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Sarah Niegowski
College Comp I
Mrs. Cramer
31 October, 2016
The Relatability of Divergent's Dystopian Society
As a current high school student, everyday, teenagers face the struggles of being

categorized by people based on their social ladder, who that person hangs out with, and the goals

they may have in life. These categories follow them wherever that person goes; once others think

they know who a person is, no one will ever have the ability able to change their mind. Similar

categorizations happen in the book Divergent, written by Veronica Roth. The characters and plot

draw in many crowds based on how relatable the book can be. Beatrice Prior, otherwise know as

Tris, is the main character and narrator of the novel. She lives in a world where the society is

split into five factions. As her and her brother, Caleb, and the rest of the kids their age get old

enough, they are forced to choose between the five factions. The factions some of the kids

choose are based on the result of an aptitude test administered by Erudite and Dauntless. The

results of Tris' aptitude test lead her to finding out that she is divergent, which means she is able

to fit into more than just one faction based on her personality. Tris chooses Dauntless where she

will seek out bravery and excitement before anything else; while her brother chooses Erudite, a

faction that their father has talked unfavorably about. As Tris advances through her stages of

initiation, she meets several friends including Four, Christina and a couple others. The book is

relatable because of the three most relatable character, Tris, Four, and Christina. In the midst of

trying to conceal her divergence and surviving through all the stages of initiation, Tris finds out

about a war coming that will promise uncertainty for her and everyone she loves.
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Tris is the most relatable character in the book. She comes from Abnegation but after her

aptitude test, she transfers to Dauntless even though she qualifies for three factions out of five.

She has always admired the Dauntless for their bravery. She would watch them jump from the

train cars on their way to school and dream about being one of them. So when she found out she

had the aptitude for not only Abnegation and erudite, but for Dauntless too, she chose to leave

her family and have a life full of excitement and thrill seekers. Tris is a lot like most teenage girls

and boys; she has poor self esteem and is always unsure of herself. When her and Four first got

involved romantically in chapter 8, she states "I am not pretty- my eyes are too big and my nose

is too long." This is a common thing for most girls to do. We all pick out what we think are flaws

and thats how we determine our beauty. Also in chapter 12, all the initiates play capture the flag.

Four is a team captain and picks Tris first leading her to be confused. She is unsure whether she

should be angry that people are laughing that she was the first one chose or flattered that he

chose her first. The readers are able to know these thoughts and they are relatable because most

people have these arguments with ourselves. Tris is relatable because of this, and her love

interest also shares relatable characteristics.

Tobias Eaton, also known as Four, as also a transfer from Abnegation. His father, Marcus

Eaton, is an Abnegation leader along with Beatrice's father. As a kid, he was abused by his father

so when he took his aptitude test, he chose Dauntless and changed his name to Four. The name

four was based off the fact that when he went into the fear simulation in the last part of Dauntless

initiation, they discovered that he only has four fears. Four is also divergent, but Tris does not

discover this until the simulation attacks on Abnegation near the end of the book. His character

is very realistic because he plays a mentor role to Tris. He uses his ability to fight and survive in

the Dauntless world to help Tris get through the levels of initiation. He has a soft spot for Tris but
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does not like ot show his weakness for her. When he and Tris start to get closer, he reveals to her

that he wants to be part of every faction, in result, he has a tattoo of every faction's symbol. On

page 402 he tells Tris, "we've all started to put down the virtues of the other factions in the

process of bolstering our own. I dont want to do that. I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart,

and kind, and honest. I continually struggle with kindness." This connects the readers to him and

makes him relatable because I think everyone wants to be those things. Also, a lot of people

struggle with kindness. Four's character is very realistic because of this. Although he's a very

relatable character, he is not the only character that is relatable.

Christina is the most realistic character of the book. She is that the gossiping girly best

friend that most teenage girls have. She likes to talk about boys and other initiates with Tris. Tris

feels uncomfortable about speaking her mind because she comes from Abnegation where

everything should be an act of selflessness. However, Christina is a transfer from Candor, which

is the faction that values honesty. She speaks her mind and it doesnt really bother her if she hurts

someone's feelings in the process of speaking the truth. Christina is also brave and selfless at the

same time. In chapter 9, Eric, the initiates instructor, makes Christina hang on a bar with both

hands for five minutes over the chasm because she mouthed off to him. She and everyone else,

learned to keep their mouths shut after that but it showed just how brave she truly was.

The book Divergent is a very realistic book with realistic and relatable characters. The

most relatable characters are Tris, Four, and Christina. Even though the book is only from Tris'

point of view, the readers are able to connect with the character based on the thoughts and

feelings that they share. So, if you are ever looking for a relatable and exhilarating book, I

suggest Divergent by Veronica Roth.

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