Post by kait on Mar 12, 2012 21:46:43 GMT -5
Woohoo! Who's psyched to recap and discuss one of the most acclaimed Young Adult books of the past year?! WE ARE!
Let's start with the recap, then we'll work our way into some discussion questions!
CHAPTER ONE
Divergent starts with Beatrice Prior, a 16 year-old girl who can't look in a mirror. Not usually, anyway. This day happens to be a special occasion of sorts: haircut day!
Beatrice is an Abnegation, one of the five factions in an Dystopian Chicago. Their core value is selflessness: everything they do must be for the benefit of others. Basically, there's like a much more strict version of the Peace Corps mixed with the clergy lifestyle (sans religion).
However, today is the day of her aptitude test, the day she will be told which faction is actually best for her, according to government standards. She doesn't have to choose to join the faction the aptitude test chooses for her, but Beatrice isn't sure what she wants either way.
"On these morning when my brother makes breakfast, and my father's hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and my mother hums as she clears the table--it is on these mornings that I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave them."
We're not sure she should be guilty! Selflessness is a lot to ask for anyone, especially a teenager. It doesn't help that Tris' Irish-twin brother, Caleb, seems to be innately selfless and good.
At school, the Abnegation aren't a favorite. They're largely ignored by most, but also bullied by the Erudite faction, which values knowledge above all else. You know how we feel about bullies..
NOT COOL!
Another faction we get a quick glimpse of are the Dauntless, whom Beatrice watch as they LEAP FROM A MOVING TRAIN to arrive at school each morning. WHO DOES THAT?! The Dauntless value bravery, but we think they also value insanity.
Watching them is a foolish practice. I turn away from the window and press through the crowd to the Faction History classroom.
Uhhhhh ohhhhh...
CHAPTER TWO
TEST TIME!
Beatrice and faction friends are somewhat tortured as they're forced to wait. Abengation seems to see entertainment is the fulfillment of a selfish desire, so they must sit in silence while the others chat and play games.
Caleb is called to the testing room first and comes back looking ill. Test rules do not allow for Beatrice to ask him what happened or his results. Then, finally, her own name is called. She's trying to stay cool but, in her mind, she's all like:
Let's recap the aptitude test, shall we?
SCARY DOG (BUT BIGGER)
ADORABLE LITTLE GIRL ALMOST ATTACKED BY DOG
CREEPY MAN ASKING WEIRD QUESTIONS
We have no idea how we would have chosen if given that scenario. We probably would have just cried for our mothers.
CHAPTER THREE
As expected, Beatrice's results are "perplexing". She finds out from the test administrator, Tori, that she is called DIVERGENT, which means she has an aptitude for more than one faction. However, this is rare and very, very dangerous.
Beatrice now has an even harder choice to make: Abnegation, Dauntless, or Erudite?
Scared out of her mind, she walks home early. On the way, she encounters a factionless man. The factionless are individuals who failed their initiation into their chosen faction and must now live on the streets in poverty.
She tries to help the man, but he's a little too content in BEING REALLY CREEPY. He does, however, offer her one bit of advice:
"Choose wisely, little girl."
CHAPTER FOUR
Immediately, Caleb knows that something is wrong. He tries to confront Beatrice, but when she asks him to spill the details of his test, he stops. Instead, they come to an agreement not to mention anything to their parents. It doesn't help that their mother has heard the news of a test gone wrong.
In Abnegation families, children aren't allowed to speak during dinner. They're supposed to take time to listen to their parents' thoughts. The thoughts of the day are political.
Beatrice's father is a political leader (all leaders are Abnegation) and one of his co-workers, Marcus, is being attacked in the media by the Erudite representative, Jeannine. Two years ago, Marcus' son chose the Dauntless faction, and now Jeannine claims he did so because Marcus abused him. The reports are being spread simply to put the morality of the Abnegation into question and again.. IT'S NOT COOL.
After dinner, Beatrice and Caleb go to their rooms to decide on a faction before the Choosing Ceremony the next day.
"Caleb and I climb the stairs and, at the top, when we divide to go to our separate bedrooms, he stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
'Beatrice,' he says, looking sternly into my eyes. 'We should should our our family... But. But we must also think of ourselves.'"
WHOA! Not only is Caleb suggesting selfishness, he seems to have caught on to the fact that Beatrice feels she may belong somewhere other than Abnegation.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Choosing Ceremony is upon us!
After walking up TWENTY flights of stairs, because that's how the Abnegation do, the candidates will be given a knife with which they must cut open their hand and drip their blood into the massive bowl representing their faction of choice: stones of Abnegation, water for Erudite, soil for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless and glass for Candor.
Everyone is worried about their faction choices. Meanwhile, we're worried about all the blood.
Since everything is in reverse alphabetical order this year, Caleb goes before Beatrice. And then he ruins everything.
"He breathes out. And then in. And then he holds his hand over the Erudite bowl, and his blood drops into the water, turning it a deeper shade of red ... My brother, my selfless brother, a faction transfer? My brother, born for Abnegation, Erudite?"
After that giant shock, Beatrice is left with the heavy task of making her parents proud or leaving them childless. A glance from Caleb tells her that he wants her to go back to Abnegation, but that would also mean giving up on everything she wants for herself.
Finally, she makes her choice:
"Then, with a gasp I can't contain, I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals.
I am selfish. I am brave."
CHAPTER SIX
The second the Choosing Ceremony ends, Dauntless initiation begins! Step one? Jumping on that freaking train!
Tris makes it on with the help of a former Candor named Christina, which is most that can be said for one former Erudite boy. Since he missed the train, he's failed initiation and will live factionless. It happens THAT QUICK.
Another boy fails initiation about a half hour later, when the faction transfers realize that they must jump from the train onto a rooftop and he refuses.
"'I'd rather be factionless than dead!' The Amity boy shakes his head ... I don't agree with him. I'd rather be dead than empty, like the factionless."
While Beatrice makes it on to the roof safely, one of the other initiates doesn't. She misses the rooftop and falls to her death on the pavement below.
"I tell myself as sternly as possible, that is how things work here. We do dangerous things and people die."
As if the initiates aren't shocked enough, the Dauntless leader, Max, announces that it's time for them to enter the Dauntless compound by JUMPING OFF THE ROOF.
Our girl is the first to volunteer! People have been poking at her Abnegation origin and now it's time to prove herself! Jumping off the ledge is not easy, but she somehow manages it and finds herself cradled safely in a net surrounded by cheering Dauntless.
She's helped off the net by a Dauntless guy not much older than herself, who trips her up on the most simple of questions.
"'What's your name?'
'Um...' I don't know why I hesitate. But 'Beatrice' just doesn't seem right anymore.
'Think it about,' he says, a faint smile curling his lips. 'You don't get to pick again.'
'Tris,' I say firmly."
[glow=red,2,300]TRIS IS BORNNNNNN![/glow]
CHAPTER SEVEN
Tris may have gotten a hero's welcome into Dauntless, but things aren't so easy after that. Four, the guy who helped her off the net, turns out to be one of the people training the new initiates and he's a wee bit edgy.
None the less, he introduces them to all the major elements of the Dauntless compound: The shopping/social area known as the Pit, the giant, gaping chasm that serves as a lesson in humility, and of course, the cafeteria.
Just when Tris starts to think Four was bad, a Dauntless leader by the name of Eric comes over to taunt Four. This dude is in a class of "creepy" all his own.
"I don't understand why, but I don't want Eric to look at me any longer than he already has. I don't want him to look at me ever again."
After Four tells them that Eric transferred from Erudite, Tris gets curious about where Four originally came from.
"'I thought I would only have trouble with Candor asking too many questions,' (Four) says coldly. 'Now I've got Stiffs, too?'
'It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly. 'You know. Like a bed of nails.'"
OH SNAP!
Of course, this leads to our favorite exchange between Tris and Christina EVER:
"'I'm developing a theory?'
'And it is?'
She picks up her hamburger, grins, and says 'That you have a death wish.'"
BUT things are not all well and good! Oh no! When the initiates get back to the dorms, Eric drops a bomb on them.
Of the 20 initiates, both Dauntless-born and faction transfers, only 10 will become members. The others will be kicked out and must live factionless.
CHAPTER EIGHT
After a large crying fest among strangers in a single, co-ed dorm, Tris and her fellow initiates are immediately handed guns!
A big part of bravery is being able to defend yourself, so they all must learn to shoot and fight. In a somewhat brilliant moment, Four presses his gun against the head of the bully of the group, Peter.
Shooting isn't as easy as it looks. We know! We've tried it! Much like us, the kick-back basically sends Tris flying across the room. But there's a fantastic satisfaction, when FINALLY, the target is hit. Maybe Tris can survive Dauntless initiation after all!
It doesn't hurt that she seems to be making fast friends. Her lunch table consists of Christina, Will and Al, who don't even judge her too harshly when she flinches at two other initiates, Edward and Myra, kissing.
"Al, Will, and Christina all give me the same knowing smile.
'What?' I say.
'Your Abnegation is showing,' says Christina. 'The rest of us are all right with a little affection in public.'"
PDA creeps a LOT of people out though, so can we really blame Tris?
After lunch comes fighting, which is clearly not Tris' strongpoint. She's small and not at all muscular, which will put her at a distinct disadvantage in stage one because, as Four informs them, they have to fight each other. DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
Tris gets a big scare when Four puts a hand straight on her abdomen to help her keep tension there, which sets off every alarm in her Abnegation-wired brain.
"I feel the pressure of his palm even after he's gone. It's strange, but I have to stop and breathe for a few seconds before I can keep practicing again."
What's next? Off to the tattoo parlor! Al is getting inked, but while he's there, Tris sees Tori, the woman who administered her aptitude test. She wants to discuss her divergence, but Tori isn't talking. Even in their own faction, it isn't safe.
So Tris settles on another way to express herself: a tattoo of three birds traveling from her collarbone to her heart, each representing a member of her family.
POSSIBLE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Is it fair to ask Tris, or any other teenager for that matter, to be Abnegation and thus completely selfless? Is it even possible?!
- What would you do on the aptitude test? Would you choose the cheese, knife, or neither? Would you lie to the man on the bus?
- What faction are you best suited for? Be honest!
- Tris says to better to be dead than outcast from society like the factionless. Do you agree or do you think that Tris' impression of the factionless may be wrong?
- Does the structure and training in Dauntless remind you of any other governments or organizations? Why?
- The Dauntless use fighting and guns promote action against cowardice. How do YOU define cowardice, and how would you fight against it?
- Tris is taught that physical affection is powerful and feels uncomfortable watching people kiss in public. Is she frigid like her friends think? What's your comfort level when it comes the physical displays of affection?
- Do you have or would you ever get a tattoo? If so, what does/will it symbolize?
Let's start with the recap, then we'll work our way into some discussion questions!
CHAPTER ONE
Divergent starts with Beatrice Prior, a 16 year-old girl who can't look in a mirror. Not usually, anyway. This day happens to be a special occasion of sorts: haircut day!
Beatrice is an Abnegation, one of the five factions in an Dystopian Chicago. Their core value is selflessness: everything they do must be for the benefit of others. Basically, there's like a much more strict version of the Peace Corps mixed with the clergy lifestyle (sans religion).
However, today is the day of her aptitude test, the day she will be told which faction is actually best for her, according to government standards. She doesn't have to choose to join the faction the aptitude test chooses for her, but Beatrice isn't sure what she wants either way.
"On these morning when my brother makes breakfast, and my father's hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and my mother hums as she clears the table--it is on these mornings that I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave them."
We're not sure she should be guilty! Selflessness is a lot to ask for anyone, especially a teenager. It doesn't help that Tris' Irish-twin brother, Caleb, seems to be innately selfless and good.
At school, the Abnegation aren't a favorite. They're largely ignored by most, but also bullied by the Erudite faction, which values knowledge above all else. You know how we feel about bullies..
NOT COOL!
Another faction we get a quick glimpse of are the Dauntless, whom Beatrice watch as they LEAP FROM A MOVING TRAIN to arrive at school each morning. WHO DOES THAT?! The Dauntless value bravery, but we think they also value insanity.
Watching them is a foolish practice. I turn away from the window and press through the crowd to the Faction History classroom.
Uhhhhh ohhhhh...
CHAPTER TWO
TEST TIME!
Beatrice and faction friends are somewhat tortured as they're forced to wait. Abengation seems to see entertainment is the fulfillment of a selfish desire, so they must sit in silence while the others chat and play games.
Caleb is called to the testing room first and comes back looking ill. Test rules do not allow for Beatrice to ask him what happened or his results. Then, finally, her own name is called. She's trying to stay cool but, in her mind, she's all like:
Let's recap the aptitude test, shall we?
SCARY DOG (BUT BIGGER)
ADORABLE LITTLE GIRL ALMOST ATTACKED BY DOG
CREEPY MAN ASKING WEIRD QUESTIONS
We have no idea how we would have chosen if given that scenario. We probably would have just cried for our mothers.
CHAPTER THREE
As expected, Beatrice's results are "perplexing". She finds out from the test administrator, Tori, that she is called DIVERGENT, which means she has an aptitude for more than one faction. However, this is rare and very, very dangerous.
Beatrice now has an even harder choice to make: Abnegation, Dauntless, or Erudite?
Scared out of her mind, she walks home early. On the way, she encounters a factionless man. The factionless are individuals who failed their initiation into their chosen faction and must now live on the streets in poverty.
She tries to help the man, but he's a little too content in BEING REALLY CREEPY. He does, however, offer her one bit of advice:
"Choose wisely, little girl."
CHAPTER FOUR
Immediately, Caleb knows that something is wrong. He tries to confront Beatrice, but when she asks him to spill the details of his test, he stops. Instead, they come to an agreement not to mention anything to their parents. It doesn't help that their mother has heard the news of a test gone wrong.
In Abnegation families, children aren't allowed to speak during dinner. They're supposed to take time to listen to their parents' thoughts. The thoughts of the day are political.
Beatrice's father is a political leader (all leaders are Abnegation) and one of his co-workers, Marcus, is being attacked in the media by the Erudite representative, Jeannine. Two years ago, Marcus' son chose the Dauntless faction, and now Jeannine claims he did so because Marcus abused him. The reports are being spread simply to put the morality of the Abnegation into question and again.. IT'S NOT COOL.
After dinner, Beatrice and Caleb go to their rooms to decide on a faction before the Choosing Ceremony the next day.
"Caleb and I climb the stairs and, at the top, when we divide to go to our separate bedrooms, he stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
'Beatrice,' he says, looking sternly into my eyes. 'We should should our our family... But. But we must also think of ourselves.'"
WHOA! Not only is Caleb suggesting selfishness, he seems to have caught on to the fact that Beatrice feels she may belong somewhere other than Abnegation.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Choosing Ceremony is upon us!
After walking up TWENTY flights of stairs, because that's how the Abnegation do, the candidates will be given a knife with which they must cut open their hand and drip their blood into the massive bowl representing their faction of choice: stones of Abnegation, water for Erudite, soil for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless and glass for Candor.
Everyone is worried about their faction choices. Meanwhile, we're worried about all the blood.
Since everything is in reverse alphabetical order this year, Caleb goes before Beatrice. And then he ruins everything.
"He breathes out. And then in. And then he holds his hand over the Erudite bowl, and his blood drops into the water, turning it a deeper shade of red ... My brother, my selfless brother, a faction transfer? My brother, born for Abnegation, Erudite?"
After that giant shock, Beatrice is left with the heavy task of making her parents proud or leaving them childless. A glance from Caleb tells her that he wants her to go back to Abnegation, but that would also mean giving up on everything she wants for herself.
Finally, she makes her choice:
"Then, with a gasp I can't contain, I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals.
I am selfish. I am brave."
CHAPTER SIX
The second the Choosing Ceremony ends, Dauntless initiation begins! Step one? Jumping on that freaking train!
Tris makes it on with the help of a former Candor named Christina, which is most that can be said for one former Erudite boy. Since he missed the train, he's failed initiation and will live factionless. It happens THAT QUICK.
Another boy fails initiation about a half hour later, when the faction transfers realize that they must jump from the train onto a rooftop and he refuses.
"'I'd rather be factionless than dead!' The Amity boy shakes his head ... I don't agree with him. I'd rather be dead than empty, like the factionless."
While Beatrice makes it on to the roof safely, one of the other initiates doesn't. She misses the rooftop and falls to her death on the pavement below.
"I tell myself as sternly as possible, that is how things work here. We do dangerous things and people die."
As if the initiates aren't shocked enough, the Dauntless leader, Max, announces that it's time for them to enter the Dauntless compound by JUMPING OFF THE ROOF.
Our girl is the first to volunteer! People have been poking at her Abnegation origin and now it's time to prove herself! Jumping off the ledge is not easy, but she somehow manages it and finds herself cradled safely in a net surrounded by cheering Dauntless.
She's helped off the net by a Dauntless guy not much older than herself, who trips her up on the most simple of questions.
"'What's your name?'
'Um...' I don't know why I hesitate. But 'Beatrice' just doesn't seem right anymore.
'Think it about,' he says, a faint smile curling his lips. 'You don't get to pick again.'
'Tris,' I say firmly."
[glow=red,2,300]TRIS IS BORNNNNNN![/glow]
CHAPTER SEVEN
Tris may have gotten a hero's welcome into Dauntless, but things aren't so easy after that. Four, the guy who helped her off the net, turns out to be one of the people training the new initiates and he's a wee bit edgy.
None the less, he introduces them to all the major elements of the Dauntless compound: The shopping/social area known as the Pit, the giant, gaping chasm that serves as a lesson in humility, and of course, the cafeteria.
Just when Tris starts to think Four was bad, a Dauntless leader by the name of Eric comes over to taunt Four. This dude is in a class of "creepy" all his own.
"I don't understand why, but I don't want Eric to look at me any longer than he already has. I don't want him to look at me ever again."
After Four tells them that Eric transferred from Erudite, Tris gets curious about where Four originally came from.
"'I thought I would only have trouble with Candor asking too many questions,' (Four) says coldly. 'Now I've got Stiffs, too?'
'It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly. 'You know. Like a bed of nails.'"
OH SNAP!
Of course, this leads to our favorite exchange between Tris and Christina EVER:
"'I'm developing a theory?'
'And it is?'
She picks up her hamburger, grins, and says 'That you have a death wish.'"
BUT things are not all well and good! Oh no! When the initiates get back to the dorms, Eric drops a bomb on them.
Of the 20 initiates, both Dauntless-born and faction transfers, only 10 will become members. The others will be kicked out and must live factionless.
CHAPTER EIGHT
After a large crying fest among strangers in a single, co-ed dorm, Tris and her fellow initiates are immediately handed guns!
A big part of bravery is being able to defend yourself, so they all must learn to shoot and fight. In a somewhat brilliant moment, Four presses his gun against the head of the bully of the group, Peter.
Shooting isn't as easy as it looks. We know! We've tried it! Much like us, the kick-back basically sends Tris flying across the room. But there's a fantastic satisfaction, when FINALLY, the target is hit. Maybe Tris can survive Dauntless initiation after all!
It doesn't hurt that she seems to be making fast friends. Her lunch table consists of Christina, Will and Al, who don't even judge her too harshly when she flinches at two other initiates, Edward and Myra, kissing.
"Al, Will, and Christina all give me the same knowing smile.
'What?' I say.
'Your Abnegation is showing,' says Christina. 'The rest of us are all right with a little affection in public.'"
PDA creeps a LOT of people out though, so can we really blame Tris?
After lunch comes fighting, which is clearly not Tris' strongpoint. She's small and not at all muscular, which will put her at a distinct disadvantage in stage one because, as Four informs them, they have to fight each other. DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
Tris gets a big scare when Four puts a hand straight on her abdomen to help her keep tension there, which sets off every alarm in her Abnegation-wired brain.
"I feel the pressure of his palm even after he's gone. It's strange, but I have to stop and breathe for a few seconds before I can keep practicing again."
What's next? Off to the tattoo parlor! Al is getting inked, but while he's there, Tris sees Tori, the woman who administered her aptitude test. She wants to discuss her divergence, but Tori isn't talking. Even in their own faction, it isn't safe.
So Tris settles on another way to express herself: a tattoo of three birds traveling from her collarbone to her heart, each representing a member of her family.
POSSIBLE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Is it fair to ask Tris, or any other teenager for that matter, to be Abnegation and thus completely selfless? Is it even possible?!
- What would you do on the aptitude test? Would you choose the cheese, knife, or neither? Would you lie to the man on the bus?
- What faction are you best suited for? Be honest!
- Tris says to better to be dead than outcast from society like the factionless. Do you agree or do you think that Tris' impression of the factionless may be wrong?
- Does the structure and training in Dauntless remind you of any other governments or organizations? Why?
- The Dauntless use fighting and guns promote action against cowardice. How do YOU define cowardice, and how would you fight against it?
- Tris is taught that physical affection is powerful and feels uncomfortable watching people kiss in public. Is she frigid like her friends think? What's your comfort level when it comes the physical displays of affection?
- Do you have or would you ever get a tattoo? If so, what does/will it symbolize?
;D
