Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago were everyone is separated into 5 sections of Chicago. Throughout the story the characters take trips to the Ferris Wheel of Navy Prier, the Hancock building, the Willis (formally Sears) Tower, and Millennium Park.
PLOT
Set in a futuristic dystopia Chicago there is a society that is divided into five factions: Abnegation; selflessness, Amity; peaceful, Candor; honest, Dauntless; brave, and Erudite; knowledgeable. Each represents a different virtue of living one’s life. The children of this society have to decide whether they want to stay in their faction or switch to another, the choice is theirs. The young Beatrice “Tris” Prior makes a choice that surprises everyone including herself. After what seems to be the wrong choice, Tris and her fellow faction members have to go through a very competitive training in order to live with their new faction. They must go through intense psychological tests and extreme physical training that can either transform them or destroy them. If they fail to complete their training successfully they will be left frictionless and an outcast to society. While the Dauntless train, the Erudite devolve a life threatening plan that is carried out that night. They developed a serum that stops the brain’s thought process and all of the Dauntless become sleeper soldiers for they were injected with it. The serum does not work on Tris or Tobias “Four” Eaton because they are both Divergent. When they try to escape they are both caught and brought to Jeanine, the Erudite leader. She then sentences Tris to death and Tobias is sent to the control room to view the attack. Tris is locked inside a glass tank that fills with water, but moments later her mother saves her life. ...
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... said Divergent shows how the pressure really is with "Having to choose between following in your parents' footsteps or doing something new."
PERSONAL RELEVANCE
I believe this book show the true struggle with family, life, and society. Divergent reveals that life holds its ups and downs and that anything can bring out the ugly in someone’s life. Having to choose between one way of living and another is something everyone goes through and it can be hard. Even if one made the wrong choice, they have to live with it for the rest of their lives. Divergent shows that anyone can be scared of even the littlest things and those things can tear someone apart. If made my fair share of terrible choices but I choose not to let them get in my way of making my life right. I have fears that I don’t know why I have, but I have them and they can’t effect me and what I want to do.
Do we control the judgments and decisions that we make every day? In the book,
Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a ‘future’ America. The city and state in which it actually takes place is unknown. We know it takes place in America due to the reference to Benjamin Franklin as the first firemen. The time period is vague but we can assume that it was supposed to have been set after the 1990s which makes sense since the book was written in the 1950s. I’m assuming it mostly takes place in a rather large city because the author, Ray Bradbury, constantly describes both suburban and urban scenes. He describes the boulevard where Montag lives and the firehouse. These places add to the ‘suburban’ feel. He also describes the freeway which must be rather long.
Imagine having your personality given to you the minute that you are born. Factions; a way to separate people into groups by an outcome of a test. In this Utopia, your faith and future is already determined. Where perfection is ideal. Divergent by Veronica Roth is an exciting science fiction and thriller with a quickly moving plot that builds an exciting tone, and a point of view that is told through Tris in a unique way since she is like no one else in the story.
The lack of full emotional development of adolescents can lead to confusion and pressure while making life-or-death decisions during serious situations such as war. Along with being forced into war, living in inferiority to an overpowering presence only enrages the teenagers and their families more about the situation. Suzanne Collins depicts this class difference by writing, “Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch- this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand at surviving another rebellion” (18). The districts are outraged by the idea of forcing children into a violent atmosphere in which they have to fight each other for their lives.
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
She is successful and ranks first. She slowly realizes that in the excitement of the day, the Dauntless leaders have again exercised their power by injecting a serum in members to fight Abnegation for them. This again shows the corruption of total power in society leaders. Realizing the control over fellow Dauntless members tris gets Four and they set out to reverse the serum and fight the simulation. The story continues in Roth’s second book of the Divergent Trilogy Insurgent. Divergent has been well received and in a review given by The New York Times, Susan Dominus wrote that it was, “rich in plot.” Common Sense Media commented on the book’s “deep message about identity and controlling societies” and on its unstoppable
In the short story “The Reach,” Stephen King addresses the fact that in life there is a constant fear of death, but when confronted with it is easier to accept when someone has seen many deaths and knows that they are dying themselves. The narrator of the story knows that she is dying and, being an elder, has seen many deaths. We reach this conclusion when she questions the love she has for others and no longer cries when others die around her anymore. She has seen many deaths in the years and can only accept that death is inevitable and a part of life. Mostly everyone she grew up with has passed on already.
For my Literature Circle assignment I read the novel entitled The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger.Taking place in the 1950's, The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most popular American books of all time, though, its hero is not really a hero at all. Main character Holden Caufield, is a 17 year old, disproved and misunderstood, classic "screw-up", who does poorly in school, loses his team's equipment, and takes an impulsive trip to New York. Distraught by the death of his 11 year old brother Allie, Holden wanders around his birthplace of New York, reconnecting with old friends and making new enemies. The main conflict of this novel is Holden transitioning into an adult and trying to cope with his brother’s death. One main theme displayed all throughout this novel would be depression. For the duration of this novel, Holden spends his time alone, and even if he is in the company of other people, you hear his thoughts of being depressed. Most of this depression is derived from his brother’s death, but there are many other things accountable for his mental issues. Although much of this novel was just Holden’s opinions and thoughts, I found this novel to be very interesting and thought provoking.
“The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.” This is an excerpt from “In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz”, a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeat’s. Eva and Con were two sisters whose beauty had entranced a young Yeats. They are remembered in the poem as “Two girls in silk kimonos, both/beautiful.” As both girls become active in politics and the women’s suffrage movement they become exposed to the corrupted reality of life. The problems the two sisters endure eventually strip away their physical and spiritual beauty. Yeat’s poem indicates that time brings new and bad experiences. Experiences that strip beauty and innocence away from people. This is a recurring theme in the classic novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden puts himself in situations that are very stressful. His personality type puts him in these situations. Holden has trouble-making friends because he thinks almost everyone is a phony. The pressure created from not having friends and being able to be comfortable at a school forced him out of an education, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all...For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 13) not only did this force him out of the school but also onto the streets. The song “Under Pressure” by Queen perfectly fits the theme that the pressure Holden created on himself forced him to the edge of sanity. In the song, one of the reoccurring lines is “puts people on the streets” (Queen) referring to pressure. This song perfectly relates to this theme.
... believe that Divergent shows students the deeper meaning of symbols in a book the student actually likes to read. In contrast, numerous people want to discontinue the book because it is a movie, and it contains religious messages; these two things can be taught around by creative teaching in District 200. The students’ education should be the first priority, and one can believe this book will further the students’ knowledge.
The most remarkable thing about literature is its effect on society and the individual. Every once in a while a book is published that truly relates to those who read it. Divergent just so happens to be one of those books. Divergent is an extreme take on the differences of what virtues humans value to form the perfect society. The book’s contents are almost philosophical, acting as sustenance for the heart and soul, meanwhile highlighting the many problems we face in modern society through quotes in a subliminal fashion that coincide wonderfully with the story. One such quote can be found on pg.441 and it reads ‘’ Human beings as a whole cannot be good for long before the bad creeps back in and poisons us again.’’ It almost breaks the 3rd wall. Human beings were born with both flaws and goodness. We are a double edged sword with extreme potential on both points. Deep down there is something dark in everybody. There are those who can control it and those who are weak and succumb to it.
Divergent and The Hunger Games are two of the most successful movies released in 2014. The movies attracted a large number of viewers who were able to connect with the characters and the story being told. Many people found themselves getting emotionally involved in the characters lives. In both movies, it is easy to find yourself rooting for the underdog and hoping that only the best happens in the end. Both movies are remarkably similar because they feature similar strong female leads, display omnipotent authority, practice dystopian societies, and have a clear distinction between good versus evil.
This book is a great book and it touches ones heart in ways you couldn't imagine. I seriously love this book because I love romantic stories and it's just so cute. The movie is good but the book is better.
I have decided to write two dystopian fiction extracts, one aimed at adults (Great Leap Forward), and one aimed at teenagers (exitSim). Both of which have the purpose of entertaining the audience, however the adult extract is also designed to provide a political message and to provoke thought, a common feature of adult dystopian fiction. In terms of style models, for teenagers I have used The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Divergent, Life as we Knew It, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. For adults, I have used 1984, Station Eleven, The Giver, Animal Farm, and Wither. Whilst both my stories are dystopian fiction, they are made clearly different by the fact the target audience is different for each.