Divergent

Why is it relevant?

Emergence from difficult circumstances.  Strong female lead.  Personal growth.  Standing apart from the crowd.  Acceptance of ones own attributes and faults.  The importance of family and friends.  Knowing when to stand up.  Empowerment.  Struggles against authority.  Moving forward. Chrysalis/Metamorphosis.  Overcoming adversity.  That which doesn’t break you only makes you stronger.

***

Yet another entry on the teen future dystopia scene.  I had my doubts about the storyline for both the book and the movie.  The world imagined in the story seemed a little weak and odd - when I first heard the synopsis, I wasn’t sure how this society would actually work - but once you immerse yourself into it, it starts to become a little more believable.  

The story follows one Beatrice Prior in a bleak post-war future, set in Chicago.  I lived there for the better part of the early 2000's and it was surreal to see the beautiful city run down and overgrown in the film.  In this stark future, in order to survive, society has divided itself into five distinct factions based on personality type, each with a necessary role to play.  There are the Amity group (peaceful - they do the farming, healing and arts), Erudite (intelligent - they are responsible for science, maintenance of knowledge and progress), Candor (honesty - they are the lawyers), Abnegation (selflessness -they take care of the downtrodden and run the government), and Dauntless (brave - they police and defend the city).  Beatrice is raised in the Abnegation faction.  When the story opens, Beatrice has come of age and is about to be tested to see what faction she should work for for the rest of her life.  Usually, subjects test best for the faction they were raised in, although sometimes the test indicates they may be best suited for another role.  Of course, one is not bound to the test results and if the subject’s heart feels they are meant for a different path than indicated by the test, they are free to chose what they feel is best.  Beatrice and her brother, Caleb, take the test at the same time and both chose different factions from the one they were raised in, strengthening rising suspicion about the Abnegation faction and their ability to be entrusted with running the government. 

Beatrice’s exam reveals that she is “Divergent”, a creative person, who does not fit into any of the five factions.  Individuals such as herself are deemed to be dangerous to society and face grave danger. The person monitoring her test conceals the outcome to save her.  We follow Beatrice’s trials as she struggles to be accepted in her new faction and to prove herself.   She is placed through many physical ordeals in her training and much psychological testing and manipulation takes place to harden her to her new life.  She must live with the secret of who she is and take considerable care to ensure that no one learns of her test results.  Over time, Beatrice begins to realize that there are very sinister threads woven into the carefully crafted structure of the society she lives in which threaten the very world in which she grew up.  As the faction she has chosen becomes a pawn in a deadly game, Beatrice watches those she loves most face immense danger and is forced to come into her own not only for the good of herself and her family but for society as a whole.

The movie glosses over much of the harder violence and trials that Beatrice faces in the novel.  However, both are strong stories of empowerment.  While the protagonist is a young woman, many of the struggles that she faces are just as relevant to a woman in her 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and beyond.  In particular, this story would be very affirming to women emerging from any sort of abusive relationships or who have survived sexual assault.  Even going through the difficulty of a bitter divorce and all the personal conflict and self-doubt it can create can cause internal personal struggles that are very similar to the story. Beatrice, a product of the long standing suppression of the self her faction encourages, learns to stand up to authority (and men); to speak her mind in a world which resolutely discourages it.  She learns to reinvent herself.  She recognizes the importance of being her own person, even when it is a difficult, lonely and brave choice to make.  She overcomes her fears.  She strengthens herself physically and mentally.  She forms strong bonds and friendships which help her to survive and refuses to relinquish her familial ties, despite the pressure to do so.   

A few notes on the movie:  This is one that you can watch with older children.  The book has a stronger Christian bent that was pretty much washed out of the movie and there is mildly more sexual content than you would see in the move.  Since Beatrice joins the faction involved in maintaining and upholding the peace, she trains to be a warrior and there is some violence, mostly hand to hand combat.  Again, the book weighs more heavily in the depiction of the violence she experiences.

Divergent, 2014.  Directed by Neil Burger.  Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet.
Book written by Veronica Roth, 2012.

Healing factor:

5 out of 5 Factions.

For more info on the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/

For more info on the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent