Post by kait on Mar 27, 2012 22:59:37 GMT -5
A day late, two initiates short, and on the the next section we go!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
[/u]
It's the day off between stages one and two of training, but Tris isn't spending her time relaxing. Helping someone after they've been stabbed in the eye kind of ruins your ability to relax. She's hanging out in a random hallway when a Dauntless-born initiate from her capture the flag team, Uriah, invites her to take part in an old tradition.
Uriah may like Tris, but the rest of the initiates raised among the Dauntless aren't so sure.
"The Dauntless-born initiates are like a pack of dogs. If I act the wrong way, they won't let me run with them."
While en route to their adventure, Tris gets a surprising backstory on Four (who isn't attending) from a Dauntless member who was in the same initiate class as him named Shauna:
"We were initiates together. I was bad at fighting, so he taught me every night after everyone was asleep."
So Four isn't ALL evil, at the very least. Deep down, could he actually be a good person? Though what's best of all about this short exchange is that Tris admits to feeling a bit of jealousy. Hmmm...
Finally, the adventure begins! Tris and her fellow Dauntless get off the train, take an elevator up to the top of the Hancock Building and one by one, zipline hundreds of feet down through the abandoned wreckage of what was once Chicago.
Naturally, Tris is worried, but she's Dauntless for a reason. She straps in, then gets the ride of her life!
"My heart beats so hard it hurts, and I can't scream and I can't breathe, but I also feel everything, every vein and every fiber, every bone and every nerve, all awake and buzzing in my body as if charged with electricity."
At the bottom, all of the other Dauntless members are their to catch her. Then she helps catch the people coming down after her.
"I think of climbing the stairs with the Abnegation, our feet all finding the same rhythm, all of us the same. This isn't like that. We are not the same. But we are, somehow, one."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It's heeeeeeere... STAGE TWO of training!
All that's known about stage two is that it's primarily mental and there's no way to train for it. Tris waits as both transfer and Dauntless-born initiates go into a room one by one to face the unknown.
When it's Tris' turn, she finds nothing in the room besides a computer and a metal chair similar to the one used during the aptitude test. Four gives a quick explanation before the trouble begins:
"Ever hear the phrase 'face your fears'?" He says. "We're taking that literally."
Tris and the others are being put through advanced simulations in a system designed to tap into their worst fears and make them go head-to-head.
What's Tris afraid of?
These guys, apparently. Soon after her simulation starts, she's frozen in place while a bazillion crows peck her to death. How the hell do you manage your way out of that?!
"My body burns, and they are everywhere, and I can't think, I can't breathe. I gasp for air and my mouth fills with feathers.."
Simulation!Tris gets so panicked that she goes all Ozzy Osbourne on a crow that tries to put its head in her mouth before finally managing to get a grip and calm herself down enough to end the simulation.
Tris is so shaken that Four insists he walk her back to the dorm. She isn't too happy about the idea, but takes the time to ask Four about his fears and how she can overcome her own.
"But becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. it's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it."
Just as Tris starts to feel better, she enters the dorm to find Peter reading a new piece of anti-Abnegation propaganda discussing her family specifically. The Erudite claim that, because both his children left Abnegation, Tris' father is an untrustworthy, abusive parent with weak ideals.
OF course, there's a quote saying that Tris has nightmares about her father often from another Dauntless initiate who wanted some revenge: Molly.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The trouble between Abnegation and Erudite is threatening Tris' friendships in Dauntless, especially with Will, a transfer from Erudite who just narrowly stops Tris from killing Molly in the dorm.
Despite the tension, he tries to convince her that his old faction isn't anything to really worry about.
"They're arrogant and dull, and that's why I left them, but they aren't revolutionaries. They just want more say, that's all."
Before Tris and Will can really fight it out, Christina and Al interrupt. They convince Tris and Will to head down to the pit with them. Both Tris and Christina get a tattoo of the Dauntless seal.
On the way to dinner, the group sees Four hanging out with friends next to the chasm. He's giddy and it's clear he's been drinking, so they think it's best to avoid him. That is, until he calls Tris over and starts up some banter with her!
"I'd ask you to hang out with is but you're not supposed to see me this way."
"What way?" I ask. "Drunk?"
"Yeah.. well, no." His voice softens. "Real, I guess." He puts his lips next to my ear and says "You look good, Tris."
WHAT? HUH? WHAT IS THIS SORCERY? ...And why do I like it?!
CHAPTER TWENTY
Of course, you don't get just one simulation in stage two of training. You face a new horrific, torturous fear every day.
Today, Tris in a glass tank. Not bad, right? UNTIL IT STARTS FILLING WITH WATER.
"I hit the wall until my shoulder aches, screaming for help, watching the water rise to my waist, my rib cage, my chest."
So Tris is drowning while Four and the other initiates look on and laugh. Obviously, she's a bit panicked. She can't calm herself down enough to end the scenario.
Then the impossible happens. Simulation!Tris smashes the glass tank and frees herself of the water. When she wakes up, Four is none too pleased with her. He knows that normal people can't change the simulation, therefore he knows exactly what Tris is.
"You manipulated the simulation; you're Divergent. I'll delete the footage, but unless you want to end up dead at the bottom of the chasm, you'll figure out how to hide it during the simulations!"
Tris knows from Four's dire attitude that being Divergent is just as serious as she's always been told. But she's not getting answers from him, so she goes to the one other person who can help: Tori, who originally administered her aptitude test.
Tori explains exactly what it means to be Divergent, but it's not what Tris wanted to hear AT ALL.
"Someone who can manipulate the simulation or even shut it down. And also..." She leans forward and looks into my eyes. "Someone who, because you are also Dauntless...tends to die."
Apparently, Tori's brother was Divergent. He did extremely well in Dauntless initiation, so well that the leaders took a special interest in him. Tori says he was very happy and positive about his life.. until the day he was found dead at the bottom of the chasm. The Dauntless leaders claimed he committed suicide.
Tris doesn't want to believe it, but Tori comes in strong with the reality check:
"These people taught you how to use a gun. They taught you how to fight. You think they're above hurting you? Above killing you?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Tris goes through several more rounds of simulation torture, all of which seem to be more successful. In the meantime, she starts to realize that, with the knowledge he has, Four must either be Divergent himself or know someone who is.
"I pause with my hand on the doorknob and look back at him. Are you like me? I ask him silently. Are you Divergent?"
Final rankings for stage two are announced later that night. Even though she's made it through the simulations without giving herself away, Tris is in FIRST! And by a wide margin too!
But who is second? Peter.
"If Peter and his friends hated me before, they despise me now. Now I am Edward. It could be my eye next. Or worse."
It also doesn't help that Peter is starting to convince Tris' initiate friends that she isn't as innocent and friendly as she seems. All of them start to question whether her changing moods and unexpected strength are really forms of manipulation.
Once again, Tris finds herself wandering. Once again, she bumps into Uriah. Thankfully, he and his other Dauntless-born friends, Lynn and Marlene, actually appreciate that she came in first among the transfers.
"So quit moping and come with us. I'm going to shoot a muffin off Marlene's head."
I kinda love Uriah. He invited Tris, makes her feel welcomed, and totally shoots the muffin off Marlene's head in one shot. He can be my best friend FOREVER.
Unfortunately, they're interrupted by Zeke, Shauna, and Four, who force them out of the training room. While the others move ahead, Four stops Tris and finally tells it to her straight:
"You belong here, you know that?" he says. "You belong with us. It'll be over soon, so just hold on, okay?"
After which, he holds her hand for a brief moment while no one else is looking.
Needless to say, Tris is on a high that night. However, it all comes crashing down when she overhears Eric discussing Divergent rebels with a mystery woman.
"Don't forget the reason I had Max appoint you," the voice says. "Your first priority is finding them. Always."
Tris only has a brief moment to fear those words before she is ATTACKED FROM BEHIND by three separate people.
You can't help but panic and assume Tris has been discovered until she riddles out the identities of her attackers: Peter, Drew, and, much to everyone's surprise, Al.
AL, HOW COULD YOU?
"I hear the crash of water against rocks. We are near the chasm-- we must be above it, given the volume of the sound. I press my lips together to keep from screaming. If we are above the chasm, I know what they intend to do to me."
Tris may be the main character, but she's certainly not all powerful. She tries to fight them off as best as possible. It's not enough. She's struggling with every bit of energy she has when finally, someone comes to her rescue.
I blink a few times and focus as hard as I can on the only face I can see. It is contorted with anger. His eyes are dark blue. "Four," I croak.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Tris wakes up in Four's room, dizzy and sick. He explains that he was on his way back from the control room (aka his REAL job) when he found the boys attacking Tris.
"Peter and Al ran. Drew claimed they were just trying to scare you. At least, I think that's what he was trying to say."
THANK YOU, Four, for beating the crap out of Drew!
Drew isn't Tris' main concern, however. Al was her friend. He even had a crush on her it one point. She wonders what happened to change all that so suddenly.
![]()
"He wanted you to be the small, quiet girl from Abnegation," Four says softly. "He hurt you because your strength made him feel weak. No other reason."[/img]
Tris wants to face her attackers and show her strength, but Four knows just how dangerous that can be at this stage of initiation.
"I don't want to say this," he says, "but I feel like I have to. It is more important for you to be safe than right, for the time being. Understand? But please, when you see an opportunity... Ruin them."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Tris wakes up in Four's room and watches him asleep on the floor for a bit. It's then that she finally starts to come to conclusions about him.
"Whoever he is, I like him. It's easier for me to admit that to myself now, in the dark, after all that just happened."
There's a great moment of tension where Four checks on her injuries Then, following Four's advice to seem vulnerable, Tris walks into breakfast with her head down.
Immediately, her condition and soon after, the details of the attack concern Will, Christina and Uriah. In particular, they cannot understand Al's involvement.
Uriah comes up with a plan for revenge:
"We have to edge them out of the rankings. That will damage their futures. Permanently."
There's one more stage in which they can do so, and it's another series of simulations, but EVEN WORSE. Remember all the stuff about facing fears? Well..
"The fear landscape accesses that data and presents you with a series of virtual obstacles."
THAT won't be easy! Thankfully, Peter is just as worried as Tris and her friends. And Four is happy to call him out on it.
"I understand why you're worried, Peter. The events of last night certainly proved that you are a miserable coward."
GO FOUR! YOU ARE MY FAVORITE! ..At least right now!
When Tris gets back to the dorms, she's confronted by Al, who had skipped out on training for the day and seems to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He feels disgustingly horrible about what he did to Tris and begs her for forgiveness.
It's definitely a tough situation. Whether Al actually deserves forgiveness is beyond me. After a moment, Tris makes her decision:
"Never come near me again." Our eyes meet. His are dark and glassy. I am nothing. "If you do, I swear to God I will kill you."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR[/u]
Christina wakes Tris up in the middle of the night, sickened and somber. Together, they rush out to the pit floor, where something is being pulled out of the chasm by a team of Dauntless.
"The shape falls with a thud on the Pit floor. A pale arm, swollen with water, flops to the stone. A body ... The eyes are open and empty. Dark. Doll's eyes. Al."
Al. Big, sweet, clumsy Al. He lost himself to the Dauntless initiation, then threw himself into the chasm.
Tris is utterly depressed and finds herself with Tori once again. She realizes that this is probably how Tori felt when her brother died, though Al's death was a legitimate suicide.
When she asks if Tori will ever be okay, she gets an unexpected reply:
"It took me a few years to stop planning my revenge, though."
"Why did you stop?" I ask...
"I don't think of it as stopping. More like I'm.. waiting for my opportunity."
PLEASE LET THIS BE FORESHADOWING FOR A KICKASS TORI MOMENT!
Tris is even more disgusted by Eric's eulogy that night, which heralds Al as being a true, brave member of Dauntless who didn't even fear his own death.
"Courageous would have been admitting weakness and leaving Dauntless... Pride is what killed Al."
She retreats away from the funeral and finds herself confronted by Four. She's feeling jaded and voices all of her problems with Dauntless freely to her. It isn't until Four offers her a little newsflash that she realizes just how dangerous that is.
"I'm not going to say this again, so listen carefully." He sets his hands on my shoulders, his fingers pressing, squeezing. I feel small. "They are watching you. You, in particular."
Four has leanred a certain secret about Dauntless, something that may become Tris' key to survival:
"They don't want you to act a certain way. They want you to think a certain way. So you're easy to understand. So you don't pose a threat to them."
All these observations leave Tris wondering. Where did Four pick up on all this? What was his past like?
"This is where I am now. Something you would do well to remember for yourself." He gives me a conflicted look and touches his lips to my forehead, right between my eyebrows.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- How do you think the ziplining ritual builds a sense of community among the Dauntless?
- How do you feel about the simulations that make up stage two of training? Are they beneficial, or even ethical?
- Speaking of ethical, how do you feel about Tris' interesting new relationship with Four, given that he's her instructor?
- Name some simulations you think you would experience!
- Should Tris seek revenge on Molly for the lies she told the Erudite newspaper reporter?
- If you were Divergent and in the Dauntless compound, what would you do to try and hide it? Would you try to think like the Dauntless?
- Was it right for Tris to exaggerate her weakness after the attack to make herself look vulnerable? Would it have been better for her to act tough?
- Should Tris have forgiven Al for betraying her?
- Did Tris handle Al's death appropriately? If not, how would you have expected her to act differently?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
[/u]
It's the day off between stages one and two of training, but Tris isn't spending her time relaxing. Helping someone after they've been stabbed in the eye kind of ruins your ability to relax. She's hanging out in a random hallway when a Dauntless-born initiate from her capture the flag team, Uriah, invites her to take part in an old tradition.
Uriah may like Tris, but the rest of the initiates raised among the Dauntless aren't so sure.
"The Dauntless-born initiates are like a pack of dogs. If I act the wrong way, they won't let me run with them."
While en route to their adventure, Tris gets a surprising backstory on Four (who isn't attending) from a Dauntless member who was in the same initiate class as him named Shauna:
"We were initiates together. I was bad at fighting, so he taught me every night after everyone was asleep."
So Four isn't ALL evil, at the very least. Deep down, could he actually be a good person? Though what's best of all about this short exchange is that Tris admits to feeling a bit of jealousy. Hmmm...
Finally, the adventure begins! Tris and her fellow Dauntless get off the train, take an elevator up to the top of the Hancock Building and one by one, zipline hundreds of feet down through the abandoned wreckage of what was once Chicago.
Naturally, Tris is worried, but she's Dauntless for a reason. She straps in, then gets the ride of her life!
"My heart beats so hard it hurts, and I can't scream and I can't breathe, but I also feel everything, every vein and every fiber, every bone and every nerve, all awake and buzzing in my body as if charged with electricity."
At the bottom, all of the other Dauntless members are their to catch her. Then she helps catch the people coming down after her.
"I think of climbing the stairs with the Abnegation, our feet all finding the same rhythm, all of us the same. This isn't like that. We are not the same. But we are, somehow, one."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It's heeeeeeere... STAGE TWO of training!
All that's known about stage two is that it's primarily mental and there's no way to train for it. Tris waits as both transfer and Dauntless-born initiates go into a room one by one to face the unknown.
When it's Tris' turn, she finds nothing in the room besides a computer and a metal chair similar to the one used during the aptitude test. Four gives a quick explanation before the trouble begins:
"Ever hear the phrase 'face your fears'?" He says. "We're taking that literally."
Tris and the others are being put through advanced simulations in a system designed to tap into their worst fears and make them go head-to-head.
What's Tris afraid of?
These guys, apparently. Soon after her simulation starts, she's frozen in place while a bazillion crows peck her to death. How the hell do you manage your way out of that?!
"My body burns, and they are everywhere, and I can't think, I can't breathe. I gasp for air and my mouth fills with feathers.."
Simulation!Tris gets so panicked that she goes all Ozzy Osbourne on a crow that tries to put its head in her mouth before finally managing to get a grip and calm herself down enough to end the simulation.
Tris is so shaken that Four insists he walk her back to the dorm. She isn't too happy about the idea, but takes the time to ask Four about his fears and how she can overcome her own.
"But becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. it's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it."
Just as Tris starts to feel better, she enters the dorm to find Peter reading a new piece of anti-Abnegation propaganda discussing her family specifically. The Erudite claim that, because both his children left Abnegation, Tris' father is an untrustworthy, abusive parent with weak ideals.
OF course, there's a quote saying that Tris has nightmares about her father often from another Dauntless initiate who wanted some revenge: Molly.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The trouble between Abnegation and Erudite is threatening Tris' friendships in Dauntless, especially with Will, a transfer from Erudite who just narrowly stops Tris from killing Molly in the dorm.
Despite the tension, he tries to convince her that his old faction isn't anything to really worry about.
"They're arrogant and dull, and that's why I left them, but they aren't revolutionaries. They just want more say, that's all."
Before Tris and Will can really fight it out, Christina and Al interrupt. They convince Tris and Will to head down to the pit with them. Both Tris and Christina get a tattoo of the Dauntless seal.
On the way to dinner, the group sees Four hanging out with friends next to the chasm. He's giddy and it's clear he's been drinking, so they think it's best to avoid him. That is, until he calls Tris over and starts up some banter with her!
"I'd ask you to hang out with is but you're not supposed to see me this way."
"What way?" I ask. "Drunk?"
"Yeah.. well, no." His voice softens. "Real, I guess." He puts his lips next to my ear and says "You look good, Tris."
WHAT? HUH? WHAT IS THIS SORCERY? ...And why do I like it?!
CHAPTER TWENTY
Of course, you don't get just one simulation in stage two of training. You face a new horrific, torturous fear every day.
Today, Tris in a glass tank. Not bad, right? UNTIL IT STARTS FILLING WITH WATER.
"I hit the wall until my shoulder aches, screaming for help, watching the water rise to my waist, my rib cage, my chest."
So Tris is drowning while Four and the other initiates look on and laugh. Obviously, she's a bit panicked. She can't calm herself down enough to end the scenario.
Then the impossible happens. Simulation!Tris smashes the glass tank and frees herself of the water. When she wakes up, Four is none too pleased with her. He knows that normal people can't change the simulation, therefore he knows exactly what Tris is.
"You manipulated the simulation; you're Divergent. I'll delete the footage, but unless you want to end up dead at the bottom of the chasm, you'll figure out how to hide it during the simulations!"
Tris knows from Four's dire attitude that being Divergent is just as serious as she's always been told. But she's not getting answers from him, so she goes to the one other person who can help: Tori, who originally administered her aptitude test.
Tori explains exactly what it means to be Divergent, but it's not what Tris wanted to hear AT ALL.
"Someone who can manipulate the simulation or even shut it down. And also..." She leans forward and looks into my eyes. "Someone who, because you are also Dauntless...tends to die."
Apparently, Tori's brother was Divergent. He did extremely well in Dauntless initiation, so well that the leaders took a special interest in him. Tori says he was very happy and positive about his life.. until the day he was found dead at the bottom of the chasm. The Dauntless leaders claimed he committed suicide.
Tris doesn't want to believe it, but Tori comes in strong with the reality check:
"These people taught you how to use a gun. They taught you how to fight. You think they're above hurting you? Above killing you?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Tris goes through several more rounds of simulation torture, all of which seem to be more successful. In the meantime, she starts to realize that, with the knowledge he has, Four must either be Divergent himself or know someone who is.
"I pause with my hand on the doorknob and look back at him. Are you like me? I ask him silently. Are you Divergent?"
Final rankings for stage two are announced later that night. Even though she's made it through the simulations without giving herself away, Tris is in FIRST! And by a wide margin too!
But who is second? Peter.
"If Peter and his friends hated me before, they despise me now. Now I am Edward. It could be my eye next. Or worse."
It also doesn't help that Peter is starting to convince Tris' initiate friends that she isn't as innocent and friendly as she seems. All of them start to question whether her changing moods and unexpected strength are really forms of manipulation.
Once again, Tris finds herself wandering. Once again, she bumps into Uriah. Thankfully, he and his other Dauntless-born friends, Lynn and Marlene, actually appreciate that she came in first among the transfers.
"So quit moping and come with us. I'm going to shoot a muffin off Marlene's head."
I kinda love Uriah. He invited Tris, makes her feel welcomed, and totally shoots the muffin off Marlene's head in one shot. He can be my best friend FOREVER.
Unfortunately, they're interrupted by Zeke, Shauna, and Four, who force them out of the training room. While the others move ahead, Four stops Tris and finally tells it to her straight:
"You belong here, you know that?" he says. "You belong with us. It'll be over soon, so just hold on, okay?"
After which, he holds her hand for a brief moment while no one else is looking.
Needless to say, Tris is on a high that night. However, it all comes crashing down when she overhears Eric discussing Divergent rebels with a mystery woman.
"Don't forget the reason I had Max appoint you," the voice says. "Your first priority is finding them. Always."
Tris only has a brief moment to fear those words before she is ATTACKED FROM BEHIND by three separate people.
You can't help but panic and assume Tris has been discovered until she riddles out the identities of her attackers: Peter, Drew, and, much to everyone's surprise, Al.
AL, HOW COULD YOU?
"I hear the crash of water against rocks. We are near the chasm-- we must be above it, given the volume of the sound. I press my lips together to keep from screaming. If we are above the chasm, I know what they intend to do to me."
Tris may be the main character, but she's certainly not all powerful. She tries to fight them off as best as possible. It's not enough. She's struggling with every bit of energy she has when finally, someone comes to her rescue.
I blink a few times and focus as hard as I can on the only face I can see. It is contorted with anger. His eyes are dark blue. "Four," I croak.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Tris wakes up in Four's room, dizzy and sick. He explains that he was on his way back from the control room (aka his REAL job) when he found the boys attacking Tris.
"Peter and Al ran. Drew claimed they were just trying to scare you. At least, I think that's what he was trying to say."
THANK YOU, Four, for beating the crap out of Drew!
Drew isn't Tris' main concern, however. Al was her friend. He even had a crush on her it one point. She wonders what happened to change all that so suddenly.
"He wanted you to be the small, quiet girl from Abnegation," Four says softly. "He hurt you because your strength made him feel weak. No other reason."[/img]
Tris wants to face her attackers and show her strength, but Four knows just how dangerous that can be at this stage of initiation.
"I don't want to say this," he says, "but I feel like I have to. It is more important for you to be safe than right, for the time being. Understand? But please, when you see an opportunity... Ruin them."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Tris wakes up in Four's room and watches him asleep on the floor for a bit. It's then that she finally starts to come to conclusions about him.
"Whoever he is, I like him. It's easier for me to admit that to myself now, in the dark, after all that just happened."
There's a great moment of tension where Four checks on her injuries Then, following Four's advice to seem vulnerable, Tris walks into breakfast with her head down.
Immediately, her condition and soon after, the details of the attack concern Will, Christina and Uriah. In particular, they cannot understand Al's involvement.
Uriah comes up with a plan for revenge:
"We have to edge them out of the rankings. That will damage their futures. Permanently."
There's one more stage in which they can do so, and it's another series of simulations, but EVEN WORSE. Remember all the stuff about facing fears? Well..
"The fear landscape accesses that data and presents you with a series of virtual obstacles."
THAT won't be easy! Thankfully, Peter is just as worried as Tris and her friends. And Four is happy to call him out on it.
"I understand why you're worried, Peter. The events of last night certainly proved that you are a miserable coward."
GO FOUR! YOU ARE MY FAVORITE! ..At least right now!
When Tris gets back to the dorms, she's confronted by Al, who had skipped out on training for the day and seems to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He feels disgustingly horrible about what he did to Tris and begs her for forgiveness.
It's definitely a tough situation. Whether Al actually deserves forgiveness is beyond me. After a moment, Tris makes her decision:
"Never come near me again." Our eyes meet. His are dark and glassy. I am nothing. "If you do, I swear to God I will kill you."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR[/u]
Christina wakes Tris up in the middle of the night, sickened and somber. Together, they rush out to the pit floor, where something is being pulled out of the chasm by a team of Dauntless.
"The shape falls with a thud on the Pit floor. A pale arm, swollen with water, flops to the stone. A body ... The eyes are open and empty. Dark. Doll's eyes. Al."
Al. Big, sweet, clumsy Al. He lost himself to the Dauntless initiation, then threw himself into the chasm.
Tris is utterly depressed and finds herself with Tori once again. She realizes that this is probably how Tori felt when her brother died, though Al's death was a legitimate suicide.
When she asks if Tori will ever be okay, she gets an unexpected reply:
"It took me a few years to stop planning my revenge, though."
"Why did you stop?" I ask...
"I don't think of it as stopping. More like I'm.. waiting for my opportunity."
PLEASE LET THIS BE FORESHADOWING FOR A KICKASS TORI MOMENT!
Tris is even more disgusted by Eric's eulogy that night, which heralds Al as being a true, brave member of Dauntless who didn't even fear his own death.
"Courageous would have been admitting weakness and leaving Dauntless... Pride is what killed Al."
She retreats away from the funeral and finds herself confronted by Four. She's feeling jaded and voices all of her problems with Dauntless freely to her. It isn't until Four offers her a little newsflash that she realizes just how dangerous that is.
"I'm not going to say this again, so listen carefully." He sets his hands on my shoulders, his fingers pressing, squeezing. I feel small. "They are watching you. You, in particular."
Four has leanred a certain secret about Dauntless, something that may become Tris' key to survival:
"They don't want you to act a certain way. They want you to think a certain way. So you're easy to understand. So you don't pose a threat to them."
All these observations leave Tris wondering. Where did Four pick up on all this? What was his past like?
"This is where I am now. Something you would do well to remember for yourself." He gives me a conflicted look and touches his lips to my forehead, right between my eyebrows.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- How do you think the ziplining ritual builds a sense of community among the Dauntless?
- How do you feel about the simulations that make up stage two of training? Are they beneficial, or even ethical?
- Speaking of ethical, how do you feel about Tris' interesting new relationship with Four, given that he's her instructor?
- Name some simulations you think you would experience!
- Should Tris seek revenge on Molly for the lies she told the Erudite newspaper reporter?
- If you were Divergent and in the Dauntless compound, what would you do to try and hide it? Would you try to think like the Dauntless?
- Was it right for Tris to exaggerate her weakness after the attack to make herself look vulnerable? Would it have been better for her to act tough?
- Should Tris have forgiven Al for betraying her?
- Did Tris handle Al's death appropriately? If not, how would you have expected her to act differently?
