Divergent

Divergent

By Veronica Roth

Katherine Tegen Books, 2011. 487 pages. Dystopia.

ISBN: 9780062024022

Reading/Interest Level: Ages 13+

Curriculum ties: Segregation, life balance

Booktalk Ideas: Choose your destiny: Describe/act out life from the different factions, and then ask the students which faction they would choose. Briefly describe the choice that Tris has to make.

Challenge Issues: Violence

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

When Beatrice turns sixteen she has the chance to choose the path the rest of her life will take, but during her aptitude test she discovers something unique about herself, putting her life at risk.

Plot Summary:

In a post-apocalyptic world, a community has been divided into various factions based on trait values such as Abnegation who value service, Erudite who value intelligence and learning, Candor who value honesty, Dauntless who value bravery, and Amity who value peace. When Beatrice Prior turns sixteen, she and others her age get to choose which faction she wants to spend the rest of her life is. She’s lived her life in Abnegation, but her aptitude test, which is supposed to tell her where she belongs, is inconclusive. That’s not supposed to be possible! She is Divergent, meaning she doesn’t fit in any one faction.

When it’s time to choose her faction she abandons her family and chooses Dauntless, a very daring move. However, she must keep her Divergent nature a secret because Divergent often go missing, and no one is quite sure why.

To truly make it into Dauntless, Tris must undergo rigorous training where only a select number will be accepted into the faction, and the rest will become factionless. Outsiders.

Tris’s training is brutal, and so are some of the other initiates. She must fight for her spot in Dauntless and survive the beatings and harassment of others to finally, successfully, become Dauntless. However, Tris discovers that the Dauntless are being used as a weapon against other factions and only her Divergence is keeping her safe. She is one of only a few that can stop the war that is about to be waged.

Critical Evaluation:

Though this book technically takes place in a future version of Chicago, based on the descriptions it could really be any big city, making the setting easy to imagine and become engrossed in.

Perhaps the most unique and character defining portions of this book take place in the fear landscape simulations. This really highlights Roth’s excellent skills at character development.

The reader is obviously privy to Tris’s fear landscape, how horrible the fears are but at the same time her bravery and clarity of mind to find ways to overcome them. Then, when Four invites Tris into his fear landscape, Tris sees exactly what is hardest for Four, including the revelation that Four is Tobias, the son of an Abnegation leader no one realized was abusive at home. Thus, when Four is able to work with his father toward the end of the book, even if begrudgingly, shows how far Four has come and how much stronger he is toward the end of the book, than he was at the beginning.

About the Author:

Roth was born in New York City on August 19, 1988 and was raised primarily in Barrington, Illinois. Her mother, Barbara Ross, is a painter who resides in Barrington. She is the youngest of three children. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and her mother has since remarried to Frank Ross, a financial consultant for landscape companies. Her brother and sister live in the Chicago area.

Her mother's family was from Poland. Roth says of her father: "He had a job, and worked far away. Now I have a good relationship with my stepdad". Her maternal grandparents were concentration camp survivors, whose religious convictions pushed her mother away from religion. Veronica Roth learned about the Christian religion by attending a Christian Bible study during her high school years, and has stayed with it.

Roth graduated from Barrington High School. After attending a year of college at Carleton College, she transferred to Northwestern University for its creative writing program. Roth wrote her first book, Divergent, while on winter break in her senior year at Northwestern University.

Her career took off rapidly with the success of her first novel, with the publishing rights sold before she graduated from college in 2010 and the film rights sold mid-March 2011, before the novel was printed in April 2011. She married photographer Nelson Fitch in 2011. They reside in the Chicago area.

-from Wikipedia.com author page-

Justification of Selection:

This is a title that is already very popular with teens, and has been made into a movie. It provides a great way to discuss fears and a variety of social values. It can help teen understand that no one value is best, and that a balance and appreciation of all values is necessary for a successful society.