Divergent (novel)

Divergent

the US edition Hardcover 2011
Author	Veronica Roth
Language	English
Series	The Divergent trilogy
Genre	Science fiction/ Young adult/ dystopian
Publisher	Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins
Publication date	May 3, 2011
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	487
ISBN	0-06-202402-7
Followed by	Insurgent (2012)

Divergent, published May 3, 2011, is the first book of the proposed Divergent trilogy, written by Veronica Roth. It is a dystopian thriller written for teens. Told from the perspective of Beatrice Prior, a teenage girl, Divergent is set in Chicago.

Plot synopsis

In a dystopian Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior has always felt different from the rest of her family. She was raised in the Abnegation faction, meaning that she has been trained to be selfless. Despite her plain and altruistic upbringing, being selfless has never come naturally to Beatrice. She is conflicted by her feelings of loneliness and extraneousness.

Beatrice takes her aptitude test and soon thereafter learns that she is Divergent, meaning she is not suited for just one faction, but instead three. She is told beforehand never to share this information with anyone.

During the Choosing Ceremony, in which all 16-year-olds decide which faction they will join, Beatrice and her brother, Caleb, both select rival factions. Beatrice immediately begins initiation into the Dauntless faction, which begins with a challenge of jumping off of a skyscraper.

Soon after her arrival in Dauntless, Beatrice befriends Christina, a loquacious Candor girl with a penchant for brutal honesty, Will, a studious Erudite boy, and Al, an emotionally volatile Candor boy. Among her enemies are Peter, a violent, menacing, and viciously competitive Candor boy, and his two sidekicks, Molly and Drew. Tris also develops a crush on one of the Dauntless instructors, Four.

A large component of the Dauntless initiation process is physical fighting, and while she is beaten into unconsciousness by Peter during one fight, she begins to become stronger and a better fighter as she triumphs over fellow initiate Myra in a fight. Her friend Al, despite being large and physically brutal, does not believe all of the fighting and violence is necessary for the initiates to learn. He reveals that he only chose Dauntless to make him happy, and wishes it would maintain its key values of altruistic bravery, rather than attempting to eradicate cowardice.

Toward the end of stage one, Tris physically becomes stronger and fitter and begins to win fights. On the last day of stage one, she is publicly humiliated and sexually harassed by Peter, Molly, and Drew, resulting in anger. She promptly beats Molly unconscious without guilt. Tris is later quite surprised to find, during rankings, that she ranked near the bottom but will not be cut and become factionless.

During the margin between stage one and stage two, Tris is awoken by a stirring on the other side of the room. She discovers that it is fellow initiate and Erudite transfer Edward, who was stabbed in the eye with a butter knife by a jealous Peter. He and his girlfriend Myra quit and become factionless, bumping Tris' ranking up to fifth and Peter's up to first.

As stage two unfolds, Tris further develops her relationship with Four, and they grow closer but more seclusive. Stage two centers largely on emotional challenges and every day the initiates are put under a monitored simulation in which they literally face their fears. The simulations turn out to have very drastic emotional effects on the initiates, but Tris' Divergence appears to psychologically set her apart from her fellow initiates, and while initiation is stressful, simulations are much less challenging for her. Tris ranks high at the end of stage two, prompting jealousy from Peter, Molly, and Drew. In between stages two and three, Tris is attacked this time by Peter, Drew, and Al, in which she is hung over a chasm and sexually harassed. Four, however, comes to her rescue and takes her to his apartment in Dauntless.

In the days following, Tris' relationship with Four proves to be advantageous—she learns that stage three focused on a more advanced version of the simulations in which the initiates will be ranked according to how many fears show up in their fear landscapes. She and Four go through his fear landscape, and there she learns that Four was originally a transfer from Abnegation named Tobias, who transferred to Abnegation due to a history of physical abuse from his father. Their relationship steadily grows more intimate, though publicly Tobias begins to shrug her off to avoid questioning and potential claims of unfairness from the other initiates.

Tris ranks highest in the end of stage three. After her fear landscape she is injected with a newer version of the serum, one which causes the non-Divergent to sleepwalk and be better suited for murdering. The Erudite, who long have held a grudge against the Abnegation, stage a large slaughter using the Dauntless as brain-dead, homicidal soldiers. Tris and Tobias, who are both Divergent, are not affected by the simulation and instead work toward saving the Abnegation, including Tris' parents. They attempt to escape but as a result Tris is shot in the shoulder and they are captured. The leader of the Erudite then injects Tobias with a new and improved serum that can effect the Divergent. Tobias is then taken away to the "control room" and Tris is taken to what will be her execution. Tris escapes execution threats unscathed with her mother, though without Tobias.

Tris' mother is fatally shot by Dauntless soldiers to provide Tris the distraction she needs to meet up with a group of Abnegation members including Caleb, her father, and Marcus, Tobias' father. Eventually the four of them set out to locate the control room and free the Dauntless from their mind control. They find a fully awake Peter, who was removed from the simulation by Dauntless leaders and he reveals the location of the Control room when put under severe duress but begs Tris to take him with her.

Tris locates the building where the control room is, but her father is shot on the way there also sacrificing his life to save hers. Tris finds Tobias, still under Erudite control, in the control room. and briefly fights to break him free from the simulation. She succeeds, despite coming dangerously close to shooting him. Once freed from his simulation, he works to free the rest of the Dauntless. Once he succeeds he, Tris, Marcus, Peter and Caleb board a train to the Amity sector of the city, where they will hope to find peace in the next novel in the trilogy, Insurgent.

Characters

Main Article: List of Divergent characters

Beatrice 'Tris' Prior is the narrator of the series Divergent. She is the sixteen year old youngest child of the Prior couple and younger sister of Caleb. During the aptitude test she have, she learned that she is 'Divergent', those individual that could be on not just one faction but also to other factions. In the end, she choose to be a Dauntless member.

Four is Tris' instructor and love interest. He is two years older than Tris and despite of it, he falls in love with his very own student. He protects Tris from the others by not talking with her with romance in public, it will cause an issue that Tris' rank is because of his favoritism. His name being Four is revealed why he is called with that name.

Reception

Divergent received mixed-to-positive reviews and remained on the bestsellers' list for over 12 weeks non-consecutively.

• "...brisk pacing, lavish flights of imagination and writing that occasionally startles with fine detail... Divergent clearly has thrills, but it also movingly explores a more common adolescent anxiety — the painful realization that coming into one’s own sometimes means leaving family behind, both ideologically and physically." --New York Times
• "B+; I'm hooked — and ready for the sequel." --Entertainment Weekly
• “You’ll be up all night with Divergent, a brainy thrill-ride of a novel.” (BookPage )
• “A memorable, unpredictable journey from which it is nearly impossible to turn away.”— (Publishers Weekly (starred review)
• "It has just the right amount of suspense to keep you wanting more, and plenty of twists that you will not expect" - The Guardian

Adaptation

The same studio who produced Twilight has bought the rights for Divergent in March, 2011. Evan Daugherty will be in charge of the adaptation.

References

• "Summit Signs Scribe for 'Divergent' Adaptation (Exclusive)." The Hollywood Reporter. Accessed October 2011.
• "Book review: Divergent." Ballina Shire Advocate. Accessed October 2011.
• "The Scary Future, the Embarrassing Past." The Wall Street Journal. Accessed October 2011.
• Project MUSE - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books - Divergent (review) Project MUSE Journals Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Volume 64, Number 9, May 2011 Divergent (review) Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Volume 64, Number 9, May 2011 E-ISSN: 1558-6766 Print ISSN: 0008-9036 DOI: 10.1353/bcc.2011.0342 Reviewed by April Spisak Roth, Veronica. Divergent. Tegen/HarperCollins, 2011. [496p]. ISBN 978-0-06-202402-2 Reviewed from galleys R Gr....
• Divergent by Veronica Roth (book #1) review