Sumner F Period discussion
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Allegiant
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Pages 31-60“I didn’t really want to bring this up, but I can’t stop thinking about it,” she says. “That of the ten transfer initiates we started with, only six are still alive.”
Christina and Tris discuss the tragedy that has no one has yet mentioned or dared to speak of. However, the trust in Tris's and Christina's relationship enables them to do so without criticism or judgement from one another. Starting in the first book of this trilogy, Christina and Tris served as two of the very few, but very lucky, initiates to survive the first initiation tasks and continue on to endure many other seemingly unbearable tasks and observe performances. These initiates knew each other like the back of their hands. They sweat, bled, cried, and also managed to laugh with each other through the midst of the utter chaos around them. The severity of thus statement from Christina reflects one of the many major themes in this novel: loss. Loss of hope, freedom, and rights, but most importantly, loss of friends and enemies alike. Not one character in this novel has not endured the incredible hardship of losing a dear friend or even an aqquantince, rather it was they were killed or if they betrayed loved ones and broke many hearts in the process. This reoccurring theme makes me think of the war that C.S. Lewis took part in. Even though he had to suffer through the hardships of warfare, he still learned many valuable lessons about himself and he made life long friendships, when he expected nothing good to come out of it at all.
Pages 60-90“My parents would want me to save him, though.” Her eyes open and lift to the sky. “They would say it’s selfish to let someone die just because they wronged you. Forgive, forgive, forgive.”
Tris debates with herself about how she feels about her brother's fate. Tobias told her that Evelyn plans to put him on trial, meaning no mercy; Caleb will surely die. However, ever since Tris witnessed the selfless acts of her mother and father in risking and ultimately giving their own lives to save hers, she gains a new look on how one should treat those who wronged one. Because Tris grew up in Abnegation, she still possesses many of the selfless traits that her mother and father worked so hard to pound into her head throughout her entire life. Despite the despicable plot that her brother played a central role in, Tris still feels as if she owes it to her parents to save him. Not only that, but she knows that deep down she doesn't want him dead. Tris's thought process in this specific situation reminds of the selflessness that Jesus displayed in the time he walked the earth. Many gossiped about, lied about, and physically and verbally abused Jesus. But despite all of these wrongdoings, Jesus completely kept his faith in God his Father and continued to display kindness and gentleness to those who persecuted him.
Pages 90-120“Adapt faster, adapt better, adapt to things that no man should have to.”
Upon seeing Amar for the first time since believing someone murdered him, Tobias feels nothing but shock and fear surge through his entire being. Tobias felt incredibly connected to Amar when Amar served as his instructor, the name which Tobias went by for years, Four, was even dubbed by Amar. Memories flood through his mind when he sees him again; memories of Amar yelling for him and the other initiates to "adapt" to every possible, likely, and unlikely situation. This quote also reflects the theme of adaption that many characters display throughout the novel. Because of all of the hardships that they all endured, many of the original Dauntless initiates have learned to quickly adapt to even the most heartbreaking situations. A friend falls in battle, they keep moving and attempt to forget about it. War breaks out in place they believed to be their sanctuary, they fight and move on. This theme if adaption also reminds me of The Hunger Games. When the cruel game makers initially throw Katniss into the arena and into a world she has no desire to become a part of, she must allow herself to become adapted to the stranger and harmful surroundings. Katniss also forces herself to become comfortable and confident with talking in front of large crowds and stepping up to be a leader. Tris goes through a similar process in transforming from her original "stiff" status into a fearless Dauntless leader.
Pages 120-150“Obviously there are quite a few factors that determine personality, including a person’s upbringing and experiences,”
In this quote, Matthew speaks to Tris about the makeup of her genes and how they determine her Divergent personality traits. Also, he describes that her Abnegation upbringing had drastic affects on her as well, along with her Dauntless experiences. In the world they live in, people's personalities, actions, and every decision becomes strongly influenced by their factions. The factions are Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, and Amity. Tris comes from Abnegation, making her incredibly but also unknowingly selfless. She then transfers to Dauntless, which transforms her into an absolutely fearless and strong willed leader. Prior to the war, many people completely associated themselves with and derived their entire identity from their faction. A huge struggle for majority of the major characters becomes finding their true identity when their only prior sense of self came from something that Jeanine Matthews carelessly ripped away. Matthew's description of how personality is influenced makes me form connections between Allegiant and my AP psychology class. We recently just finished our unit on personalities and the many ways one's sense of self becomes set and stone. At the top of Sigmund Freud's hierarchy of human needs pyramid, lies "self actualization". Everyone searches diligently throughout their lifetimes to find their true identities, some with success while other continue to aimlessly search.
Pages 150-180“Well, it arms the cities against their own rebellions, for one thing—erase people’s memories and there’s no need to kill them; they just forget what they were fighting about. Sometimes fringe dwellers try to raid, and the memory."
As Tris and Tobias venture into the labs with Matthew to take a genetic test so he can thoroughly examine their genes, Matthew describes other aspects of the technology that they develop at the Bureau. Specifically, he speaks of the weapons. Because Veronica Roth set the book in the future, the type of weapons are drastically different than those we have today. Roth's characters used serums for majority of their weaponry; serums enable them to manipulate almost any aspect of a person's conscious. Developments in technology also appears as one of the major themes in this novel. The entire world that Tris and Tobias lived in was completely for the purpose of experimenting with and damaging the genes of innocent adults and children alike. This aspect of this trilogy shows extreme similarities to James Patterson's Maximum Ride series. Scientists in this fiction work manipulated young children's genes in order to recreate them into bird like creatures, or simply humans with literal wings of a bird. In both of these series, scientists attempt to play God in manipulating genes and attempting to solve problems for all humanity, despite the harmful affects it has on innocent people.
“But every part of me, every fiber and every nerve, is straining toward freedom, not just from this cell but from the prison of the city beyond it.
I need to see what’s outside the fence.”
As Tris heavy heartedly sits in her prison cell, she ponders about what lies out the fence. She finally recognizes that despite any fears, concerns, or doubts, her urge to escape her version of hell, confinement, and experience true freedom remains greater still. This quote sums up the first thirty pages of this novel because the sole focus of majority of the main characters appears as discovery of what one would encounter outside the fence. For Tris specifically, she craves the truth and nothing but the truth, regardless of how hard it may be to hear. This statement from Tris reminds me of the same urge for freedom and desire for a lack of repressive and controlling authority figure that Katniss Everdeen possesses in Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Both of these strong willed female characters serve as leaders to those who are searching for an alternate leader, and a different cause to invest and believe in. In the second novel of Collins' trilogy, Catching Fire, Katniss ends up in the very last place she wants to be, and without the only person she wants with her. Katniss rides on a plane to the vast land of the unknown District 13 to finally uncover the lies that countless people had told her her entire life. Tris wishes to uncover similar lies as well.