Divergent Critical Lens Essay

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According to E.M. Forster, "A work of literature must provide more than factual accuracy or vivid physical reality... it must tell us more than we already know." Forster is stating that there are still lessons to be found in fictional literature. The critical lens is accurate because many pieces of fictional literature can be applied to real life. Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” and Lois Lowry’s “The Giver” both prove that literature does not have to be realistic to send a meaningful message.

Divergent is a fictional story about a restricted society.Although it is not a true story, Divergent still teaches us that when a society is forced to be a certain way, there will always be someone that doesn’t fit in or rebels against the government. Although everyone is supposed to fit into one faction, Tris fit into multiple factions; therefore, not meeting the government’s standards. When Erudite plans to overthrow the Abnegation government, society goes along with it and Dauntless is mind-controlled in order to help them do it. Due to Tris being Divergent, she cannot be mind-controlled and she begins to rebel against Erudite’s plan. She helps save Abnegation against the government’s regulations. Divergent’s theme applies to real …show more content…

After disaster struck their community, the government created a society with no pain or discrimination; therefore taking away memories from before the disaster: color, books, weather, the elderly, and weak babies. Although eliminating these factors may seem to be eliminating sadness as well, that is not the case. In order to learn life lessons, you need to be able to feel emotions - both positive and negative - and be able to let life take its natural course. You cannot achieve true happiness until you have experienced sadness. The Giver proves that in real life and in fictional literature, complete utopia can never be

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