On a scale of one to five stars, I have to say I would give this book a 3.9.
Although this wasn't my all-time favorite book, the book Divergent is written in a manner that everyone can understand. It has captivating details that pull you through endless cliffhangers and make you want to continually read more.
Tris's character was a little underdeveloped in her thought process and overall personality, but I do think it relates well enough to a teenage girl. This book allows us to follow Tris throughout her journey as a Divergent, and her constant live in fear. Tris undergoes many hardships and willingly pulls through all of them. She is emotionally torn between her decision of family, or her faction, yet she can't decide which faction she belongs; if any at that.
This books stretches from a regular thought process and allows us to think of alternatives to American Government. The symbolism throughout this book is mind-blowing, and not obvious. Veronica Roth did a fantastic job incorporating personal experiences with Dystopian fiction and has completed one of the most creative books yet. This book pushes you out of your comfort zone and allows you to voice your opinion on matters that usually don't occur. It gives a person many outlets to consider, and describes all sides of the matter, allowing your opinion to be the final dictator.
I've enjoyed considering alternate possibilities to the way of life. Also, reading a romance novel built in to all of the dramatic fiction. It was the perfect balance between knowledge and expanding ones mind, and entertainment for the thrill of events. I would recommend this book not only for the intense symbolism, but also for a new approach on thought processes.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Chapter Thirty-nine
The shot is never fired though... Tobias finds a way to manipulate the simulation and slowly drops the gun. He feels awful for what he's done and he cries on her shoulder. They are reunited and he says the reason he fought the simulation was because he heard her voice. Awwwww.<3
After a few moments of love, Tris looks at the screen where Marcus, Caleb, and Peter are being surrounded by Dauntless Soldiers. Tris tells Tobias to quickly turn off the simulation, and it is completed on the very last second before they would've been killed. The button is pushed and all of the Dauntless soldiers are back to themselves. They cry for realizing that what they did in the simulation was true, yet they are still confused; some angry at being controlled.
They head back down to the stairs where Caleb, Peter, and Marcus are when Marcus comes up and hugs Tobias. He cringes from the embrace and Tris steps in between them, holding a gun up at Marcus. Caleb intrudes, but Tris backs him off when she tells him that not all the Erudite reports were wrong.
After a few moments of love, Tris looks at the screen where Marcus, Caleb, and Peter are being surrounded by Dauntless Soldiers. Tris tells Tobias to quickly turn off the simulation, and it is completed on the very last second before they would've been killed. The button is pushed and all of the Dauntless soldiers are back to themselves. They cry for realizing that what they did in the simulation was true, yet they are still confused; some angry at being controlled.
"Five more seconds. Five seconds of weakness and then I get up. One, two. Three, four. Five."
They head back down to the stairs where Caleb, Peter, and Marcus are when Marcus comes up and hugs Tobias. He cringes from the embrace and Tris steps in between them, holding a gun up at Marcus. Caleb intrudes, but Tris backs him off when she tells him that not all the Erudite reports were wrong.
They head back to the train and Tris and Tobias are together. Tris explains how she got to the Dauntless compound and how her parents died. They died for her and she feels like that's important. They are on a long train ride to the Amity headquarters and it ends with Tris and Tobias kissing, her thinking about the factions future and what will happen next.
"We are creatures of loss; we have left everything behind. I have no home, no path, and no certainty. I am no longer Tris, the selfless, or Tris, the brave. I suppose that now, I must become more than either."
The End.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Tris keeps begging for Tobias to see her, to remember who she is. She finally drops her weapon after Tobias threatens to shoot. Then she lunges at him and she knocks the gun out of the way. They are punching and kicking each other and then Tris gets a hold of a gun.
She points it at him and he just lunges at her. She doesn't want to shoot him because this comes personal, this is Tobias, she can't do this. She screams in frustration, begging him to see her, to hear her. She decides that she cannot kill him because she knows if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't kill her...
She points it at him and he just lunges at her. She doesn't want to shoot him because this comes personal, this is Tobias, she can't do this. She screams in frustration, begging him to see her, to hear her. She decides that she cannot kill him because she knows if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't kill her...
"There is a power in self-sacrifice.."
Tris does what she has done before in her fear landscape, and gives up her gun to Tobias. The barrel soon reaches her forehead. She reaches out one final time to feel his heartbeat. Then the bullet clicks into the barrel....
Chapter Thirty-seven
Tris picks Caleb, Marcus, and Tris's dad to go with her to the Dauntless compound. I think it works out well that Tris is Divergent and that she is partly Erudite, so she can assume some of Jeanine's thoughts about placement and her future plans. They soon make it to Tris's lifestyle and they have to learn how to jump on and off trains, and then they jump off that seven story building, to the back-entrance of the Dauntless compound.
(Random thought.) Does anyone else think it's perplexing that Tris's mother was a Dauntless-born, and now Tris transferred to Dauntless? Also, that Tris's dad was Erudite-born and Caleb was going to become and Erudite? Their parents also chose Abnegation, while the kids chose to leave Abnegation. This seems coincidental but it comes back to the whole Nature vs. Nurture. They all were affiliated with Abnegation, and maybe they were all Divergent because of it.
They enter the compound and Peter is the soldier who is guarding the entryway to the pit. So Tris catches him off guard, then ends up shooting his arm because of the anger she has built up against him. She decides to spare his life though because he knows where the control room is. Peter isn't under the simulation and he explains it's because they said he didn't have to undergo the simulation, but I think it's because he is Divergent also. Why would they spare the number 5 initiate anyways?
Her encounters with Marcus are unsettling, and I've come to the conclusion that Marcus is evil. enough said.
As she climbs the stairs to the control room, she has to fire at many guards, and it turns out that one of them is Divergent too and kind of helps to lead her to the control room. They are almost through all of the guards when they soon become surrounded and Tris's dad runs in the wrong direction, trapping himself in a dead end. He ends up dying, also to save Tris and we'll never know what he has to say!
She finally makes it to the control room, where Tobias is sitting intently at the computers. There are many of them, all running through numbers and codes. There are many crazy monitors which show what is happening back in Abnegation.
(Random thought.) Does anyone else think it's perplexing that Tris's mother was a Dauntless-born, and now Tris transferred to Dauntless? Also, that Tris's dad was Erudite-born and Caleb was going to become and Erudite? Their parents also chose Abnegation, while the kids chose to leave Abnegation. This seems coincidental but it comes back to the whole Nature vs. Nurture. They all were affiliated with Abnegation, and maybe they were all Divergent because of it.
They enter the compound and Peter is the soldier who is guarding the entryway to the pit. So Tris catches him off guard, then ends up shooting his arm because of the anger she has built up against him. She decides to spare his life though because he knows where the control room is. Peter isn't under the simulation and he explains it's because they said he didn't have to undergo the simulation, but I think it's because he is Divergent also. Why would they spare the number 5 initiate anyways?
Her encounters with Marcus are unsettling, and I've come to the conclusion that Marcus is evil. enough said.
 |
| This is a skyscraper in North Korea. It resembles Marcus's facade about being the leader of Abnegation and seeming selfless, when on the inside he is hollow and has problems. |
As she climbs the stairs to the control room, she has to fire at many guards, and it turns out that one of them is Divergent too and kind of helps to lead her to the control room. They are almost through all of the guards when they soon become surrounded and Tris's dad runs in the wrong direction, trapping himself in a dead end. He ends up dying, also to save Tris and we'll never know what he has to say!
She finally makes it to the control room, where Tobias is sitting intently at the computers. There are many of them, all running through numbers and codes. There are many crazy monitors which show what is happening back in Abnegation.
"Now, preparing to jump off a moving train is nothing, because I have done more difficult things in the past few weeks than most people will in a lifetime. And yet none of it compares to what I am about to do in the Dauntless compound."
Chapter Thirty-six
Two Dauntless soldiers are following Tris, even after her mother drew all that attention. She kills the first one with ease, but then she recognizes the second. Not a man-soldier, but a boy with shaggy hair; her friend Will. She begins screaming with guilt, as she chooses her life over his and sends a bullet straight through his head. Afterwards she practically collapses and wails with sadness. Sorry that I have to say this, but that is the dumbest thing you could do right now! Your own mom just died in order to save you, and now you're going to risk it by screaming so everyone can hear you!? Dumb. Just, dumb.
She makes it to the building and knocks the pattern on the door. Caleb answers and takes her downstairs where she sees her father for the first time since the ceremony. Caleb is back in Abnegation clothes and she asks how he got there. Caleb researched the simulation serum and discovered Jeanines plan for war on Abnegation, so he dropped out of Erudite and is now factionless. But his dad refuses that, he is a part of them still...
They soon remove the bullet from Tris's arm and Tris explains what is really happening to the Dauntless people. She explains that they are in a simulation and that they have no control over their actions. They are just the tools of Abnegation.
Tris meets Marcus, Tobias's father, and explains how they need to wake up the soldiers in order to stop everything. They are going to make a plan to destroy the computers that are controlling everyone. This will stop the war.
 |
| Hahaha. If you've ever heard me talk about 'The Hunger Games' movie. This scene I laughed because her sobbing was so ridiculous. You're getting hunted by like 15 other tributes and you're screaming your head off. Yeah. That's smart. |
She makes it to the building and knocks the pattern on the door. Caleb answers and takes her downstairs where she sees her father for the first time since the ceremony. Caleb is back in Abnegation clothes and she asks how he got there. Caleb researched the simulation serum and discovered Jeanines plan for war on Abnegation, so he dropped out of Erudite and is now factionless. But his dad refuses that, he is a part of them still...
They soon remove the bullet from Tris's arm and Tris explains what is really happening to the Dauntless people. She explains that they are in a simulation and that they have no control over their actions. They are just the tools of Abnegation.
Tris meets Marcus, Tobias's father, and explains how they need to wake up the soldiers in order to stop everything. They are going to make a plan to destroy the computers that are controlling everyone. This will stop the war.
"Eric called Al's death brave, and he was wrong. My mother's death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn't just brave that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, without hesitation, and without appearing to consider another option."
Chapter Thirty-five
Tris wakes up in a glass tank and slowly, the water starts rising up from the bottom. She realizes that they're going to make her face her fear and actually die for it. This is the most absolute cruel thing any person could ever do to another. I know that there are bad people out there, and they do absolutely horrible things, but this is a new low. They are using her own mental and emotional fears, and using them against her as a form of punishment for something she can't control. I thought that the Erudite believed in, "A calm mind is a clear mind," not, let's try this experiment when we put an innocent person in her own fear until she dies. That doesn't sound very calm or clearing to me.
Tris decides that she is going to face this bravely and not give them a show. As the water continues to rise, she sinks to the bottom of the tank and lets all her air out. She will not allow any body part to fight it, she will make it come faster.
Okay, you know someone has to save her because there's four chapters left, and on top of that two whole books! It turns out to be her mom? How did she find her? How did she not get shot? Her mom also has a gun and is shooting people, Tris also notices that she has a tattoo under her arm. Pretty much, her mom is bad*ss!
Her mom says that she's been watching people get off the train and her intent was to save her all along. Tris gets one quick question in about why her mom knows about being divergent and it turns out that it's because she is Divergent; she had to leave Dauntless and find a safer faction. The Dauntless can't be controlled and that scares the leaders of factions, that's why they are such a threat.
I still don't understand why they would just make a Divergent faction, and if they really are afraid of not being able to control them, just make them factionless! They have no power then! I don't understand why humans mind's are programmed to think "worst-case-scenario" and to be cruel. There are simple solutions to a lot of problems in the world.
Back to the story, Tris's mom advises her to head to a building and knock a pattern, that's where her dad and brother are, and in order for a distraction Tris's mom runs into a crowd of Dauntless soldiers. Tris won't leave her mother, but after watching her get shot to death, she finds her inner strength and makes her way to the building.
"If I refuse to give up now, it will look brave to whoever watches me with that camera, but sometimes it isn't fighting that's brave, it's facing the death you know is coming."
Okay, you know someone has to save her because there's four chapters left, and on top of that two whole books! It turns out to be her mom? How did she find her? How did she not get shot? Her mom also has a gun and is shooting people, Tris also notices that she has a tattoo under her arm. Pretty much, her mom is bad*ss!
"I stare at her. I sat next to her at the kitchen table, twice a day, for sixteen years, and never once did I consider the possibility that she could have been anything but Abnegation-born. How well did I actually know my mother?"
I still don't understand why they would just make a Divergent faction, and if they really are afraid of not being able to control them, just make them factionless! They have no power then! I don't understand why humans mind's are programmed to think "worst-case-scenario" and to be cruel. There are simple solutions to a lot of problems in the world.
Back to the story, Tris's mom advises her to head to a building and knock a pattern, that's where her dad and brother are, and in order for a distraction Tris's mom runs into a crowd of Dauntless soldiers. Tris won't leave her mother, but after watching her get shot to death, she finds her inner strength and makes her way to the building.
"Human beings as a whole cannot be good for long before the bad creeps back in and poisons us again."
Chapter Thirty-four
Tris gets shot in the shoulder but Tobias refuses to leave her behind. Aww.(: He supports her as they are captured and turned into Jeanine. Jeanine talks to them about their Divergence and they know that they will be sent to their deaths. But Jeanine doesn't want to kill Tobias, she wants to do tests on him. She believes that his Divergence is weaker then his Abnegation and hoping to pull through on how to control Divergent people. Tris on the other hand, is being sent to her death...
Jeanine tells them about her war plans and how she wants to be in control of everyone. She wants to be the new leader of the future government. Jeanine also fears that most people from Abnegation are Divergent and she won't be able to control them as easily as everyone else. As Jeanine is talking, Tris realizes that she is more machine than maniac. Tris is just the next thing to cross off on Jeanine's list.
When Jeanine sends to have Tris killed, Tobias catches her off guard and begins strangling her. But then they guards catch up and insert another simulation serum into the side of his next. Tris is astonished what happens next.
Fours eyes become dull and lifeless and when she tries to speak to him to come back, Tobias has no idea who she is and he becomes angry at Tris. She can't let go of him and she screams with tears covering her face as they pull her out of the room.
Jeanine tells them about her war plans and how she wants to be in control of everyone. She wants to be the new leader of the future government. Jeanine also fears that most people from Abnegation are Divergent and she won't be able to control them as easily as everyone else. As Jeanine is talking, Tris realizes that she is more machine than maniac. Tris is just the next thing to cross off on Jeanine's list.
When Jeanine sends to have Tris killed, Tobias catches her off guard and begins strangling her. But then they guards catch up and insert another simulation serum into the side of his next. Tris is astonished what happens next.
Fours eyes become dull and lifeless and when she tries to speak to him to come back, Tobias has no idea who she is and he becomes angry at Tris. She can't let go of him and she screams with tears covering her face as they pull her out of the room.
"He is gone. Controlled by the simulation, he will now murder the people he called innocent not three minutes ago. Jeanine killing him would have hurt less than this."
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