Intro
Beatrice (Tris) Prior lives in a dystopian world where everything is divided. There are five different factions in her world- Abnegation, Dauntless, Candor, Erudite, and Amity. The separate factions stand for the self-less, fearless, truthful, smart, and peaceful. When you reach 16 years of age, you have to choose one of these factions. Either stay with your family in the faction you grew up in, or go your own way to a different lifestyle. "One choice decides your friends. One choice defines your beliefs. One choice determines your loyalties - forever."
The Premise
In the dystopian novel Divergent, by Veronica Roth, Tris must make her decision of what faction she wants to be in the rest of her life. After taking the Aptitude Test, which tells her what faction she would best fit in, Tris finds out that she's Divergent, meaning that she had three different results in her test. The test monitor, Tori, tells Tris that being Divergent is very dangerous and she has to be careful not to let anybody know. Later at the Choosing Ceremony, Tris chooses Dauntless as her new faction, which is also where most of the book takes place. During her initiate training, she meets Christina and Albert, who soon become her best friends. Throughout the whole book Tris has a budding relationship with one of the initiate trainers, Four. His nickname is Four because he only had four fears, but later in the book you learn his real identity. The main conflict in Divergent is that Tris is trying to keep her secret of Divergence safe while also staying alive in her training. All the while Tris and Four have a growing suspicion that the Erudite leader, Jeanine, is plotting with the other leaders to take over all the factions, which would cause mass chaos and destruction.
Favorite Characters
My favorite characters in this book are Tris and Four. In my opinion, Tris is one of the strongest characters because she left her family to join Dauntless, survived her training, and managed to keep her Divergence a secret. I would also describe her as intelligent because she has to make a lot of decisions throughout the book, and she always thinks them through and knows what to do. My other favorite character is Four, mostly because his character added lots of romance to an otherwise action packed plot. I think he's a very supporting character. He supports Tris, but he also knows how strong she is on her own.
Theme Analysis
I think one of the many themes in this book is that fear is a big part of everyone's life. Even though the Dauntless are known for being brave and "fearless", every single person has certain fears that they can't conquer. Through the book, Tris has to fight her fears many times, even when it seems impossible. Another theme is finding your identity. Tris and all of the other new Dauntless initiates have to find who they are. Sometimes she feels like she still belongs in her old faction, and others she knows that Dauntless is right for her. It's not until near the end of the book that Tris realizes where her loyalties lie.
I really enjoyed this book and I hope you decide to read it! :)
