Emma+Wilkinson

May 23rd

This past week I have been more productive. I have read up to the middle of chapter fourteen, so I have read about eight and a half chapters. Tris and her friends find the faction-less people, who are living together as basically a faction. Their leader is Evelyn, who turns out to be Four's mom. Four has felt resentment towards her since she abandoned their family after his father abused her. Her leaving the family made abuse worse for Tobias, and he is angry that she did not take him with her when she ran. The faction-less have dedicated their lives to finding Divergent people, so they are fascinated by Tris. Eventually, Tris and Tobias are found by Candor people, who have been instructed to arrest them. They are interrogated under the famous Candor truth serum, which forces anyone under the influence of it to tell the absolute truth. While Tris can semi manipulate the serum because she is divergent, she reveals that she killed Will while the Dauntless were being controlled during the Abnegation raid. This fact creates a lot of tension between Tris, Christina (who was Will's girlfriend at the time and Tris's best friend) and Tobias. I have left off at Tris and Four's first conversation since this reveal.

May 2nd

To be honest, I have not touched the Divergent series books since my last journal. This is because I have been studying for the AP Calc Exam which is this Thursday. However, after next week I will have a lot of time to read the last two books, and I will be finished by both of them before the final for this class period. :)

April 20th

I read chapter six of Insurgent today. It beings with Tris coming to after the peace serum wears off, and she is embarrassed that she let the serum get to her when she was immune to the rest of the serum that has been previously tested on her. Because she is so humiliated, Tris goes to the Apple Orchard and climbs a tree to find solace. While she is at the top of the tree, she notices five Erudite trucks approaching the Amity compound. She immediately runs as fast as she can back to the center of the Amity compound and warns everybody that the Erudite have arrived. They decide that the best solution is to try and blend in, knowing that the Amity leaders will lie in order to keep peace. The Erudite leaders enter the dining hall and begin to search people regardless. Everything is fine until one searcher discovers the tattoos on the back of Four's neck. He snaps at this, and shows that he has a gun. The real Amity dive under tables, and the cohort that Tris has been traveling fights back. Four is able to steal a gun off of one of the Erudite invaders, and threatens to shoot if they are attacked. At this moment, Tris and her friends run. They make it into the cornfield before the Erudite trucks catch up with them. They make it to the fence and Four lets Caleb, Tris, and Susan out before himself. They then realize that the rest of their cohort has been shot dead, including Marcus. Tris comments on the fact that Four reports of Marcus' death very matter of factually even though he is his father. Susan collapses crying, and they stop for her to compose herself. Then they continue onward, and the chapter is over. I really enjoyed this chapter because there was a lot of action. I wish that more chapters would be like this chapter, because then the story would progress faster.

April 7th

This week I read chapter six of Insurgent. It began with Tris going to her room and finding Peter there, who is looking for the hard drive. She fights him to make him leave by strategically punching him in his arm where he has been wounded by a bullet. However, Peter still obtains the hard drive and puts it in his pocket. Their fight causes a scene, and Amity members rush to separate them. Tris is taken to the "Conflict Room" which is a brightly lit room where she is interrogated kindly. The officials tell her that since she disrupted the peace that she has violated the contract of the Dauntless being able to stay there, and that they will shortly have to leave. The Amity members then inject her with a serum of their making, which calms Tris down to the point that she is basically high. She begins to wish she never attacked Peter and instead just "caressed his arm" (since then her knuckles would not hurt). Knowing that this is the way the people of the Amity compound are controlled definitely makes me view them differently. I thought they were honestly kind, but the kindness seems to be forced by an artificial serum. Four is angered that the Amity members use this to control their population. He takes Tris to Johanna to show her how differently Tris acts under the influence of the serum. Johanna is very defensive when Four accuses her of pumping all of Amity's water full of the serum, but then she tells them that the serum is not used on everyone but that they should "avoid the bread" if they do not want to be affected.

March 30th

I was out for a lot of C days because of my wisdom teeth and track so this learning journal is a little late so I am sorry. I read chapter 6 today, which continued Tris' interrogation of Marcus that she decided to do in the last chapter. She follows him to the water treatment plant and thinks a lot about how she wishes life was just like a water treatment plant, able to be so easily purified. She argues with Marcus about the information he shared with Johanna, and words quickly turn ugly. Tris brings up her dead parents, and Marcus' abusive past. However as she is leaving, she realizes that he won the argument. She did not gain any new information, except that Marcus does not believe in any of Tris' abilities. He says that she was able to stop the simulation by pure luck, which destroys Tris' self confidence. Tris leaves the water treatment facility and goes to Four for comfort. I realized during this that I really do not like Tris and Four together romantically. Every time they are together I feel like it is pointless to the development of the story and takes away from the adventurous part of the novel. I would much rather see what information Tris is trying to get out of Marcus than have her being with Four.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">March 7th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">I have now read up to chapter five of Insurgent. Tris and her allies are still in the amity compound, although they will most likely not stay there much longer. Four is very on edge since the Amity are always so "nice" and he thinks they are hiding something. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">I think that Caleb, Tris' brother, knows that Tris is divergent. He asks her many questions about her aptitude test over breakfast one morning. She lies, and tells him that she got three factions as her result, when she actually got all 5 and is divergent. Caleb is very knowledgeable about the aptitude test since he studied it for his initiation into Erudite. He knows that usually the test produces only one faction as a result, and rarely two. He is shocked to hear Tris say she got three factions as her result, and he tells her it is impossible. When Tris tries to make it better by saying her tester had to alter the test and results, he tells her that the testers are not trained how to do so. Tris is able to save herself by explaining to Caleb that her administrator of the aptitude test was a Erudite transfer, so it was possible she had learned about the test in her home faction. After this, Caleb drops the topic, but I believe he now thinks his sister is divergent. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">At the end of the chapter, Marcus tells the group he believes they should leave the Amity compound. Four agrees with his father, which is very rare occurrence. Tris thinks that Marcus is still hiding something, and I predict that in the upcoming chapters she will attempt to find out what that is.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">February 24th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week I have continued to read Divergent, and I have completed another chapter. Tris and her friends are still in the compound, and the chapter begins with Tris confirming that her hidden weapon, her gun, is still stowed under her bed. I think that including this act, which is supposed to be forbidden, reminds the reader of how much of a rebel Tris really is. She goes outside and runs throughout the compound, where she overhears Marcus talking with Johanna. She learns that the true reason the Erudite attacked Abnegation is not to gain power, but to gain information. Tris makes it her new mission to find out whatever this information is. I think that this is most likely what the novel will center around for the upcoming chapters. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">Tris then makes her way to Four's room, (I will refer to him as Tris does, she goes back and fourth each chapter depending on who is around) and she finds him throwing knives with her brother. Caleb awkwardly leaves when he sees that Tris has come to see Four. Four tells Tris that he told her brother about the two of them, which makes Tris feel slightly uncomfortable. Tris informs Four of what she overheard on her way to his room, but he does not believe her. He thinks that Marcus is lying. It is important to remember that Marcus is actually Four's abusive father, but they have been estranged since Four left for the Dauntless compound on choosing day. They agree that even though they don't know what Marcus is talking about, the first priority is to return to the city and make sure Erudite is taken down as soon as possible.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">February 11th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This semester, I will continue to read the Divergent series, by Veronica Roth. I will use my books that I brought into school to read. By the end of the semester, I hope to have completed the series. I know that the ending is very controversial and I look forward to forming my own opinion on it. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week, I have read the first two chapters of the second book of the trio, Insurgent. The book begins where the last book left off, with Tris and her friends and father on the train. The group arrives at the Amity compound, which is under little security. Tris comments that the Amity are slightly stupid, which I personally disagree with. As a people, they represent kindness, and I do not think that should be confused with stupidity. The Amity leaders ask that everyone who arrived there hand over their weapons. Four (he introduced himself to Amity as Four, so I will call him that and not Tobias anymore) surrenders his gun, and Tris attempts to give them her gun as well, but Four stops her. Tris hides the gun under the mattress that the Amity give her. After spending one night at the Amity compound, Tris cuts her hair short. I think that this represents the new person Tris has become since the choosing day ceremony, which seemed like it happened so long ago. I am actually quite surprised that she did not make this change sooner, during the Dauntless initiation. The Amity leaders come to the conclusion that they will let the visitors stay, as long as they do not have any weapons or engage in conflict. Tris and Four agree that these conditions will not last long before somebody from Dauntless breaks the rules, and then the chapter ends. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">In the coming weeks, I will continue to read the books from this series. I am hoping to read at least two chapters before every learning journal. I anticipate that after AP Exams in the first week of May, I could read the entire last book of the series in a week, leaving me plenty of time to create a final project before senior finals take place. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">January 15th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">I have been extremely productive since my last journal entry. Over Christmas break, I read from chapter 12 to chapter 35. I am almost finished the book, and I love it as much as I hoped that I would. Tris completes Dauntless training as the top ranked initiate, following much taunting from Molly, Drew, and Peter. She is now dating Four, who has revealed to Tris that is real name is Tobias. He lets Tris into his fear landscape, which is an advanced interactive simulation that shows your fears. Tobias only has four fears, which is an incredibly low number of fears to have. When Tris completes her fear landscape, she only has seven fears. This is most likely what propelled her to the top of the rankings. Other people had around fourteen fears. Tris had half that number and also took a very short period of time to complete her landscape. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">The celebration of surviving initiation is cut short, since all of the Dauntless members have been injected with a serum developed in Erudite, causing them to become unresponsive and react to computer commands. It turns out that Eric and Max are in an alliance with Erudite, and that is how they give everyone in Dauntless the serum. Tris and Four, who are both Divergent, do not respond to the serum. They run away from the Dauntless soldiers and try to save the Abnegation faction members. They encounter Tris's mother, who also is revealed to be Divergent. She saves Tris from a tank where she is going to be drowned, but she is then shot by leaders and dies. Tris escapes, and that is where I left off. I plan on finishing the book before my final exam. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">I also started the keynote that I will be presenting in place of a project. I will talk about the two main factions that Tris is related to, Abnegation and Dauntless. I will also discuss each of the main characters and the popular motifs in the story.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">December 22nd

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week, I read chapter twelve. The major event of this chapter was the annual game of capture the flag that is played with initiates. Transfers and Dauntless born initiates are split up into even groups on two separate teams, each lead by Four and Eric respectively. Four chooses his team to be smaller, faster, and more agile, while Eric decides based on brute strength. This seems to be reflective of their personalities. Tris finds herself on Four's team, along with most of her friends. She takes initiative and climbs the Ferris Wheel at the end of Navy Pier to get a better vantage point, something that nobody else thinks to do. Four likes this idea, and he follows her up the wheel. I liked reading about this part because I got to visit Navy Pier in Chicago during FBLA Nationals this past summer, so that was cool to relate to. As Tris is climbing the wheel, she gets higher and higher so the buildings of the city don't block her view. Four is very nervous, and Tris learns that he is afraid of heights. This is crazy because Four was previously characterized as a strong individual who was not afraid of anything. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">Thanks to Tris, Four's team wins capture the flag for the first time in a couple of years. This helps Tris to be respected amongst the other initiates. I noticed a discrepancy between this scene in the book and the movie while reading this chapter. In the movie, Tris and Four kiss while they are climbing the Ferris Wheel. This did not happen in the book, but their romantic connection is more and more apparent as the book goes on. I plan to finish this book over Christmas Break and present a report in the form of a PowerPoint for my final for this independent study.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">December 11th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week, I read the second half of chapter ten as well as chapter eleven. Tris is forced to fight Peter for initiation, and she loses terribly. Although she is able to get to her feet after his first few kicks and punches, Peter beats her until she becomes unconscious and she wakes up in the Dauntless Hospital. She learns that after her fight, Al fought. He is distraught that he has hurt people, and he says that he wants to lose the rest of the matches so he'll never have to hurt somebody again. This statement confused me. If Al is so afraid to hurt people, why did he choose Dauntless? It seems that another, more peaceful faction would have been a better fit for him. The day after Tris's fight, she is extremely sore and stiff, which leads to more taunting from Molly, Peter, and their crew of bullies. It does not help that she was already called "stiff" in a derogatory way. All of the initiates board the train and head to the fence that surrounds the city to learn about some of the job opportunities that Dauntless has to offer. On the train, the initiates talk about the upcoming family visiting day. Tris wonders if her parents will come to see her or if they have way too much hatred for her and her brother after both of them left. She tries to imagine what her life would be like at the present time if she had chosen to stay in Abnegation. However, she knows that her decision to join Dauntless is final, and that she cannot go back. Eventually, the train reaches the fence and the initiates disembark. As the main police force of the city, Dauntless members are required to guard the border that encompasses the entire city. As they are at the fence, a truck comes in to deliver supplies. The guards that are working there open the doors to let the truck in, and then lock the doors from the outside. I think that this detail is slightly frightening. Why cant the lock be on the city's side of the fence? This leads to many other questions that remain unanswered. What is on the other side of the fence? Who really controls the fence? It also made me think of who the actual leader of the city is, and if the city actually has a name. I know that there is a council of elders, but is there one person who holds more power, or attempts to hold more power? As far as the name is concerned, I know that each faction has their own section of land, etc, but does the city as a whole have an actual name or is it just merely and unnamed city? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">These chapters introduced many questions that I hope I will be able to answer by the end of the book. I have decided that my goal is to finish Divergent over Christmas break, so that I will be able to complete my last couple of journal entries as pure analysis and then do a final presentation as my midterm.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">November 24th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week, I read the first half of chapter ten. It began with Tris being attacked while she was sleeping by Peter. I must have missed what happened that made Peter despise Tris so much, because I did not realize this was as big as a conflict as it apparently is. Peter spray painted the word "Stiff" onto Tris's bed which is the derogatory term for somebody from Abnegnation. Tris reminds him that they are from the same faction now, and that he should not be still acting like they are from different areas. Thinking about this, it makes a lot of sense. Why does Peter still have these prejudices for Tris? They have pledged their allegiance to the same faction and now they believe in the same things. Tris cannot help where she is from, and I do not believe that he should still judge her for that aspect of her life. Al protects Tris from Peter's attacks. I really like the relationship that has developed between Tris and Al, because even though they are from different places he has a protective nature and stands up for Tris in the adversities she faces. Al reminds Tris that she is the first jumper, and that she has something to be proud of. Happy Thanksgiving Mr. Wooddell!!

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">November 12th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week, I have not been as productive as I would have liked to have been because I have been diligently working to assign everybody to competitive events in FBLA. I read the next two chapters. In chapter nine, I came across a quote that I really liked. Christina says, //"I like to think I'm helping them by hating them. I'm reminding them that they aren't God's gift to humankind."//I can completely relate to this quote because I usually tell people how I am feeling about them for the exact same reason. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">Chapter nine further developed the growing conflict involving Tris and Christina versus Peter, Drew, and Molly. Christina grew up with the three of them in her faction, so she is familiar with their dissembling ways. (Ironic, since the faction of Candor is supposed to value honestly over all other values.) The tension between Four and Eric also increases. Four believes that a brave man acknowledges the strength of others, and that it is okay to concede in a fight if it appears to be a stalemate. On the other hand, Eric believes that a brave man never surrenders. He would rather have a fight continue to the death than have one of the fighters concede to the other for nothing. I gathered that a lot of the transfers who are in the same boat as Tris and Christina take Four's side in this argument. Al says, "This is ridiculous! What is the point of beating him up? We're from the same faction!" <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">There is also a fight between Molly and Christina in this chapter that turns very violent. Tris even wishes for Christina to go unconscious so that the fight can stop, which is something she has never wished on somebody else before. I think it is important to clarify that these fights are not provoked by individual actions and hard feelings between both parties, rather they are simply tools that are used to supposedly make the initiates stronger as they move through the transfer process into the Dauntless faction. I do not agree with physically fighting somebody just to fight, but I understand that the values of Dauntless require this step in the process of entering their faction.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">October 28th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">For this learning journal I am going to expand on two quotes that I came across while reading chapter eight that had value to me.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">"There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage" // <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This quote immediately jumped out at me, mainly as a result of the words power and damage being in so close a proximity to each other. In the novel, this quote is used in relation to Tris holding a gun for the first time, however when I read this line I immediately thought of other things. Power can either be good or bad, and the connotation of the word damage certainly does not mean that the type of power being referenced is good. I thought that this quote could easily be related to the government today. Many politicians do not have the entire country's interests in mind, and serve to please their own personal agenda. The government is one thing that has enough power to inflict a large amount of damage over the nation if it fell into the wrong hands.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">"Those who seek peace above all else will always deceive to keep the water calm" // <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;"> When I first read this line, I skimmed over it because I wanted to continue reading and this sentence did not make sense to me. So, I read it again. I am very glad I did this because I really agree with this quote and feel the need to comment on it. The context of this quote from the novel is about the relationship between the factions of Candor and Amity. Candor people (who value honesty) do not like the Amity people (value peace) because they think they have ulterior motives. This quote really made me think about people who always try to avoid drama or conflict with themselves, so they will tell small lies to get around things. Eventually, the water will no longer be calm. This quote prompted me to question people always preaching for peace. Are they really creating peace? Or are they slowly stirring the pot of different groups of people to make the big picture seem calm? <span style="color: #eb1c4e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">Very interesting thoughts on these two quotes. I like your interpretation and how you applied them to other situations.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">October 16th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This week, I was able to get back into reading Divergent. After reading chapter seven, I made a few discoveries I found to be interesting. The first, was the reoccurring topic of age. On page 64, Tris notices that there are no elderly people in the Dauntless Faction. This plants fears in her mind of where they could be. Do they just not last as long? Are they sent away when they can no longer participate in the daring activities that come daily as a part of Dauntless? If I were Tris, I would have looked a lot deeper into this issue. Obviously the older people have to go somewhere, and the question of where that placed is is a large one. This caused me to ask myself, would Tris have chosen a different faction had she known she would not be able to stay there forever? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">After her initial observation of the Dauntless Population, Four makes a comment to Tris that I also think is very significant. Following comments on Eric's position as a leader at such a young age, Four says "Age doesn't matter here." Christina holds back her urge to ask what actually does matter, which led me to wonder the same thing. What matters the most to a Dauntless? This is the question that I will try to answer by the end of Divergent.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">October 5th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This past week has been extremely busy and unproductive in my Independent Study. Being homecoming week, and only having class three days because of B days on Monday and Friday, I did not advance any farther in Divergent. I spent most of my time working on homework for other classes, visiting Webber to help with homecoming centerpieces and other decorations, or working on college applications because my personal deadline is in one week and I am stressing out. I have decided to set the goal for my Independent Study to be finished with Divergent by mid November. I will try to look deeper into symbols that are not immediately obvious and observe the motives of characters. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22px;">September 23rd

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">After reading the first couple chapters of Divergent, I decided to look into why Veronica Roth wrote the series, and where her inspiration came from. I discovered an interview where she talked about how her study of exposure therapy in the treatment of phobias sparked her interest in writing the series. I thought this was interesting since many key moments for Tris are centralized around fears, including the aptitude test and Dauntless initiation. She mentions that throughout exposure therapy, patients are exposed to their fears while in a safe environment until their brain rewires it self and is not afraid anymore. In my opinion, the Dauntless initiation is the exact opposite of this. Right away, they are forced to jump onto a moving train, off of the moving train, and then off of a building without knowing if they will be safe when they reach the darkness below. The only reason the initiates complete these tasks is because their fear of becoming factionless is greater than their fear of finishing each obstacle. I think it is interesting that Roth wrote a series about fears, when she admits to being scared of many things that Tris does throughout the novels. In another interview question, she spoke of how sometimes she would have symptoms of vertigo when writing the book she became so nervous. How can somebody accurately describe the feeling of a zip line or a boxing match, for example, if they have never experienced those things before?

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 22.1px;">September 11th

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">This semester in my independent study I will be reading the Divergent series. I got the three books (Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant) for Christmas my freshman year and I was always too busy reading something else that I never got around to reading Divergent. Giving myself a set time to read them will help me finish these books in a fashionable amount of time. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">Today I began the first book of the trilogy, Divergent. This is the most popular book of the three, and many people say that it is the best one. Sadly, I couldn't resist when my sister got the movie for Christmas last year, so I have seen the movie. I hate being the person that watches the movie first because it doesn't let me create pictures of the characters and different settings in my head. I am glad that I have not seen any of the other movies, because I think that ruins the fun of reading that book. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">So far, I am impressed with Divergent. I love when I can start reading a book and want to read more right away. The plot immediately begins with Beatrice Prior, the main protagonist, and her character development. The reader learns that Beatrice is living in a futuristic world, in what is now Chicago.There are five "factions" that make up this word, each one encompassing a different value and living for a specific purpose. Abnegation, the faction that Beatrice grew up in, values selflessness and works in the government. The other factions are Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Dauntless. Amity faction members are always happy and provide the society with counselors and caretakers, Candor values honesty and works in the courts, Erudite values knowledge and works as teachers and educators, and Dauntless values courage and works to protect the city. When each person is sixteen years old, they are forced to choose which faction they want to spend the rest of their life in. The book's first five chapters are all about Beatrice making this decision. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px;">She struggles a lot with her choice. Should she make the safe decision and stay with her family in Abnegation, even though she knows she does not value selflessness as much as they do? Or should she encompass the values of Dauntless and make the courageous choice to leave her family and start a new life? After a lot of consideration, Beatrice goes to the "choosing ceremony" with no idea what she will do. The test that was supposed to tell her where she would fit in best proved to be inconclusive - she is now known as a //Divergent//. This is seen as dangerous so Beatrice must do her best in order to cover it up. In the end of chapter five, in what seems to be a split second decision, she chooses Dauntless.