Chapter Six

After the ceremony, the dauntless run from the building and Beatrice absolutely loves it. In Abnegation they were taught to be patient and never run because it was practically self-indulging. I believe she will have a much better time in Dauntless than she would ever have in Abnegation.

I thought it was pretty redundant that if the children chose Dauntless, but couldn't jump onto a

moving train that they became factionless. Also, the people in Dauntless are much more accepting of Beatrice's curiosity and they seem more like her.

They reach their destination and have to jump off a moving train to a building and one of the kids.... doesn't make it to the building. Beatrice makes all the jumps and it the first one to complete initiation by jumping off a skyscraper into a tiny hole in the bottom of the street. At that moment they ask Beatrice her name and she decides to rename herself Tris.

 

"Abnegation discourages anything done strictly for my own enjoyment, and that is what this is: my lungs burning, my muscles aching, the fierce pleasure of a flat-out sprint."

Chapter Five

(Background Information:) The choosing ceremony begins when the kids are lined up in alphabetical order and called up, one by one, in reverse alphabetical order. When your name is called, you walk to the center of the stage and cut your hand with a knife. On the stage, there are five circles, one for each faction; in order for you to be apart of a faction you have to sprinkle the blood from your hand into a specific circle. Then, you have to pass initiation to be officially that member.

There is a lot of weight on her decision as a faction. This one decision changes her life forever and I feel like I can connect to that. It seems like everything I do for school now is going to have an effect on which college I go to, and depending on which college I go to could potentially change my life completely. A lot of teachers are putting weight on the fact of knowing what you want to do and where you want to go for college, but I have zero clue about any one of those things. It's just scary that people around me have it all figured out, when I barely know a field that I would choose.

The factions were chosen long ago, to stop wars, and each faction has a different belief on what caused discord between people.

People who blamed Aggression became Amity.
People who blamed Ignorance became Erudite.
People who blamed Duplicity became Candor.
People who blamed Selfishness became Abnegation.
And finally, people who blamed Cowardice became Dauntless.

Beatrice is scared at the thought of leaving her family, only because family's become repulsed to the children who switch and, the family's have one chance to visit, but most don't because they are so disappointed.

First Beatrice's brother is called, Caleb, and he goes up to the stage and picks Erudite. What? Beatrice was always convinced that he was Abnegation, from the moment he was born. He was always selfless and never thought for himself. At this moment Beatrice is positive that she will pick Abnegation, just for her family's sake.

Beatrice is called and when she goes up to the stage and cuts her hand, her blood drips on the carpet. I thought that: that would make her factionless or Divergent, because technically she wouldn't have a specific faction. Maybe nobody saw her blood drip? But then she shoves her hand over to Dauntless. As she looks over at her family she sees that her dad is in disbelief and very sad, but she thinks she sees a slight smile on her mother's face.

One final thought I had was, If your family doesn't accept and let you be yourself than, they're not really your family at all, are they?

"My blood drips onto the carpet between the two bowls. 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 Four

Abnegation all live in equality. They all dress the same, have the same houses, have the same rules, and they all think that simplicity is most comforting. Although, dystopian societies often don't have religious beliefs, they still pray to god before they eat their meals. I assume that all of Abnegation have these same beliefs also.

When Beatrice is walking home after her test, she runs into her brother, Susan, and Robert, Susan's brother. Beatrice has noticed the Flirtationship between Caleb and Susan for years and assumes that they will get married eventually and have kids. Beatrice also thinks that if she stays in Abnegation, she'll marry Robert and have kids, just like they're supposed to. We also discover that after the choosing ceremony, you can only see your family one time, if they decide to come, they might be too betrayed. Otherwise, you never see them again. There's no reasoning with Abnegation, there's only one way and that's their way. This must be the reason that I'm in Candor and we constantly argue.(:

At dinner, Beatrice's father talks about his day at work. The council is made up of 50 Abnegation because of  selfless ways. There are also four other representatives from each faction in case there are any other problems that need to be dealt with. Beatrice has been taught that if the people aren't grouped into factions that it will result in war. Except.... I disagree, because the tests split people into factions based on their personalities. Personalities decide on what your political views are, your religious beliefs, and whatever is thought to create wars, etc. (What we were discussing in class today.) I believe that each person is different, and even if they believe in one thing that agrees generally with their personality, that not all the beliefs will be the same and because of this, still cause dispute and war.

This represents the different personalities that everyone has. No one will ever be the same. Ever.

Beatrice is recognizing who she is slowly. At dinner she is more curious than any Abnegation should be and I'm exactly the same way. If someone mentions something that i'm interested in, I have to find out more. But, when Beatrice does this she gets shunned. The fact that she can't talk to anyone about the test would be so difficult for me. I can't figure out anything unless I talk to someone about it. I couldn't do that....

"It will require a great act of selflessness to choose Abnegation, or a great act of courage to choose Dauntless. And maybe just choosing one over the other will prove that I belong."

Personality Test

Chapter Three

Tori, Beatrice's test giver, says that her test results are strange and she needs to go talk to somebody. Once she comes back she states that Beatrice's test results are inconclusive and Beatrice becomes agitated and scared. Tori states that Beatrice is Divergent. This means that she isn't one faction or the other, she is three factions combined. Beatrice is Dauntless, Erudite, and Abnegation. Beatrice doesn't see a problem in this until Tori explains that she can't tell anyone, ever about the tests results. Being Divergent is Dangerous and she needs to just pick one faction.

But, picking one faction over the other means, faking who she is the rest of her life, or leaving her entire family behind. She knows she has to pick. She just doesn't know what yet.

Beatrice is unhappy to make a decision but she says she'd pick any faction over being factionless forever. Those people end up living on the streets and being bus drivers or janitors. Beatrice says she'd rather die than be factionless.

On her way home from the test, she runs into a factionless male who says she looks young to be alone. She tells him that she's sixteen and he asks if her ceremony is tomorrow. As she nods he say, "Choose wisely, little girl."

Those words seem kind of haunting because it feels as if he knows something that she doesn't. Something that could really influence her behavior and choice.


DIVERGENT = DANGEROUS




"It's my choice now, no matter what the test says. Abnegation. Dautless. Erudite. Divergent."

 


Chapter Two

Beatrice is going to school to see what faction she is and it turns out, all kids are terrified of this test. Like completely scared that they won't turn out to be who they think they are. That's the best part of the test though, is figuring out who you really are and finally being able to be where you belong. There's no point in suffering in a place where no one understands you. I wish that there was a test like this in real life, it would make things a lot easier. Like, I wouldn't want to make any big decisions over it, but it would be nice to have it as a safety net.

The testing rooms are covered in mirrors, although this doesn't seem fair because Abnegation aren't supposed to look in mirrors more than once per like three months.

Once again the time period of this book doesn't seem to be right. They're still using dentist chairs and electrodes and it's just bothering me that the technology isn't as advanced. Except during the test when they give her this specific dream and can talk to her, that seems to be pretty advanced.

Beatrice is in the lunchroom that she was previously in. She's alone and she could hear the woman's voice. She had an option between the knife or cheese and then this random, angry dog comes in to attack her. (If I haven't annoyed you yet with this, I have just been bitten by a dog on Saturday and it isn't very much fun.) After she calms the dog down, a little girl runs in and she tackles the dog, trying to save her. Then a new scenario pops up and she's on the bus with a strange man that's very mad at a murderer in the paper. He asks Beatrice if she knows him and she lies and says no.

According to this test you can decide what faction you are... Candor- what you say to the man on the bus, Abnegation- saving the little girl, Dautless- picking the knife, Amity- picking the cheese, and Erudite- if you didn't pick the cheese of knife, you had to calm the dog down.

Ali has just taught me that dogs apparently love cheese? It's apparently very odd that I didn't know that. Also another random thought that I had was when they asked her to drink the liquid and lie down, it sounded exactly like a colt. I probably would have never drank the liquid without knowing what it was first.

Update:



Candor- Doesn't give the test even though it would make sense that the honest people give the tests.










Abnegation- Beatrice is nothing like her brother and her brother is Abnegation.

Dauntless- Make fun of Abnegation, jump off trains, and have crazy clothing and style.

Amity- Always wear red, orange, or yellow.

Erudite- Wear glasses and look very intelligent. Always carry around books, always want to know more.









"I press air from my lungs and tip the contents of the vial into my mouth. My eyes close."

Chapter One

In the beginning of this book, Beatrice has scheduled meetings so she can see herself in the mirror. It's turns out that because she's Abnegation, she can't look at herself in the mirror. Abnegation is all about being selfless, right? Since when does looking in a mirror make you a selfish person? Beatrice says that she also isn't supposed to look at herself because of the curiosity of it all. But why does being curious make you selfish? Being curious is a natural thing to all humans, it is one of our needs to know more about things. To not allow Abnegation to be curious, is a little ridiculous.


Humans will always have the curiosity to know more..

Beatrice is an Abnegation, yet she's going to take an aptitude test in a couple days...Apparently even if you grow up with your family in one faction, you still can change to another. But, woudn't it be most likely that if two Abnegation had a kid that they would also be an Abnegation? Beatrice's is convinced her brother is an Abnegation, and he is older. Why are they taking the test on the same day? Are they like twins or something?

If the setting of this book is supposed to be in the future, why are we still driving buses, cars, and trains? Don't you think things would have advanced a little more quickly than that? What kind of future is this? And it isn't possible that this is the near future because this is so far away from how the government and schooling works now.

This is what the future should really look like. (:

I found it a little odd that all the factions dress differently and hang out in their little cliques during school. It's also pretty ironic that Abnegation gets discriminated against, considering they are the ones that only do things for other people.

Update:
Candor = Honest. (Wear black and White clothing.)
Abnegation = Selfless. (Wear gray robes, seem to all have blonde hair, don't look in mirros, don't celebrate birthdays,  and aren't supposed to be curious.)
Dautless = Brave.
Amity = Peaceful.
Erudite = Intelligent.


"The Candor man wears a black suit with a white tie- Candor standard uniform. Their faction values honesty and sees the truth as black and white, so that is what they wear."