Divergent
discussion
I really dislike Tris Prior??



-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless.
Tris says many times that she is in fact Selfish and she doesn't think that she is the way people portrait her to be. Even on the choosing she says it.
-She got Erudite as one of her results, and I don't see how? She's not that clever - she's actually really illogical sometimes. Her "cleverness", just like her "selflessness" is looked into too deeply. She has her clever moments, yes, but so does everyone else. Also, her climbing the Ferris Wheel for a game of Capture the Flag was so risky and dumb...I don't see why she was praised for it? If Four wasn't there, she would have died. Don't even get me started on her in Insurgent.
The others just stood there following a pattern she didn’t. I get that she could die if Four was not there but that does make her any less clever.
-She does a lot of really awful things? She called Al a coward for killing himself, she shot Peter when he wasn't even threatening her, she was going to let HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DIE for a boy that she only knew for a month. But wait, no, no, it's okay because """they're in luv!!!!""""
Can i say that in this i agree with her he was a Coward! just saying!!!! An shooting Peter was the best thing in the book he deserved it and she needed him to understang that she was not messing around.
-She's also a hypocrite?? Like...she was going to let Caleb die in the first book, and then when he made a mistake (I believe he was confused, not an a-hole) she made him feel awful, made everyone hate him...like, oh, it's okay for her to let everyone else die, but he can't make mistakes?
I don't think he was just confused!?!!! He was an a-hole and we get to see when he experiments on her! i don't think that she needed to MAKE everyone hate him i think he accomplished that all by him self.
She's just so overrated. Most of her "badassness" and "coolness" also comes from her privilege of being Divergent. She wouldn't have made it to the top three in the Dauntless training if she wasn't. And I don't even SEE how she's divergent - if anything, to me, she was the LEAST divergent. Christina, for instance, was more of a person who shared more than one trait (honesty, bravery, kindness.) Tris was the one who shared only one thing to me (she was brave ((mostly reckless, but still.)
i get that she is not kind or honest, but i don't think the definition of Divergent is just that, Also I don't think being Divergent is a privilege this takes us all the way to Allegiant with that discussion.
One more thing: Four says "Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up" when she LITERALLY doesn't even think twice and kills Will out of fear for her own life.
If fear didn't wake her up does that mean that she would just stood there and let Will kill her? i know maybe she needed to find a way around it but for me it was the logical solution. for many people in a fear stress situation you shutdown dont know what to do. i think maybe that was Four was referring to.
In my personal opinion I think Tris is in fact a great character but also has many flaws. I think you are judging her based on the other character opinions not herself as an individual.

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless.
Tris says many times that ..."
I disagree with you. The Ferris Wheel thing was just an example (and I understand it was 'clever', but it wasn't smart). She - Tris, I mean - isn't all that clever. She's actually pretty illogical sometimes. Like I said: she was going to let HUNDREDS of people die for a boy she ONLY knew a month (it's selfish, illogical, and hypocritical, because she shames Caleb in the next two books. So, if he's an a-hole, then she's a bigger one for not feeling bad about what she did, and making him feel awful by what he did.) And the Peter thing, well, I understand Peter was awful, but that doesn't justify what she did.
And I know she's not kind of honest, but by her not seemingly being divergent I mean that she's not all that 'clever' like she's told to be, and she's not selfless. And by privilege I mean that it's the reason she got first in Dauntless.
And for the Will thing: I meant that if she REALLY didn't let fear control her, she would have just shot his hands.
I think Tris is an awful character, although I appreciate your comment, friend.

p.s. I don't think that quote was word from word correct but it was something like that.

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless.
Tris says many times that ..."
I agree with you entirely, she is flawed but she knows it and it makes her real, she is a great character.

Firstly, I want to correct you on this: Katniss was no where near perfect. She was just a great character. You see, for me, there's a difference between flaws that make a character real and flaws that make a character unlikable: Katniss was admirable, but sometimes misjudged things, for instance.
Tris, on the other hand, for me her flaws made her unlikable. The book's definition of selfless can be SO off, because Tris thought being selfless means to sacrifice your life. It doesn't. She was selfish, REALLY selfish, not because everyone is but because she only thought of her feelings, and like I said, was going to let everyone die for Four - her brother, her friends, etc.
Katniss isn't 'perfect'. She's admirable. There's a difference.
Tris isn't perfect either. But her flaws aren't what make her great, like Katniss's - her flaws, like being a hypocrite and not being nice, make her an unlikable character. I see where you're coming from, though.


She was going to let everyone die for him in the first book. It was illogical, selfish, and hypocritical, like I said, because she gives Caleb shit in the next two books. And she was in fact very selfish - the only times she was 'selfless' was a couple, and every person's like that. Her selfishness was shown more often: her not caring about others or their feelings, etc. She wasn't selfless, and it bothered me a lot that the book was just SO off with the meaning of it. If she's selfless, then I am selfless, and so is everyone else I know. Also, Katniss Everdeen wasn't selfless (I'm only using her as an example because you brought her up earlier) and Katniss did WAY many more acts of selflessness than Tris did. I just think that Tris isn't that great at all, and she's highly overrated. Her acts are looked into too much. (I appreciate your comment, though!)


^^^^yes! The book didn't make too much sense in general tbh

Tris was pretty robotic (and kinda heartless.) She had her nicer moments, but overall, yeah, she wasn't very nice.

She was in fact Selfish but i don't think she was heartless.
someone said that Katniss was not perfect but in a way she was. she was the perfect hero that only wanted to survive by any means possible and felt remorse about her actions on the Games and in the war. Volunteers to save her little sister and fights to keep Peeta alive by any means later on the book(s). Everyone see hers as the hope for a better future and cheers for her.
Tris is the opposite she isnt "Admirable", i didn't see Tris being the one to follow!! she was reckless, brave, smart(even if people don't give her credit) and she also loved Four and her family very much. Even sacrifice her self for that a-hole of a brother. He was!! and i hated him more than anyone on the series. if it was up to me i would shoot him myself!! i don't see why Tris has to keep quiet about how upset she was for the betrayal of her brother! WTH!! she can say and feel whatever she wants. and if she is hypocrite well we all are in some way.
People pick and choose what things Tris did wrong or right i can't expect for a character to do everything perfect and if thats the way we wanted to be then write a book!!
well that's all for the moment!




With the knives thing, yeah it was gutsy, but she only called out on accident and continued on bc of her pride. And being a selfless person and /sometimes/ doing selfless things is entirely different. She's not braver than anyone; a lot of people in the book were just as brave. Besides, a lot of it was recklessness. And yeah, she was pretty mean lol

yeah I didn't like Tris at all. Katniss is a good role model, but she has flaws, too, except her flaws are what made her human; with Tris, her flaws are different because to me, at least, her flaws made her unlikable. She was made out to be "selfless" and whatever, but I found her selfish, too.

For me, I like the other characters and I like the plot. Not everyone has to love the main character."
Yeah, Not all people like the main character. I read it for other characters (like Four) . It was a good book only that there are times I am annoyed by Tris.

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless. I know..."
I don't see why you have to make such a big point of hating her. All you're doing is criticizing a published author. Millions of books were sold world wide, they made a movie of it, and millions of people love the books. If they books weren't good, none of this would have happened. In fact, you would have nothing to criticize at this moment if her books were not published.
Hating a main character for how the author wrote her... What's the point? You can't change anything. And in all of that, you just gave reasons you hated Tris. Though you never said anything about the author for giving Tris the traits and having Tris do what she wanted Tris to do.
In a lot of books, relationships materialize quickly and they believe it's "love". That's how most romance novels are. This book is not unlike, Twilight, or Hunger Games or Nightshade, or Hush, Hush, or City Of Bones, or even Vampire Academy. Your point against her "loving' Four, is completely moot.

My idea about selflessness is kind of like what they say about bravery. Bravery is about not the absence of courage, but about rising above your fear and doing something that scares you. Selflessness does not mean you never think about yourself or want to put yourself first. It's not an automatic response and doesn't come easy. It means you ultimately choose to put others first even when it's hard and you don't want to. It requires a sacrifice and a struggle within yourself.

lol! I don't think she had a choice. "Letting" your instructor throw knives at you? I wish I could "let" my instructor give us no homework. That would be awesome! Tris wasn't mean or cruel, but she was selfish. It's ok though, we're all selfish to some point.
Her fear for her life caused her to shoot Will in the head (atleast that's how I remember it) and what if Tobias didn't wake up from whatever he was under? Then everyone would die cause Tris didn't want to kill him. lol! That's funny, but that's also pretty sad.
You can kill Christina's boyfriend when he's trying to kill you, but you can't kill your boyfriend when he's trying to kill you cause of "true love"!!!! What about the power of friendship, Tris? What about the friendship?!
That being said, this book is where Tris shined the most. For me, everything else was downhill.

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her s..."
I'm just sharing my opinion, please calm down lol. The books are flawed, and it doesn't matter how much it has sold. I'm not saying it's awful, I'm just saying the main character is awful at times. There's not much wrong with that because the side characters were good. I don't need to like the main character. Also, I don't care whether or not she loves Four or not. I was just saying that it was horrible of her to risk everyone's lives for him, and for it to be acceptable because it is 'romantic'. And I'm not making a big point - I'm just sharing my opinion? And I'm not criticizing Veronica - there's nothing wrong with me disliking a character.

You have mixed emotions about it ^.^ She's not MEAN mean, but she's not very nice. And yeah, we're all selfish but her selfishness was a little extreme at times. (Like the thing where she was going to let everyone die for Four, like you said.)

Divergent was the best of the three, for sure. Although I loved seeing a little more of Marlene and Lynn and Uriah and Zeke and Shauna.

Yes, but some people are more than others. You can say no one is honest, too, for instance, because no one is entirely honest. No one is entirely anything.

You didn't understand me. I am aware that no one is selfless all the time - what I meant was that being selfless is a day-to-day thing; that sacrifice and selflessness are different. Yes, there is selflessness in sacrifice and sacrifice in selflessness, but they are different. The example I used was Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston; Johnny was selfless because he was in both small and large actions. Dallas did die for him, and that was selfless of him, but he was not selfless. That's what I'm trying to say.
Also, I know that flaws make a character real, but there's a difference between flaws that make characters seem real, and flaws that make them into unlikable people. For me, her flaws made her unlikable. I'm not expecting her to be perfect - I LIKE flawed characters. Like Katniss Everdeen, and Harry Potter, and Dallas Winston. But all I'm saying is that I didn't like her. Not that her having flaws is bad.
And even with her flaws, she still wasn't the most exciting character. I appreciate your comment, though.


-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless.
Tris says many times that ..."
- (I am arguing for Tris not against her) I completely agree with your response:) Like you said, Tris admits that she may not be completely selfless, or peaceful, or smart, or honest but what person is? I think Veronica Roth did a great job creating a character that is just human and not some amazing figure that is perfect in every way. And for the shooting Will thing, yes it was extremely sad but like you said she would have died if she had not shot him. Putting that fact aside, she actually did think twice. In both the book and the movie it shows how much she tried to get Will to wake up from the trance before she actually shot him. Also, after wards she felt really awful. And for the Al situation, again it was very sad, but she did not call him a coward for killing himself, she called him a coward for trying to kill her just because she was higher on the score board. Do I think she could have been nicer to Al? Yes, but I have already addressed that she feels awful afterwards and she had no idea of what damage her words could create. One of the things that makes me like her is that she is NOT PERFECT. Nobody is! So why should we make out book characters to be? Aren't books supposed to seem realistic? Tris knows she's not perfect and she repeats that she knows this over and over again! All in all, I think Tris is a great character despite(and maybe slightly because of) her flaws.

Please don't think that I care too much for it or anything - meaning, please don't get offended. I was just saying my opinion. I'm not insulting Veronica - I am just saying that I dislike her main character. I like her other characters, though.

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless.
Tris says ma..."
*SIGHS*
I know characters don't need to be perfect. I'm just saying why I don't like her. And yes, she did call him a coward for killing himself. She said something like "if he would have just left dauntless, it would have been brave of him" and then she goes on and calls him a coward for killing himself because he didn't just leave. Please please please don't take this too seriously. I don't think she's great and you do. And that's okay.

is it bad that I laughed at the last part of your sentence LOL. And good for you, if you like it. I just don't like the main character. I hope you can accept that without getting offended. If you are offended, then I apologize.

WELL SHE DIED FOR YOU SO BE THANKFUL"
Thanks a lot from those of us who haven't read the last two yet. You might want to learn how to post a spoiler.

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless...."
It's really fine:) I was just posting what I thought and I COMPLETELY respect your opinion - sorry if it seemed otherwise, I'm just a REALLY intense fangirl! Thanks for posting this discussion btw, it's really fun to see peoples opinions from both sides:)

I don't if it was me but and during the whole book I saw four as a pervert since he was the instructor and was eyeing Tris which I couldn't help but be bothered by it. Even tho hes only eighteen and she sixteen wierd...
Overall good book...

-Firstly, no, she is NOT selfless. She's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could cal..."
I'm glad that you aren't offended :) And I understand haha, I'm the exact same way with Katniss and the Outsiders characters!

I don't if it was me but and..."
I would've liked the book better if it was in someone else's point of view, but it was a fun book. I tried reading Insurgent but got bored so I just read the parts with Marlene lol. And I see what you mean. Their relationship was okay for me.

I don't know, they're okay for me - not that bad, but not that cute. I'm not really interested. I liked Will+Christina and Marlene+Uriah more :D



I totally agree with you its really FUN!!!

i did like Eric Character find it sometimes conflicting in his actions but a good character. i dislike Caleb and Marcus i hated them! but Jeanine for me it needed something more to be a better villain!!


i agree with you completely! that was uncalled for. and everyone has the right to make opinions. sorry that they ruined it for you!
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-Firstly, she's actually so selfish. I don't see how anyone could call her selfless. I know Tris doesn't say it about herself all the time, but the book tries to make her look like she is. She isn't. At all. Being selfless is a day-to-day thing. Someone like Susan would be selfless (I am aware she is a minor character.) And to use an example from another book, there's Johnny Cade. You see, Dallas Winston died for Johnny Cade, but was he selfless? No.
-She got Erudite as one of her results, and I don't see how? She's not that clever - she's actually really illogical sometimes. Her "cleverness", just like her "selflessness" is looked into too deeply. She has her clever moments, yes, but so does everyone else. Also, her climbing the Ferris Wheel for a game of Capture the Flag was so risky and dumb...I don't see why she was praised for it? If Four wasn't there, she would have died. Don't even get me started on her in Insurgent.
-She does a lot of really awful things? She called Al a coward for killing himself, she shot Peter when he wasn't even threatening her, she was going to let HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DIE for a boy that she only knew for a month. But wait, no, no, it's okay because """they're in luv!!!!""""
-She's also a hypocrite?? Like...she was going to let Caleb die in the first book, and then when he made a mistake (I believe he was confused, not an a-hole) she made him feel awful, made everyone hate him...like, oh, it's okay for her to let everyone else die, but he can't make mistakes?
She's just so overrated. Most of her "badassness" and "coolness" also comes from her privilege of being Divergent. She wouldn't have made it to the top three in the Dauntless training if she wasn't. And I don't even SEE how she's divergent - if anything, to me, she was the LEAST divergent. Christina, for instance, was more of a person who shared more than one trait (honesty, bravery, kindness.) Tris was the one who shared only one thing to me (she was brave ((mostly reckless, but still. I will give her credit for being gutsy.))
One more thing: Four says "Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up" when she LITERALLY doesn't even think twice and kills Will out of fear for her own life (she could have just shot his hands lol)
Tris is made up to be this amazing character and is compared to queens like Katniss Everdeen and Hermione Granger, when she shouldn't be. Her actions (the good moments) are far much looked into. She would have been a better minor character. And her thoughts are a little too robotic for me.
**This is just a discussion please do not take anything too seriously. These were just my thoughts of her while reading the book. By the way, I'm not hating on Veronica Roth, because she is not a bad writer and she seems lovely. Besides, I love her side characters!**
***and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having flaws. I know having flaws within characters is good and is okay. But I AM allowed to hate a character.***
****Also, my intention is/was not to offend anyone. I am just sharing my opinion.****