divergent essay

“The Divergent” by Veronica Roth: Major Themes Essay

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Divergent Novel versus Film

Major themes.

The Divergent is a fictitious story about a society that is divided into factions and a girl who does not fit in any of them. It was authored by an American writer, Veronica Roth, and is set in a dystopian society that originates from Northern America. Published in 2012, the novel was adapted into a film with a similar title in 2014. The book has since received a positive critical reception from critics because of its plot and action.

A movie adapted from a book may be significantly different from each other in the plot and execution. With a film, the things they can do one is limited, unlike in a book where the content is almost limitless. By reading a novel, you can know the author’s thoughts and reasoning that leads to the actions therein. The Divergent contains aspects different from those that are seen in the movie. For instance, the overall pace of the narrative account, violence, actions, and suspense are different between the novel and film.

Most stories feature a violent character who is often the villain and is overcome by the protagonist. Transferring this violence from the book to a movie is very difficult and at the end several aspects are omitted. In the novel, Peter is depicted as very violent and always trying to dominate everyone. He also dislikes Tris, the protagonist or main character in the book. He feels that she is fragile and pathetic and should be subjected to suffering (Roth, 2011). However, in the movie, Peter is not as violent as depicted in the book. Instead, he portrays a sense of humor in the story, which represents him as a relatable character.

Another major difference between the book and the film is the pace of the narrative account. In the novel, the main character (Tris) experiences hardships and beatings from other people like Peter. She admitted in the hospital repeatedly but struggles for a long time in the book than in the movie. Further, in the film, Tris does not experience intense beatings and even heals faster than in the novel. Understandably, the movie moves much quicker to reduce the possibility of boredom among viewers.

Identity and Choice

Divergent is a novel about choosing one’s personality and identity. Since a majority of the characters in this book are teenagers, they are trying to establish self-identity, their character, and social or peer group. Roth comes up with many crucial questions that dwell on identity: “how do we choose an identity? What are some of the merits of choosing the identity of someone else? And what are the effects of changing identities?” (Roth, 2011, p. 98). In the fictional angry society of the Divergent , a person chooses his/her identity once in a lifetime. This process can be seen by the reader as absurd. When the residents in the city turn 16 years, there is a very complicated and detailed ritual that marks the transition in their lives. They have to choose one of the five “groups”: Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, Candor, and Erudite (Roth, 2011). The social norm is that they have lived with the chosen group for the rest of their lives.

Each group above tallies with a particular personality type in this society. For instance, people grouped as the Dauntless are believed to be brave, bold, and aggressive (Roth, 2011). For this reason, the young adults have no option but to permanently make a choice on what type of person they want to be at the very age when they are supposed to be trying with many diverse identities. The reason why Tris Prior turns out to be a sympathetic and relatable champion in the Divergent is because she refuses to stick to one identity (Roth, 2011). She is not clear on the type of person she wants to be; at times, she sees herself as a Dauntless, but in another instant she considers herself an Abnegation member – the type of people who are selfless and puritanical.

Women and Sexuality

The novel Divergent has been praised by many because it champions for women. Tris Prior can be seen as a powerful and heroic character who throughout the novel protects the weak and saves many lives. The most important aspect is that Tris’s heroism is proportionally attached to the fact that she is a young woman. Her gender advantageously gives her a powerful tool to fight evil.

It is evident that the novel is set in an environment or rather society that openly supports a masculine structure. The men who are the majority in the government are seen to celebrate violence, aggression, and other qualities that are less associated with women than men (Roth, 2011). When the protagonist arrives at dauntless, most people take her for granted only because she is a woman. According to the societal structure in the Dauntless , Tris should be a timid, subservient, meek female. On the contrary, she tries her best throughout the novel to challenge the masculine society. Her most impressive feat in this society is seen during the capture flag game. Here, she quickly thinks of finding her opponents before they could reach her.

Tris’s gender is crucial but not related to her prowess in the issue of sexuality in the novel. At some point in the book, Tris realizes her sexual desire through her relationship with Tobias. As the novel climaxes, her romantic desire turns out to be her weapon at the same time a source of pleasure. When Tobias conspires to kill her, she is able to convince him against the evil plot by communicating her feelings and this action brings him back to his senses.

Fear and Bravery

Tris Prior, during her times with the Dauntless , she learns how to contain her fears – an important lesson learned from her mentors. For the Dauntless , cowardice is a fundamental flaw inherent in the human character. Therefore, the Divergent shows us how the protagonist became of age by learning how to subdue her fears. The author notes that everyone, without exception, is prone to fright and anxiety. He depicts to the audience how Tris and her peers undergo a rigorous training that turns them fearless. To my realization, every new recruit to the Dauntless is shaken by this trial. To them all, fear is a common denominator and a critical uniting factor. Therefore, if this feeling is described as inherent in humans, then we are required to make sense of our anxieties as we grow up.

Interestingly, the author suggests that since no one can be entirely brave, people do not need to eliminate all the fears but to come into terms with them fear. During her times in the Dauntless , Tris is injected with hallucinogenic serum (Roth, 2011). The main aim is to make her experience her worst fears but over time, she learns how to handle them. She comes into terms with the fact that she will at times be frightened by some things and the only way to cope with them is by accepting them as realities.

Societal Classes

In the Divergent , the lives of the citizens in the society is determined by the faction one to which one belongs. They are only granted one freedom in their lifetime: choosing the individual faction. Despite this norm, one’s decisions in respective factions always follow a particular predetermined role. For instance, the Erudite are teachers, the Candor resolve disputes, the Amity are counselors and farmers, the Abnegation are leaders, and the Dauntless includes the security people (Roth, 2011). Therefore, for one to enjoy leisure activities of their choice, they must be determined by their faction, and they are supposed to marry within this very group. Should one show cause for not fitting in a faction, then they are pronounced redundant.

Most of the discourse in the Divergent originates from the citizens who are not contented. As a result, they are so arbitrarily placed in these functional groups, whereby they are forced to fight for more freedom than that existing within the social groups. But then you may ask, what will happen there after they successfully gain their full freedom? Therefore, the novel depicts the bare truth that as much as people are forced into permanent classes, dissatisfaction and discontent are likely to arise.

Roth, V. (2012). Divergent . Katherine Tegen Books.

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Veronica Roth

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In a way, Divergent is a book about choosing who you are. Because most of the characters in the novel are young adults, they’re trying to find identities for themselves and choose what kind of personality to have, or, in another sense, which “club” to belong to. Roth raises many important questions about identity: How do we choose an identity? What are some of the advantages of choosing the same identity as someone else? What happens if we want to change identities?

In the fictional futuristic society of Divergent , people choose their identities once and only once: a process that readers will recognize as absurd. When the city’s residents turn 16, there’s an elaborate ritual that culminates in the 16-year-olds choosing one of five “factions” to live with for the rest of their lives: Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite, and Amity. Each faction corresponds to a specific personality type—for example, the Dauntless are bold, aggressive, and brave. In short, then, the city’s teenagers are forced to make a permanent choice about what kind of people they want to be, at the exact age when they should be experimenting with many different identities. As anyone who’s been a teenager will know, it’s impossible to decide who you are at the age of 16: inevitably, whatever decision you make at that age will come to seem like the wrong one.

Part of what makes Tris Prior such a sympathetic and relatable protagonist in Divergent is her refusal to stick to one faction: just like the average reader, she can’t make up her mind what kind of person she wants to be. At times, she thinks she “truly” belongs among the Dauntless; at others, she’s convinced that she’s most comfortable among the people of Abnegation, who are selfless and Puritanical.

Although only a tiny fraction of people in the city are Divergent (according to the novel), Tris comes to realize that nobody around her has a “truly” fixed identity: in other words, everyone is at least a little Divergent. The characters who seem the most quintessentially Dauntless or Abnegation, such as Tobias or Natalie , Tris’s mother, are revealed to have other identities, hidden beneath the ones they display to the public. The novel’s point isn’t that Natalie is really a Dauntless pretending to be Abnegation, or Abnegation pretending to be Dauntless. Rather, the suggestion is that nobody is Dauntless or Abnegation 100 percent of the time. People’s identities change constantly, and forcing people to choose one identity for themselves—particularly at such an early age—only leads to frustration. In the end, we see Tris embracing this truth. Throughout the book, she’s bounced back and forth between two or three different factions—in the novel’s final paragraph, however, she recognizes that she’ll have to “go beyond” any one of these factions. Identity, she comes to see, isn’t an outcome, to be decided on at the age of 16—instead, it’s an ongoing process.

Identity, Choice, and Divergence ThemeTracker

Identity, Choice, and Divergence Quotes in Divergent

We walk together to the kitchen. On these mornings 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.

“Beatrice,” she says, “under no circumstances should you share that information with anyone. This is very important.” “We aren’t supposed to share our results.” I nod. “I know that.” “No.” Tori kneels next to the chair now and places her arms on the armrest. Our faces are inches apart. “This is different. I don’t mean you shouldn’t share them now; I mean you should never share them with anyone, ever, no matter what happens. Divergence is extremely dangerous. You understand?”

“You know why,” my father says. “Because we have something they want. Valuing knowledge above all else results in a lust for power, and that leads men into dark and empty places. We should be thankful that we know better.” I nod. I know I will not choose Erudite, even though my test results suggested that I could. I am my father’s daughter.

Marcus offers me my knife. I look into his eyes—they are dark blue, a strange color—and take it. He nods, and I turn toward the bowls. Dauntless fire and Abnegation stones are both on my left, one in front of my shoulder and one behind. I hold the knife in my right hand and touch the blade to my palm. Gritting my teeth, I drag the blade down. It stings, but I barely notice. I hold both hands to my chest, and my next breath shudders on the way out.

But I understand now what Tori said about her tattoo representing a fear she overcame—a reminder of where she was, as well as a reminder of where she is now. Maybe there is a way to honor my old life as I embrace my new one. “Yes,” I say. “Three of these flying birds.” I touch my collarbone, marking the path of their flight—toward my heart. One for each member of the family I left behind.

“What rank were you?” Peter asks Four. I don’t expect Four to answer, but he looks levelly at Peter and says, “I was first.” “And you chose to do this?” Peter’s eyes are wide and round and dark green. They would look innocent to me if I didn’t know what a terrible person he is. “Why didn’t you get a government job?” “I didn’t want one,” Four says flatly. I remember what he said on the first day, about working in the control room, where the Dauntless monitor the city’s security. It is difficult for me to imagine him there, surrounded by computers. To me he belongs in the training room.

“Cara,” says Will, frowning, “there’s no need to be rude.” “Oh, certainly not. Do you know what she is?” She points at my mother. “She’s a council member’s wife is what she is. She runs the ‘volunteer agency’ that supposedly helps the factionless. You think I don’t know that you’re just hoarding goods to distribute to your own faction while we don’t get fresh food for a month, huh? Food for the factionless, my eye.” “I’m sorry,” my mother says gently. “I believe you are mistaken.” “Mistaken. Ha,” Cara snaps. “I’m sure you’re exactly what you seem. A faction of happy-go-lucky do-gooders without a selfish bone in their bodies. Right.”

Somewhere inside me is a merciful, forgiving person. Somewhere there is a girl who tries to understand what people are going through, who accepts that people do evil things and that desperation leads them to darker places than they ever imagined. I swear she exists, and she hurts for the repentant boy I see in front of me. But if I saw her, I wouldn’t recognize her. “Stay away from me,” I say quietly. My body feels rigid and cold, and I am not angry, I am not hurt, I am nothing. I say, my voice low, “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,” I say. “You coward.”

I don’t know when I accumulated so many secrets. Being Divergent. Fears. How I really feel about my friends, my family, Al, Tobias. Candor initiation would reach things that even the simulations can’t touch; it would wreck me. “Sounds awful,” I say. “I always knew I couldn’t be Candor. I mean, I try to be honest, but some things you just don’t want people to know. Plus, I like to be in control of my own mind.”

She presses her palms together. I see no vicious glee in her eyes, and not a hint of the sadism I expect. She is more machine than maniac. She sees problems and forms solutions based on the data she collects. Abnegation stood in the way of her desire for power, so she found a way to eliminate it. She didn’t have an army, so she found one in Dauntless. She knew that she would need to control large groups of people in order to stay secure, so she developed a way to do it with serums and transmitters. Divergence is just another problem for her to solve, and that is what makes her so terrifying—because she is smart enough to solve anything, even the problem of our existence.

“I’m factionless now.” “No, you aren’t,” my father says sternly. “You’re with us.”

Abnegation and Dauntless are both broken, their members scattered. We are like the factionless now. I do not know what life will be like, separated from a faction—it feels disengaged, like a leaf divided from the tree that gives it sustenance. 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.

171 pages • 5 hours read

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Summary and Study Guide

Divergent is the first installment in a science-fiction trilogy, and is narrated by a 16 year old girl called Beatrice Prior. The setting is a futuristic city which, though not specified in the novel, closely resembles Chicago.  The city has been split into five factions: Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, and Candor. The idea behind this split is that human conflict has not been caused by political ideology, race, religion, or nationalism but by differences between personality types. This prompted people to form factions in an attempt to focus on more positive values. For example, Candor sees dishonesty as the source of conflict and therefore prioritizes telling the truth.

Beatrice has spent her whole life living with her parents and brother in Abnegation, but she has never felt as though she fits in. She recognizes that this faction must look ideal from the outside, as it offers a peaceful existence and everyone helps one another. However, she finds its uniformity confining and does not believe that she is sufficiently selfless to belong in this faction. 

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At the start of the novel, Beatrice, like other people her age, is due to undergo an aptitude test which is supposed to indicate the faction to which she is best suited. This will be followed by a choosing ceremony, in which she will make the ultimate choice: to stay with her family in Abnegation or transfer to a new faction in which she will spend the rest of her life. This is not a choice to be made lightly, as the faction to which a person belongs is seen to be a critical part of who they are and is deemed more important than family. To be factionless is to live a menial, impoverished existence with no sense of belonging, and this is regarded as a fate worse than death.

Though Beatrice completes her aptitude test, her results are puzzling: the test is intended to rule out one faction after another in a linear manner, yet Beatrice shows an aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite. This is not merely an inconclusive result though; it also marks Beatrice out as Divergent. Beatrice does not understand what this means at first, but she understands that it is seen as dangerous and that she should not reveal her status to anyone.

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During the choosing ceremony, Beatrice witnesses her brother—whom she had thought to be a perfect member of Abnegation—transfer to Erudite, and she is shocked. This makes her all the more conscious that she needs to transfer out of Abnegation, though she has no inclination to join Erudite. As is specified near the beginning of the novel, Erudite have been publishing damning reports about Abnegation and there is no love lost between these two factions. One of the root causes is that, though representatives from other factions can have a say in meetings, Abnegation members alone form the city’s governing council. This is because members of this faction are seen to possess the requisite selflessness, leadership skills, and moral fortitude necessary to make important political decisions. However, Erudite resents this monopoly and does not believe that the values of Abnegation adequately represent other factions.

With Erudite out of the question, Beatrice pledges allegiance to the faction to Dauntless, the faction to which she is most drawn. This is a faction that emphasizes strength and courage, and Beatrice has been fascinated by the sight of Dauntless students (who wear black and have multiple tattoos and piercings) leaping from the passing train to attend school. Still, she feels bad about leaving her family, and her father (who had assumed that both of his children would stay in their native faction) looks at her with an accusatory glare. Her mother, however, has already said that she will love her no matter what, and she smiles at Beatrice as she leaves.

Dauntless initiates are expected to hit the ground running, and Beatrice immediately finds herself engaged in nerve-wracking tasks such as jumping from trains and tall buildings. The training process begins with physical tasks such as fighting and target practice, before moving on to facing one’s fears in simulations much like the aptitude test. Beatrice quickly makes friends with some of the other initiates such as Will and Christina, though the faction also includes bullies such as Peter and his sidekicks Molly and Drew.  In addition, Beatrice renames herself Tris to signify the new life that she has embarked upon in Dauntless.  

There are two training instructors: Eric and a young man who goes by the nickname “Four.” Eric is ruthless and brutal, whereas Four is more reserved and intelligent. Tris finds herself attracted to Four, and the feeling proves to be mutual. Four’s true identity is finally revealed when he allows Tris to experience his fear landscape: a simulation that all Dauntless members must go through and that requires facing one’s worst fears. From his fear landscape, Tris learns that Four is in fact Tobias Eaton , who is the son of one of the high-ranking officials in Abnegation. Erudite have been reporting that Tobias left Abnegation because of his father’s cruelty, and this particular claim proves to be correct.

Tobias informs Tris that Dauntless did not used to be so brutal and competitive but, six years ago the leaders changed and instigated a new regime. Eric is an ideal match for Dauntless in its present guise, but Tobias has a different outlook. He believes that selflessness and bravery can be the same thing; moreover, he does not believe in splitting up personality traits into factions, or that the values of one faction are better than those of another.  Indeed, the faults of the faction system reach crisis point when Tobias and Tris realize that Erudite are planning war against Abnegation. Furthermore, Erudite have recruited Dauntless to help them, promising that they will be given a spot in the new government in exchange for their help.

Tris’s ranking has climbed higher and higher throughout the initiation period, and, once she has faced her own fear landscape, she finishes as the top-ranked initiate. However, the celebration period is short lived, as Tris realizes that the serum that Eric has administered to all members of Dauntless (supposedly to track them should they go outside the compound unattended) is intended to create an army of brainwashed soldiers. Sure enough, the Dauntless follow orders to file into the city and start killing members of the Abnegation council. It is also at this juncture that Tris realizes why Divergents are seen as dangerous: they cannot be controlled. This is shown by Tris’s—and Tobias’s—immunity to the serum.

Tris and Tobias are captured by Erudite guards but Tris is rescued by her mother, who is also Divergent (she had originally transferred from Dauntless to the safer faction of Abnegation, to minimize the danger associated with her true status). Tris’s mother sacrifices herself so that Tris can run away and join the other refugees from Abnegation; including her father and brother. Tobias, meanwhile, has been administered a new serum developed by Erudite that can alter what he sees and hears. So, while Divergents’ minds cannot be controlled, Erudite have found a way of manipulating them indirectly. This means that Tobias now sees Tris as an enemy.

Tris and the other escapees embark on a final mission to enter the Dauntless compound, with Tris and her father making their way to the control room. This is an extremely dangerous mission, and Tris’s father loses his life while fighting the guards. However, Tris manages to make her way to the control room, where she finds Tobias. He is poised to shoot her at first, but he manages to overcome the simulation and shut down the computer program that is controlling the members of Dauntless.

The city is now in chaos, and Tris and the other survivors make their way to the refuge of Amity. As Tris reflects on her experiences, she realizes that Tobias was right: self-sacrifice can be an act of bravery (as demonstrated by her parents), and she herself is not as selfish as she imagined. As for the future, Tris has no home or sense of certainty, but she knows that Dauntless and Erudite are bound to come looking for her and her fellow escapees.  Still, above all else, Tris has shown herself to be a fighter. 

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The official a.l. phillips website, savvy saturday – a sociologist’s analysis of “divergent”.

Like many fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian worlds created by people who haven’t studied sociology, the world of Divergent has a few severe flaws. To define terms, a severe flaw (in my dictionary) is one that portrays an importantly different and inconsistent reality than that which the author is purposefully trying to establish. Minor flaws are things like timeline believability problems – books where, for instance, a protagonist is supposed to go from being a clueless farm-boy to a daring knight in just a month. Those are the kinds of problems where readers can shrug their shoulders and say, “Yeah, whatever. It’s unbelievable, but not problematically so.” In contrast, severe flaws are unavoidable. They are problems so ingrained in the world that the author has built that they confront the reader throughout the book and undermine the author’s message. Unfortunately, this is a problem that the world of Divergent faces.

I’ll give the “first book only” version first, for those of you who want to remain relatively spoiler-free. (The end of the second book and the third book are supposed to “fix” the problems of book one, but in my opinion, raise more questions than they answer.) In Roth’s first book, Divergent , she reveals a society that has been built around five “factions.” These factions are created to be tightly knit social groups, almost castes, in which the members of the faction all revere a single moral virtue or ideal that shapes their actions and their beliefs. Different factions have different jobs in society, different lifestyles, and different value systems.  All well and good thus far. One can look at the ancient Hindu caste system and see that separating otherwise-identical people into utterly separate groups can work.

But then one key component is added that makes the whole system break down. Every person is allowed to choose his or her own faction when he or she comes of age, and this choosing is aided by a test that determines where an individual would best fit. Once an individual has chosen a faction, that faction becomes his or her new family – “faction before blood” is a key line from the book – and individuals must leave their old faction’s worldview and ties behind.

We then find out that this system has supposedly been working for over a hundred years. This is the severe flaw. The system cannot work the way it is supposed to, if Roth is trying to describe human beings as they truly are. (And if she is trying to describe humans who live in this city as being in some way very different from humans in our world, then it undermines the entire message of her third book, Allegiant .)

There are three major reasons that the faction system is severely flawed: 1) the virtue-driven nature of the factions conflicts with the nature of man, 2) the allowance of choice of factions undermines the integrity of the faction system, and 3) the creation of factions should lead to violence rather than lead away from violence.

First, basing factions on non-conflicting virtues presents a problem for any individual who is given a basic moral education. As the character Four expresses, why should you be forced to choose between being strong, selfless, intelligent, honest, and kind? Why can’t you pursue all of them? Given that the characters of Divergent do seem to have a typical human moral compass, the faction system cannot work as written. ALLEGIANT SPOILER (mouse-over): Given that Four actually isn’t Divergent, and is in fact “genetically flawed” as are most other people in the world of Divergent , this makes this argument even stronger.  

The nature of in-groups is to emphasize what makes people in your group good and special, while downplaying, minimizing, or shrugging off the strengths of other groups. This is relatively easy to do when the strengths of other groups cannot mutually coexist with your own. (For instance, a plumber can be glad that he isn’t an electrician or a university professor, because you can’t be all of them, and it isn’t expected that you be all of them.) It is practically impossible to do if the strengths of other groups can mutually coexist with yours, and – in fact – if universal morals in your world say that other groups’ strengths are, in fact, things to be emulated. No one in the world of Divergent says that honesty or bravery or kindness or even intelligence are inherently bad. In fact, the characters display a moral code that acknowledges the goodness and the strengths of the different factions. This is a sociological problem. If an individual is ever praised for being honest when he or she is in Abnegation, or ever praised for being brave when he or she is in Erudite, it will undermine the system that is so highly revered.

In short, a virtue-based faction system is not conducive to a stable society, and asking readers to believe that it has worked for hundreds of years is a severe flaw.

The only way it could work, in fact, is if there is no movement between factions. This brings us to our second point. Allowing individuals to choose their own faction is to say that every individual can choose one of five equally good worldviews to follow. However, this conflicts horribly with the entire idea of being raised in a faction that truly believes that its way is right.

Sociologically, individuals are raised by their parents to believe that a certain view of the world is correct and good. We are moral animals, as sociologist Christian Smith states. Every culture has a set of beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong, which form the rules that children internalize. In the world of Divergent , parents have one of two choices: tell their children that they must follow the rules of their faction and obey their faction’s worldview only as one choice among many that is no more good than any of the others until they come of age, or tell their children that their faction is right , that the others are wrong , and then have this view of the world challenged every year in the choosing ceremony. (This ceremony tells children that a test shows them what faction they truly belong in, and that faction may not be the one that their parents are from.)

If a child doesn’t want to obey his or her parents, then, a natural retort would be, “Well, maybe I don’t belong in this faction! Why should I follow your rules if I’m really ____ faction?” Parents in Divergent have no real grounding to answer this question – because their children would be right. If their child is actually meant to be in another faction, why should they be forced to follow the worldview and practices of their parents’ faction until they reach a certain age?

Now, if factions only governed one’s job, and if the society held a common moral grounding or set of common practices, the differences between factions wouldn’t be as large an issue. (This is where one might compare Divergent to Harry Potter and the houses of Hogwarts: all children at Hogwarts know that they’re all students at the same school, that they all take the same classes, follow the same rules, and answer to the same headmaster. They all know that they take the same tests and after they graduate, they will all be members of one wizarding society. This prevents the differences in beliefs and strengths of the houses from getting out of hand – though Rowling does show rivalries and conflicts between the houses that occur, as is believable.) In Divergent , however, there is no going beyond the factions. There is no deeper moral code or religious grounding that applies to everyone. No one is above or beyond the factions; there is no emperor with divine power who everyone obeys, or even a set of common rituals and beliefs that bind people in the society together. Instead, Divergent shows five different cultures, each of which believes that its way is the right way, and yet which allows its members to freely choose a different path if they are so led. It is internally inconsistent, and should not work.

Finally, and culminating from the above points, the existence of a faction system should increase, not decrease, violence in a society. Emphasizing differences between people, rather than similarities, always creates tension and keeps things from running smoothly. Every country, business, organization, and family knows that you have to emphasize what holds you together if you want to maintain peace among people who are different. Creating factions based on personality types and differing virtues is the ideal way to cause a war, not to prevent one. “Separate but equal” has always been a bad idea that leads to prejudice and violence. Integration and appreciation of differences through appreciation of deeper similarities, not segregation based on differences, is the way to keep the peace.

One would think that in the aftermath of war, the leaders of a city would recognize this.

On the other hand, it isn’t surprising that a college aged novelist wouldn’t. Again, Divergent is well-written, emotionally powerful, and speaks truths about psychology, morality, and the nature of man. But if Roth continues to write in new fantasy worlds, I hope she will take some time to learn more about the nature of societies as well as the nature of individuals. It will improve the quality of her work, and add to, rather than distract from, the points she wants to make in the stories she tells.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!

2 thoughts on “ Savvy Saturday – A Sociologist’s Analysis of “Divergent” ”

I’d just like to comment that you explained the society of Divergent really well, so that’s a good sign of your sociological skills!

But, you got to remember that the book is fiction. As well as the book shows the conflict when Erudite trys to take the government over and its factions. Book to acknowledges the fact of human nature and that why there is the Divergent. You also got to remember that there is people that would rather live their life and do with being in consistency and fill out of place if there is any change.

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"Divergent" is all about identity—about searching your soul and determining who you are and how you fit in as you emerge from adolescence to adulthood. So it's all too appropriate that the film version of the wildly popular young adult novel struggles a bit to assert itself as it seeks to appeal to the widest possible audience.

It's the conundrum so many of these types of books face as they become pop-culture juggernauts and film franchises: which elements to keep to please the fervent fans and which to toss in the name of maintaining a lean, speedy narrative? The "Harry Potter" and "Hunger Games" movies—which "Divergent" resembles in myriad ways—were mostly successful in finding that balance.

In bringing the first novel of Veronica Roth's best-selling trilogy to the screen, director Neil Burger (" Limitless ") and screenwriters Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor have included key moments and images but tweaked others to streamline the mythology and move the story along. The results can be thrilling but the film as a whole feels simultaneously overlong and emotionally truncated.

Folks who've read the book will probably be satisfied with the results, while those unfamiliar with the source material may dismiss it as derivative and inferior. (Stop me if you think you've heard this one before: "Divergent" takes place in a rigidly structured, dystopian future where one extraordinary girl will serve either as its destroyer or its savior.) But the performances—namely from stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James and Kate Winslet in a juicy supporting role—always make the movie watchable and often quite engaging.

In the fenced-off remnants of a post-war Chicago 100 years from now, society has been broken down into five factions—groups of people arranged by a primary, defining trait. The Amity are happy, hippie farmers who dress in shades of sorbet. The Candor run the judicial system and value truth about all else. The Erudite are the serious-minded scholars who wear conservative, dark blue. The Abnegation are known for their selflessness and modesty. And the pierced-and-tatted Dauntless are the brave soldiers who protect the city from … who knows what? Whatever the perceived threat is, it requires them to run, scream and practice parkour wherever they go.

Woodley's Beatrice Prior is a member of the Abnegation alongside her brother, Caleb ( Ansel Elgort ), and their parents ( Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn ). They dress in drab colors, eat simply and are only allowed to steal a quick glance in the mirror once every three months when it's time for a haircut. Basically, they're no fun, and Beatrice has a wild streak in her that she's been forced to suppress.  

When she undergoes the aptitude test required of all teens, which determines which faction is the best reflection of one's true nature, her results are inconclusive. She's got pieces of a few different places in her, which makes her what's known as Divergent, which makes her dangerous. Thinking for yourself is a naughty thing in this world, apparently; plus, the angsty inner conflict that rages within Beatrice is something to which the target audience for the book (and the movie) surely can relate.

At the annual Choosing Ceremony, where the teens use their test results to pick the faction they want to join for the rest of their lives—like the last night of sorority rush, mixed with the "Harry Potter" sorting hat—Beatrice dares to choose Dauntless. This means she can never see her family again. (Man, the rules are strict in dystopian futures.) But it also means she gets to train to unleash the bad-ass that's been lurking inside her all along.

Renaming herself Tris, our heroine must learn how to fight, shoot, jump from moving trains, throw knives and control her mind in a series of harrowing simulations, all while competing against a couple dozen other initiates in a demanding ranking system. Eric (a coolly intimidating Jai Courtney ) is the merciless Dauntless leader who's taking the faction—which was founded on the notion of noble courage—in a more militant and vicious direction.

But the hunky trainer who goes by the name Four (James) is the one who will have a greater impact on the woman Tris will become. Quietly and generically brooding at first, James reveals more depth and shading to his conflicted character as the story's stakes increase. He and Woodley have an easy chemistry with each other, but the romance that took its time and smoldered on the page feels a bit rushed on the screen.

Similarly, the supporting figures who had identifiable personalities in the book mostly blend into the background here, including Tris' best friend, Christina ( Zoe Kravitz ). But it is extremely amusing to see Miles Teller , who played Woodley's first love last year in the wonderful " The Spectacular Now ," serve as her enemy here as the conniving fellow initiate Peter. The smart-alecky Teller is also the only actor here who gets to have much fun. With the exception of a few major set pieces—the zip-line ride from the top of the John Hancock Center, for example—"Divergent" is a rather dark and heavy endeavor.

Woodley, though, by virtue of the sheer likability of her presence, keeps you hanging on, keeps you rooting for her. She may not have the blazing, rock-star power of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in " The Hunger Games ," but there's a subtlety and a naturalism to her performance that make her very accessible and appealing. And when she needs to crank it up and kick some butt—as she does in a climactic scene with Winslet as the evil Erudite leader who's hell-bent on eradicating Divergents and maintaining control—she doesn't oversell it.

Plus, there could be worse role models for the eager adolescent audience than a young woman who's thoughtful, giving and strong—all at once. The inevitable sequel will show us what else she's got in her.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

Divergent (2014)

Rated PG-13

143 minutes

Shailene Woodley as Beatrice Prior / Tris

Theo James as Tobias "Four" Eaton

Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews

Miles Teller as Peter

Jai Courtney as Eric

Zoë Kravitz as Christina

Ansel Elgort as Caleb Prior

Ray Stevenson as Marcus Eaton

Maggie Q as Tori

• Neil Burger
• Evan Daugherty
• Vanessa Taylor

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• Divergent (2014 Film) Summary

by Neil Burger

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In a futuristic version of Chicago, Beatrice (Tris) Prior lives in a society divided into faction based on aptitude. Abnegation values selflessless, Candor champions truth and justice, Erudite prizes knowledge and intelligence, Amity embodies kindness and forgiveness, and Dauntless epitomises strength, bravery and fearlessness. At the age of sixteen, everyone must choose a faction in which to belong, potentially leaving their families behind and comitting themselves entirely to their new ideology and way of life.

Tris has lived her whole life in Abnegation, learning to be selfless and kind, but she yearns for more than that. At her Aptitude Test, she discovers that she does not fit into Abnegation and that her test results are inconclusive, which is strange and rare in their world. At her Choosing Ceremony, against everyone's wishes, she chooses Dauntless - which is also incredibly rare - and leaves with her new faction to complete initiation.

Dauntless Initiation comprises of a variety of tests involving both physical strength and mental agility, led by the ferocious Eric and enigmatic Four. It is incredibly difficult, particularly for Tris with her weak frame and inability to fight, but failure means being Factionless (without a Faction) and at the mercy of the elements. Throughout these tests, Tris discovers that she is Divergent, which means that she doesn't fit into any one faction and could easily slot herself into any of the five. This makes her a threat that the government - led by the Erudite leader, Jeanine Matthews , seeks to destroy. Tris must keep this discovery to herself or risk being hunted down and being killed.

One night, the Dauntless are given drugs that turn them into mindless soldiers, without thought, feeling or compassion, unable to think or use free will. As a Divergent, Tris is immune - as is Four - but boh must act as though they're under the drug's influence to avoid detection. Ordered by Erudite, the Dauntless march on Abnegation, killing anything and anyone in their path.

Desperate to find her parents, still living in Abnegation, Tris and Four break away from the group to begin their search. This pursuit leads them to be captured by the Dauntless, culminating in a heart-wrenching decision for Tris to protect herself by shooing her friend and fellow Dauntless initiate, Will. With unexpected aid from her Divergent mother, Tris and Four escape, though her parents both die in the process.

In the end, Tris manages to stop the execution of the Abnegation by releasing the Dauntless from the drug's powers, and escapes with Four.

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Divergent (2014 Film) Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for Divergent (2014 Film)

Divergent (2014 Film) study guide contains a biography of director Neil Burger, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Divergent (2014 Film)

Divergent (2014 Film) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Divergent (2014 Film), directed by Neil Burger.

• The Manifestation and Development of Femininity in 21st Century Cinema: A Gendered Reading of Divergent (2014) and Aliens (1986)

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"Divergent": Movie Review and Film Summary

• Categories: Divergent Film Analysis Science Fiction

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Words: 1612 |

Published: Dec 18, 2018

Words: 1612 | Pages: 4 | 9 min read

Works Cited

• Burleson, J. A. (2018). Reviewing dystopian young adult literature through feminist and poststructuralist lenses. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 14(2), 77-94.
• Carroll, J. M. (2014). Review: Divergent (2014). Journal of American Culture, 37(4), 654-656.
• Chiang, H. H. (2015). Human security and the other: Divergent and the politics of difference. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 43(3), 150-161.
• Divergent. (2014). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/
• Filho, E. P., & Garcia, M. S. (2016). A review of the concepts of dystopia and utopia in young adult literature. Revista Ibero-Americana de Estudos em Educação, 11(2), 813-826.
• Marková, J. (2017). The Divergent series: Films as a modern phenomenon of popular culture. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 8(1), 149-163.
• Orr, J. J. (2015). Dystopian novels and the creation of ethical space. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research, 3(1), 1-8.
• Roth, V. (2011). Divergent. Katherine Tegen Books.
• Vermeulen, T., & Akkerman, T. (2016). ‘The real danger is beyond the fence’: The politics of fear in the Divergent series. Continuum, 30(3), 362-374.
• West, A. (2014). Divergent (review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 67(7), 347-347.

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