Divergent Discussion 4: Did Tris pick the right faction? #INSURGENTUK #CANDORUK

This post is part of the Team #CANDORUK campaign for #INSURGENTUK. Click on the picture above for more information.

As part of the Insurgent release week madness I thought it would be fun to have some discussion posts about Divergent. I got the ideas for these topics from the HarperCollins Divergent Discussion Guide that can be found online here. These posts will contain spoilers for Divergent but I'd like to keep them spoiler free for Insurgent so please keep that in mind when you're commenting. I'll be welcoming members of Team #CANDORUK here every day to answer a different question so please give them all a warm welcome!

Taking part in today's discussion we have:

Carly - Writing from the Tub

Keren - Gothic Angel

Jo - Once Upon A Bookcase

M - We Sat Down

Iffath - Painting With Words

Today's topic:

At her aptitude test Tris discovers that she is Divergent and has qualities that would allow her to fit into three different factions – Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. She chooses Dauntless but was that the right decision for her? How does she change throughout the Dauntless initiation process? How different would things have been if she had picked a different faction? Do you think she would have found it easier if she had chosen a different faction?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Thoughts:

Although Tris is Divergent I don't actually think she would have been happy in any faction other than Dauntless. Yes, she might have found life easier - the initiation tests for Abnegation and Erudite would have been less painful for sure! - but I don't believe that easier is necessarily better. She already knew that she wasn't happy living in Abnegation, although I think she actually gets more selfless throughout the Dauntless initiation which is quite ironic! I'm sure Tris is intelligent enough to fit in quite well at Erudite but after listening to her father's opinions of that faction all of her life I don't think she could ever have chosen to go there.

Really Dauntless is the ideal faction for her, she isn't fearless but she is brave enough to face her fears. She proves that from the very first day when she jumps off the building first when they arrive at the Dauntless compound and she continues to prove it again and again throughout the book. I love that we get to watch Tris go from being a girl who is unsure of herself and doesn't trust her own judgement to a strong and confident young woman as the story progresses. I'm not sure that she would have grown as much as she did if she'd been living in any other faction. Also, if she'd chosen anywhere else then she'd never have met Four and I'm sure that most people would agree with me when I say that would have been a travesty!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carly's Thoughts:

I do think Dauntless was the right decision for Tris. We don’t see her as a member of Abnegation for very long but it’s clear that she’s not happy, that she doesn’t feel as though she fits in. I think she stands out as Dauntless from the beginning of the book and rereading the first couple of chapters of Divergent shows how much Tris has changed throughout her time as a member of Dauntless.

The Tris before initiation and the Tris after are two very different people. We see a more reckless side to her, a side that is physically and mentally strong, who isn’t afraid, who is brave at all times. She seems happier and freer, even though initiation wasn’t particularly kind to her. You can tell that she feels more at home after a couple of weeks in Dauntless than she did after years living as Abnegation.

I think things could have been much easier for Tris if she’d chosen a different faction and I think this is something she is probably aware of herself. Staying as Abnegation would have been the easy choice, the simple choice. Her life would have carried on on the same path as it had for her whole life (well, to her knowledge, at least). I think the very act of leaving her faction, her family and starting a new life as Dauntless shows such bravery that Dauntless is, really, the only faction Tris truly belongs in. Of course, she is Divergent so does have an aptitude for Erudite and Abnegation but I think Dauntless is her true home, where she really belongs.

I feel like Tris might have ended up even more involved if she had chosen to become a member of Erudite. I don’t want to discuss this in too much detail so I don’t spoil anything for those of you who haven’t read Insurgent but if Tris had chosen Erudite I’m pretty sure Divergent would have been a standalone novel.

However, which faction she chose there’s no denying that Tris is Dauntless through and through. Every decision she makes is brave, every chance she gets she shows her courage and I think the Dauntless parts of her personality are only enhanced by the little shreds of Abnegation that still remain. The cruel side of Dauntless that may be seen a flaw in other members of the faction doesn’t seem to be present in Tris because of her Abnegation past, which links back to what I said in my answer to the first set of questions Sarah posted on Tuesday; if everybody in the Divergent world worked to embody more than one of the faction morals the society would be a much healthier place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keren's Thoughts:

I think that with the fact that she had the traits of 3 Factions, she would never be content to stay in just one. I think there comes a point where you just can't be the person they want you to be. If I was Tris, I would not be happy to settle and be the person they all expected me to be. I would want to be me, my own person. I don't think she can do that living life in one Faction doing everything the way they tell her to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jo's Thoughts:

I don’t think Tris could have chosen a different faction. Abnegation didn’t suit the type of person she was, and she wasn’t a fan of Erudite as they were badmouthing her original faction. Dauntless is the faction she was born for! Ok, so her Divergence helped her out a bit when it came to simulations, but by the end of the book, there is no doubt in my mind that Dauntless is where she belongs. It takes a tough cookie to do some of the things she had to do and had to go through. Someone from Abnegation would break from not being used to stressful, scary situations, but also from not knowing how to defend themselves. Also, if she had never been in Dauntless, she would never have been in a position to do the good she does.

Even if the situation that arose in Divergent didn’t happen, Dauntless would still be where Tris belongs. She wouldn’t have been happy anywhere else, and although it wasn’t easy in her initiation process, she does find some happiness there, in various forms; friendship, love, self-belief, self-respect, the ability to stand up for herself and fight back. From being the quiet Abnegation girl who allows herself to be knocked over by Erudite students, Tris becomes someone to respect and be wary of. She becomes kick-ass!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

M's Thoughts:

Who would ever know what the right decision is? And what feels right at one point in your life won’t always seem right at other times.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iffath's Thoughts:

I think Dauntless was the perfect faction for Tris. It’s hard to get why when she firsts transfers—I was reading the book like “Oh no, what has she done?!” but she really fits in there, and the bravery she has inside of her is breath-taking. In my opinion, Tris was born for Dauntless! Having said that, it would’ve been interesting to see what would’ve happened to her if she chose to stay in Abnegation or perhaps even failed the Dauntless initiation and was factionless!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you to everyone for taking part, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers! 

I'd love to know what you all think too so please join the discussion in the comments. A lot of the Candor team will be checking back throughout the week to see if you agree with them or not!