Divergent

In the world depicted in this novel, each individual grows up in the same faction as their family, but, at the age of sixteen, undertakes an aptitude test to find out which faction they are best suited to. Even so, it is up to the individual to select a faction by taking part in a choosing ceremony.

Choosing a faction is perhaps the most important choice an individual can make, as it will shape the rest of their life and their relationship—or lack thereof—with their family. Transferring from Abnegation to Dauntless seems a particularly dramatic change, but it is clear that Tris has never felt as though she fully belongs in Abnegation. She loves her family and recognizes how appealing Abnegation may seem from the outside, with its emphasis on compassion and helping one another. Even so, she finds it repressive in its uniformity and lack of excitement.

Tris does not take the choosing ceremony lightly and is wracked with nerves and uncertainty. However, when her own brother chooses to transfer, she feels that she must do the same—if Caleb, who has always seemed to be the perfect Abnegation member, is transferring, then she cannot imagine doing otherwise. There are some factions that do not appeal to her (notably, her brother’s choice of Erudite), but she had been waving over whether to stay with her family or join the Dauntless faction that fascinates her so much. Her brother’s actions thus catalyze her decision to transfer to Dauntless.

Upon joining Dauntless, Tris finds herself missing her family and struggles with some aspects of Dauntless training, which puts both a physical and mental strain on initiates. Even so, she relishes the adrenalin and excitement, along with the freedom she experiences outside training hours. She realizes that she has never laughed so much, and she adopts the Dauntless tendency of accumulating tattoos; including the faction’s symbol. She feels a sense of camaraderie with the other members of Dauntless that is poles apart from the dull uniformity that she associates with Abnegation.

Choices come into play in the various simulations that Tris undergoes, too. The first instance of this is the aptitude test where Tris does not accept the given options but manipulates the simulation and unwittingly reveals herself as Divergent. She also has to make a variety of choices in her subsequent simulations, as these choices are what push the simulation onwards to its conclusion. For instance, Tris causes a gun to materialize so that she can shoot the crows that are attacking her. Conversely, she chooses to drop her gun when Jeanine orders her to kill her family, thereby showing her willingness to sacrifice herself.

When war breaks out, Tris makes the ultimate choice: to destroy the simulation that is controlling the Dauntless soldiers and sacrifice her own life if necessary. This involves other difficult choices such as shooting her brainwashed friend, Will. However, as Tris is immune from this brainwashing, she feels it is up to her to free the other Dauntless and prevent the members of Abnegation from being slaughtered.

Tris has already embraced her background by getting a tattoo of the Abnegation symbol, and Marcus makes a point of asking whether she regrets choosing to join Dauntless given what its leaders and soldiers have done. However, she says that she does not regret it, as there were things that she needed to learn; namely, that bravery can be the same as selflessness. Following this realization, it makes sense that she has chosen to get tattoos of both the Dauntless and Abnegation symbols, representing both bravery and selflessness.

Tris muses over her identity frequently during the course of the novel, but it seems that she no longer sees Dauntless and Abnegation as staunchly opposed. Indeed, the members of both factions are victims, with the Dauntless being brainwashed into murdering those in Abnegation. It is people such as Jeanine and Eric who are responsible.

As for Tris, she has finally embraced that which she has kept hidden for so long: she is Divergent and cannot be pinned down to a single faction. She now appears more comfortable with her identity and the choices that she has made, though neither she nor the other survivors know what the future holds upon the novel’s conclusion. As she concludes, “I am no longer Tris, the selfless, or Tris, the brave. I suppose that now, I must become more than either” (487).

During the choosing ceremony, individuals are reminded how important their choice of faction will be. It is not as though they can sample the various factions before deciding which one is right, or return home if they feel that they have made the wrong choice. In fact, those who transfer are often deemed traitors and find themselves shunned by their families, though there are some who transfer for this very reason. Notably, Tobias joins Dauntless as a means of getting away from his tyrannical father, Marcus.

Factions do have visiting hours, but those who have transferred often do not receive any visits. Instead, their families resume life within their respective factions, initially haunted by the absence of their former sons and daughters but finding that the void decreases until it is gone completely. As Tris observes, “time will pass, and the hole will be gone, like when an organ is removed and the body’s fluids flow into the space it leaves. Humans can’t tolerate emptiness for long” (45).

Even when initiates receive visits, they are warned not to get too attached to their families, as their allegiance is now to their factions. Eric makes this clear to the Dauntless initiates, telling them that avoiding attachment will make things easier all round. He also reminds them that Dauntless take the phrase ‘faction before blood’ very seriously, stating that “Attachment to your family suggests you aren’t entirely pleased with your faction, which would be shameful” (176).

This motto of “faction before blood” does not only apply to Dauntless: Tris remembers reading it in her Faction History textbook, and, in the choosing ceremony, Marcus confirms that “In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life” (43). Having lived with her family all her life, Tris wonders if this can really be true. However, everyone in the city knows that being factionless is seen as a fate worse than death. The factionless are banished to the peripheries of society where they live in poverty and work menial jobs that no one else wants. They are also denied the sense of belonging that factions provide. This is why it is so important for people to succeed in the initiation process of their chosen faction—if they do not make the cut then they will be left factionless.

When Tris transfers to Dauntless, the last sight she has of her father is his accusatory glare, though her mother—who has told her that she will love her no matter what—smiles and later pays her a visit. Tris certainly does not find it easy to forget about her family: even though she feels betrayed by Caleb, who concealed his plan to join Erudite, and has disappointed her father, she “ache[s] at even a split-second memory of their faces” (74). She also thinks about how they would react to her actions during her time in Dauntless. She feels pleased, for instance, when she acts in an empathetic way, as she knows that her father would be proud. This continuing connection to her family is epitomized when she gets a tattoo of three ravens that symbolize her parents and brother.

When war breaks out in the novel’s concluding chapters, Tris again displays her love for her family and her desire to save them and the other surviving members of her old faction—even if it costs her her life. Having witnessed her mother’s own sacrifice, Tris is devastated yet proud of her bravery. She and her remaining family members are also happy to be reunited: when Tris refers to herself as “factionless,” her father reassures her, “You’re with us” (449). When she hears Caleb laughing, meanwhile, she feels emotional since she has not heard him do so for a long time. Asking him what’s funny, he replies, “I never thought I would see us together again” (450). When the factions descend into chaos, Tris’s is reunited with her family.

When Tris and her father attempt to enter the Dauntless control room towards the end of the novel, Tris is aware that it is potentially a suicide mission and she therefore insists that Caleb stay behind. Her father thanks her for this before being shot dead by the Dauntless guards. Despite her grief, she knows that she has to save the other innocent Abnegation members and release the Dauntless who have unwittingly been turned into murderers. She succeeds in her mission; albeit at great personal loss.

What is clear, then, is that warfare has prompted a fierce concern with family, as well as the innocent members of Dauntless and Abnegation. The city’s motto may be “faction before blood” but the breakout of war suggests the failings of the faction system and galvanizes Tris’s reunion with her family. However, it also brings about Tobias’s reunion with Marcus, which is a much tenser affair. Family is therefore not depicted as a wholly idyllic counterpart to faction, though the novel’s conclusion is open-ended as to what roles faction and family will play in the trilogy’s subsequent installments.