“Divergent” by Veronica Roth

In “Divergent”, by Veronica Roth, people’s path in life depends solely on one decision, which faction they will choose. The book follows the life of Tris Prior, a young girl who is struggling to find her place in society. “It will require a great act of selfishness to choose Abnegation, or a great act of courage to choose Dauntless, and maybe just choosing one over the other will prove that I belong. Tomorrow, those two qualities will struggle within me, and only one can win.”

Plot

In post-apocalyptic Chicago, survivors are divided into five factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless and Erudite. All 16-year-olds are tested in order to determine which faction suits them best, but they select their own faction at the Choosing Ceremony. Then they have to complete initiation or else they become “Factionless” and live on the streets as outcasts. The main character, Beatrice Prior, could not choose before she took the orientation test. Her inconclusive test results marked her as “Divergent” and her test administrator warns her never to tell anyone. Beatrice decides to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless. Her Dauntless instructor, Four, explains to her that unlike other factions, which accept all successful initiates, only the top ten Dauntless initiates will stay and the rest will become factionless. In the first stage of initiation, they trained in guns, knives and hand-to-hand combat. Then, the initiates enter the second stage and face hallucinations based on their deepest fears. The final stage gathers the initiates’ fears into a simulated “fear landscape” to test their acquired skills. Later on, Erudite goes against the city’s leadership, Abnegation, and accuses its leader, Marcus, of abusing his son. The Dauntless initiates are injected with a “tracking” serum which transforms them into hypnotized soldiers in order to attack Abnegation. But, Tris and Four’s Divergent abilities allow them to remain unaffected by the serum and with the help of Tris’s parents they manage to shut down the simulation, rejoin the initiates and board a train to the Amity sectors to find the rest of the Abnegation survivors.

Analysis of the main characters

Beatrice Prior (Tris)

She doesn’t talk openly with others about her feelings, but as the novel’s narrator, she constantly gives readers hints about her hopes and worries. When her aptitude test reveals that she’s Divergent, her sense that she’s different than others makes her feel guilty. The secrecy that surrounds Divergence makes Tris nervous and she spends a great deal of time and energy hiding both her difference and her fear from others. At the beginning, the initiation process made her question her values and she constantly felt torn between being brave and unselfish. However, throughout the course of initiation she grows closer to her instructor, Tobias, and when he turns out to be supportive both of her Abnegation as well as her Dauntless traits, she comes to realize that she can be both brave and unselfish rather than forcing herself to choose between them.

Tobias Eaton (Four)

He is a stern and intimidating eighteen-year old who helps train Dauntless initiates. As a child, he was physically abused by his father, Marcus, which most probably contributed to his personality and aloof behaviour. He disapproves of how violent Dauntless initiation has become and gives initiates the option of conceding during their fights. He’s strict with the trainees, and he often singles Tris out for critique, but as the book progresses it becomes obvious that he cares about her. He also shows his tender side after he rescues Tris from another initiate’s attack, and he gradually grows closer to her. A number of clues help readers deduce he’s from Abnegation; for example, his dorm wall states “Fear God alone” suggesting he’s religious like many Abnegation families.

Main Themes

The complexity of identity

The society in Divergent has placed unrealistic limits on its members’ identities. The segregation of different personality types into different factions has consequences on both the group and on the individual. By forcing every person into factions focused on a single personality trait, the government discourages the personal growth that normally takes place throughout a person’s life. For everyone in Tris’s society, identity is locked in at age sixteen and never allowed to change. Tris thinks she has to choose whether to be brave or selfless, because neither the Choosing Ceremony nor the faction system acknowledges the possibility that she may be both.

The relationship between selflessness and bravery

Thanks to her upbringing in Abnegation, Tris initially thinks that selflessness and bravery are incompatible. Her father views the Dauntless as dangerous people who do nothing but cause trouble. Raised to be strongly prejudiced against the Dauntless, Tris naturally feels guilty for wanting to join them. But her guilt is outweighed by her desire to rebel against the boring life she thinks her parents want her to lead. On the other hand, her mother grew up in Dauntless, making her exactly the kind of person Tris wants to be: responsible, loving, and generous, but intelligent and brave when necessary. Later on, Tris comes to realize that her selfless instincts actually help her behave courageously. For example, during her fear simulation, when she is ordered to kill her family, she refuses, offering her own life instead.

Symbols

Trains

Other than walking, trains are the sole mode of transportation within and beyond the city. They act almost like an independent organism, running at all hours of the day and night. The trains’ loud noise and constant movement contrast sharply with Abnegation’s quiet atmosphere. They represent Tris’s desire to seek out new, exciting experiences rather than spend her life in Abnegation, where she must ignore her own desires and patiently serve others.

Clothing and tattoos

When Tris leaves Abnegation to join Dauntless, she begins to experiment with her appearance, reflecting the fact that she now has the freedom to explore her individual style for the first time. The members of Abnegation wear gray, loose-fitting clothing and simple hairstyles so they don’t stand out from each other. Dauntless has no such restrictions. She starts rejecting her old faction, developing her Dauntless identity and she starts wearing black clothing. The Dauntless are also tattooed so soon after joining, Tris gets three birds tattooed on her collarbone and later on she adds the Abnegation and Dauntless symbols. The tattoos make her feel unique, but they also help her fit in and feel closer to her friends in Dauntless.

‘Faction before blood’

More than family, our factions are where we belong. At the Choosing Ceremony, Marcus explains at his opening speech that the factions were created to eliminate particular personality traits that each faction believes are the cause of evil in the world. Then he asserts that the factions give everyone’s lives meaning and purpose. “Faction before blood” represents the philosophy that people should be loyal to those who share their beliefs and values, not necessarily to those who raised them. At this early point in the book, Tris’s questioning indicates that she is struggling with the idea of leaving her family behind to join Dauntless. Up until now, she’s leaned toward staying in Abnegation purely because she’s devoted to her family. But faction teachings edge her slightly closer to choosing Dauntless, the group she’s always been drawn to.

To conclude, the moral force of the book lies in the constant reminder that you should always, under all circumstances, make decisions for yourself, rather than letting society dictate these decisions to you. “Divergent” is a book which examines how our choices lead to bravery, selfishness and betrayal. It also shows the impact that our decisions can have on our life as well as that of the people around us. It is a book that will hook you from the first page and keep you reading till the very end.

Μελίνα Σάρα Κοτζαμανίδη (Β3), Πρότυπο ΓΕΛ Ευαγγελικής Σχολής Σμύρνης