Divergent Chapters 19 - 27
Tris finds Peter reading an Erudite article that attacks Abnegation and accuses her father of wicked behavior. She learns that Molly has lied to a reporter about her. The newspaper includes Molly’s account of Tris’s ‘sleep talking’ which involves Tris screaming about the terrible things her father had done to her. She attacks Peter and Molly but she is pulled away by Will. Later, Tris, Christina, and Al go to a tattoo parlor where Tris gets a Dauntless seal tattoo and a revealing shirt. They go to the chasm where they meet a drunk Four, who begins to flirt with Tris. Al throws Tris over his shoulder and they all go to dinner.
During her next fear simulation test, Tris finds herself trapped in a glass box with Four while the box is filling with water. Tris panics and tries to break out of the box by beating the box, but she remembers that it is a simulation. She calms down and she manages to break the glass and escape, revealing her Divergent abilities to Four. Four informs her that being able to manipulate simulations is a sign of being divergent. He promises to delete her test results and asks her to be careful about her abilities in future tests. Tris learns from Tori that all Divergent individuals seem to have this ability and that Tori’s brother too possesses it. She reveals that her brother’s divergence had been revealed to the leaders and they had assassinated him while making everyone believe that he had committed suicide.
Erudite publishes more articles attacking Abnegation, causing Tris to worry. She reflects on her decision to join Dauntless and the traumatic simulations. Tris had joined Dauntless because she wanted to reveal a part of herself that she had never revealed to anyone. Now, she feels overwhelmed by the trauma of her training, especially the simulations. Tris knows that the minds of the other initiates are beginning to unravel, while she has been chewing on her fingernails in her sleep. Later, Eric reveals that Tris is ranked first, leading to resentment from Peter, his crew, and also her friends. She finds comfort in her friends from the other group of initiates. Tris overhears a conversation between Eric and an unknown woman. They seem to be discussing strategies to uncover Divergent rebels. Suddenly, Tris is attacked by Peter, Al, and an unknown person. They blindfold her and bind her. They carry her to the chasm and threaten to drop her, but Four rescues her. She passes out in his arms.
After the brutal attack, Tris wakes up in Four’s room. He tells her that he managed to injure Drew severely, but the other two ran away. He volunteers to report the incident, but Tris doesn’t want that. Four advises her to feign vulnerability and protect herself. She tells him that the boys molested her, which angers him a lot, but he advises her that she should ‘ruin them later.’ He asks her not to call him Four anymore but doesn’t offer an alternate name. That night, Tris stays in Four’s room. She watches him sleep and admires his character. She feels a thrill when he examines her injuries the following day. She follows her advice and goes to the food hall with a meek appearance. Her friends notice her injuries and question her. She confides in them, and they all sympathize with her while marveling at Al’s involvement with the attack. Then, Four introduces the third stage of training: the fear landscape. The initiates will have to face their fears in a simulation in the presence of a panel of Dauntless leaders. The time they spend in the simulations will greatly determine their place in the rankings. The initiates return to their dorm, and they find an extremely upset Al. He apologizes to Tris for his part in the attack, but she refuses to forgive him and warns him to stay away from her.
Christina wakes Tris while she is having a nightmare, Christina tells her that something has happened to Al. They run down to the pit just as Al’s bloated corpse is being lifted out of the chasm. One of the bystanders notes that at least one initiate jumps into the chasm every year. Tris is deeply upset, but she finds comfort in Tori. They attend the funeral together, unlike the somber grieving of Abnegation, Tris finds that Dauntless funerals involve a lot of drinking and celebrating. She is disgusted by Eric when he celebrates Al’s suicide as something brave because he had chosen to face the unknown. She storms away from the funeral, and Four follows her. She loudly criticizes Dauntless's attitude towards suicide, but he cautions her to be careful with her words. He tells her that she is being observed and that the leadership is more concerned with what she thinks than what she does. He compliments her and tells her that he admires her response to fear, and they embrace.
Tris gets a tattoo of Abnegation to symbolize how important the faction has been in shaping her personality. She then goes to the chasm with her friends, Will, and Christina. They discuss Erudite’s accusations against Abnegation, and Christina worries that Erudite’s leader is trying to lead a revolution. Her friends leave the chasm, while Tris remains behind. She sees Four climbing out of the chaos and decides to secretly follow him. He is aware of her presence and invites her into the fear landscape room just as soon as they reach the room. He tells her to watch his simulation and tells her that she is about to discover why he is called Four. She observes Four go through one fear after another. The first three simulations challenge Four’s fear of heights, closed spaces, and a woman trying to kill him with a gun. Four faces these fears head-on, and Tris watches his progress without concern she is rather excited by his second fear because it forces them to be very close together in a tight space. Four’s final fear turns out to be a thin man, and Tris is shocked to realize that she recognizes the man. The man in the hallucination is Marcus, her father’s colleague, and just as the man draws his belt to beat Four. She realizes that Four is Tobias, Marcus’s son. She steps in front of Four to defend him against his father’s attack but Four pre-empts her. The simulations disappear and they share an embrace.
Tris and Tobias have a conversation about their aptitude tests and why Tobias left Abnegation. She had hoped to learn that he was Divergent like her, but she discovered that he had been found to have Abnegation traits. He is reluctant to tell her why he hadn’t chosen to proceed with Abnegation, and she suddenly realizes that it must have been because he had wanted to get away from his father. They discuss their Dauntless and Abnegation traits, and he tells her that her selflessness is obvious even though she claims that she had always felt she did not belong in Abnegation. Tobias asks Tris to call him by his real name, and they share their first kiss.
The next day, Tris wakes up feeling giddy over her new-found relationship with Tobias. She goes down with her friends for her breakfast hoping to meet up with Four, but he seems not to notice her when he comes into the hall. Uriah tells the other initiates that the first phase of their training will require them to experience the simulation of one of their instructors’ fears. Tris is certain that Tobias will not allow anyone to see his father’s abuse and she is correct because the fear landscape involves another instructor’s fear is disappointed when Tobias ignores her at breakfast. During a fear landscape session, Tris relives the trauma of Peter’s attack in a kidnapping scenario. Someone stops the simulation but Tris has already broken down into tears. Tobias publicly humiliates her for her pathetic performance, and she slaps him before storming out of the room.
Analysis
Al’s suicide in “Divergent” highlights the intense and deadly nature of Dauntless, a microcosm of the dystopian world. The leaders use such tragedies to boost morale, with Eric even praising Al’s suicide as “courageous”. Tris, reveals her determination to appear brave, choosing not to report attacks on her to maintain this image. Tris grapples with her instincts to be kind or harsh. She forgives Christina’s competitiveness but refuses to forgive Al for his part in an attack on her. This refusal feels unnatural to her, and Al’s suicide leaves her questioning her decision.
As Tris develops feelings for Four, she fears appearing weak. She hides her vulnerabilities, motivated by her attraction to him and her desire to succeed in Dauntless. After Al’s death, Four’s observation that fear motivates her strengthens her resolve to hide her weaknesses.
