body understood or re-imagined to fit in with the philosophical changes in a future society? How is the body re-created, alienated or mechanized? How do those changes/differences reflect the interior ideas of the new society; do they? Are the physical adjustments representative of mental/intellectual changes? Westerfeld deliberately connects the changes in the physical body with changes in the mind. The physical differences between Uglies, Pretties and Specials are markers for the differences in the way that they understand and interact with the world. Within the individual 'types' there are also subdivisions that further finesse those pre-determined thought processes and their social ramifications.

( The Future Body (spoilers for Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy) )