Tris evolves to become what the government system dreads – a Divergent who cannot be controlled. Protagonist cannot conform to the norms of society. Dystopian society – those who do not conform are eliminated – works towards ideal utopia.
What type of dystopia is Divergent?
Divergent is a dystopian society – bound by rules. Protagonist Tris represents the qualities the dystopian society seeks to repress.
Is Divergent dystopian novels?
Divergent is a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels by American novelist Veronica Roth set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago. The trilogy is set in the future in a dystopian society that is divided into five factions.
Is Divergent a utopia?
First volume of young adult dystopian trilogy presented initially as a flawed utopia. At sixteen each person must choose among the five factions (Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite) to which they will devote their lives. The novel focuses on a young woman’s choice and her struggles to fit in.
Why Divergent killed the dystopian genre?
If Divergent opened up the genre, why did the last major dystopian YA hit–The Fifth Wave–come out at the same time as Allegiant’s publication? Because Divergent oversimplified the premise of dystopia, thus killing the genre. Its initial success only led to a greater downfall.
Is Divergent a dystopian?
The novel is the first of the Divergent trilogy, a series of young adult dystopian novels set in a Divergent Universe. Underlying the action and dystopian focused main plot is a romantic subplot between Tris and one of her instructors in the Dauntless faction, nicknamed Four.
What is the government called in Divergent?
In Divergent, Abnegation is the governing body and no other factions are allowed to take part in controlling the government. Capitalist ideals are represented in the Erudite faction.
What is the point of Divergent?
Divergent is a series about a society divided among assigned factions and and a girl who doesn’t fit into any of them. The moral force of the books lies in the constant reminder that you should always, under all circumstances, make decisions for yourself, rather than letting society dictate these decisions to you.
What inspired Divergent?
She’s afraid of a lot of things, actually, and fear, or how to overcome it, is what first inspired Divergent. “I was in Psych learning about exposure therapy,” she recalls. “The Hunger Games was just becoming a thing when I was finishing writing it,” Roth says, and Divergent led the next wave of YA dystopian fiction.
How does Utopia lead to dystopia?
The word means “no place” because when imperfect humans attempt perfectibility—personal, political, economic and social—they fail. Thus, the dark mirror of utopias are dystopias—failed social experiments, repressive political regimes, and overbearing economic systems that result from utopian dreams put into practice.
Is The Hunger Games dystopian?
The Hunger Games is a dystopian trilogy written by Suzanne Collins with film adaptations so far for the eponymous first novel and its sequel, Catching Fire. The third and final installation of the series, Mockingjay, is in production and is to be presented in two parts, similar to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
What does dystopia mean in Greek?
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- “bad, hard” and τόπος “place”; alternatively cacotopia or simply anti-utopia) is a fictional community or society that is undesirable or frightening.
What are the conventions of dystopian worlds?
5 Characteristics of Dystopian Fiction Government control. Environmental destruction. Technological control. Survival. Loss of individualism.
Why is divergent so bad?
The reason that it was bad in divergent was because that they had the factions. People like Jenean believed that divergent would ruin the faction system because they fit into all the factions. For jenean, that was a problem because she wanted everyone to have their own job and personality.
Why The Hunger Games is a dystopian?
The Hunger Games is classified as dystopian literature because it deals with a frightening world controlled by a totalitarian government that severely limits the rights of its citizens. Therefore, a battle for freedom must be fought.
What is a YA dystopia?
Arising as opposition to utopian literature — set in a fully imagined society — dystopian literature imagines a society where current political and social trends are taken to its extreme to create a much darker world, with YA dystopian literature being defined as “societies where the ideals for improvement have gone.
What type of society is Divergent?
Divergent has always been the BuzzFeed quiz of young adult fiction, a YA story set in a dystopian Chicago that sorts its citizens into color-coded groups based on whether someone is kind (Amity), honest (Candor), intellectual (Erudite), generous (Abnegation) or brave (Dauntless).
What is the main problem in Divergent?
major conflict After leaving Abnegation, her home faction, Tris must perform well in Dauntless training while keeping her Divergence a secret, a balancing act that leads to conflicts with others, struggles with her identity, and threats to her life.
How is a dystopia different than a utopia?
Utopia vs Dystopia The difference between Utopia and dystopia is that Utopia is when the society is in an ideal and perfect state, and dystopia is the complete opposite of Utopia, which is when the condition of the society is extremely unpleasant and chaotic. Both of these societies are imaginary.
Why do erudite wear blue?
The Erudite Each member must wear at least one article of blue clothing per day. Erudite’s main color is blue, as it is a “calming color that helps stimulate the brain”. Also, most faction members wear thick glasses to make them seem smarter.
How does Divergent relate to society?
In Divergent, society is organized by faction. Just about everything about this society comes down to what faction people belong to: their jobs (Erudite teach, while Amity counsel), where they live, who they marry, what they wear, what they do for fun (Dauntless go zip lining, while Abnegation like to knit).
Why did Tris choose Dauntless?
Tris needed to go to Dauntless. Like she says in the book, she needed to realize that being brave and being selfless were the same thing. Her going to Dauntless helped herself develop into the character I loved. dauntless.
Am I too old for Divergent now? Is it just not good? Or am I simply tired of the genre?
I’m a lover of young adult fiction, and a sucker for ‘the next big thing.’ Harry Potter took over my life for a decade, and even though it will continue to do so for decades to come, the mass hype and excitement just isn’t there anymore. When Harry Potter ended, there was a huge void left in my life, and that void desperately needed filling. Fortunately, I wasn’t short on choices.
I picked up the Twilight series shortly after finishing Deathly Hallows, and the bitterness and disappointment of Breaking Dawn was quickly assuaged by The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner.
Then came the year between 2010 and 2011. It was depressing. The final Hunger Games and Maze Runner books were released, the final Potter film was released, and Twilight-fever was at a low (for me, at least). What was a YA addict to do? Please say ‘hello’ to Divergent, ‘the next Hunger Games.’ At least, that’s how it was toted.
Divergent was another female-led, dystopian, YA novel that even had factions to rival the Districts in The Hunger Games. I bought the hype. It was exactly what I was looking for, and I devoured the first book, only to be met with a wait for the next one.
When Insurgent came out, The Hunger Games hype was at a high, what with the first movie having been released, and I was lacking the ability to be excited about both fandoms. Nonetheless, I bought Insurgent as soon as I could, and started reading it right away. It took me an entire month to finish.
I’m not a fast reader by any means, but a book that size should only take me a week. I just couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t remember much that had happened in the first book, but didn’t care enough to go back and read it again, or even Google it. I wasn’t engaged in the story, and I often had to go back and read pages over again, having not paid attention to what I’d just read.
By the time Allegiant came out, I almost didn’t care at all. In fact, it took me a few months to even go out and buy the book, let alone read it. The only thing that got me to pick it up was the controversy that surrounded it, the hordes of angry fans complaining about something that had happened. Curiosity got the better of me, so off I read.
Like Insurgent, I was bored. The only thing that prevented me from giving up on Allegiant was the anticipation of finding out what had made readers so livid. When that moment finally came, I had a strange reaction. That is, I didn’t react at all, and I realized what had kept me from being as engaged with this series. I didn’t like Tris or Four.
As lead characters go, they’re toast without peanut butter or jam. They have so little personality, and it’s difficult to care what happens to them.
Perhaps you could argue that the Divergent series is more about plot than character, but the plot didn’t keep me engaged either. Not to mention, the environment it’s set in so closely resembles that of The Hunger Games, it almost feels like you’re reading a bad spin off.
Allegiant spoilers below.
After a little while though, I did start to feel something about the shocking death: satisfaction. It wasn’t that I was happy Tris died, per se, more that it was the most exciting thing that had happened in this series, and I hadn’t expected it. How often do lead point of view characters die, especially in young adult fiction?
What made many fans hate the series made me like it a little more. Amongst all the YA dystopian fiction that’s run rampant these last few years, Tris’ death makes this series stand apart. This series was competing with so many others of the same genre, and seeing as it wasn’t ‘first’, it had to be different, and until Tris died, it wasn’t different enough.
Therein lies my problem with Divergent: It isn’t The Hunger Games, but it’s trying so hard to be. Hollywood has the tendency to exploit anything that does really well, producing an excess of similar content in the hopes of matching the success of the inciting franchise. In this case, The Hunger Games created a trend for the post-apocalyptic, dystopian genre. But this creates a disenchantment with the dystopian genre due to the excess of it.
What Hollywood forgets is that a large reason the first franchise does well is because it was first. It was different from everything else that was out there. If this series had been released at a separate time from The Hunger Games, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more. But as it stands, when set against each other, Divergent feels more like a midnight snack than a hearty meal, even though it was force-fed otherwise.
Divergent was forced on us as ‘the next big thing,’ despite not being good, nor being better than what we already had. Twilight may not have been good either, but at the time of its release, we didn’t have anything else like it. A slew of vampire romances came out afterwards, but none achieved the same level of success and popularity as Twilight.
Naturally, when the film version of Divergent was released, I didn’t rush to the theatre to see it, and I’m glad I didn’t. When I eventually watched it months later, I found myself checking how much time was left of the film, I was so bored and ready for it to end. Thus I have not, and have no intention of seeing, Insurgent , or Allegiant.
The Divergent series feels like it’s run its course. I’m over this genre trend and the feeble attempts by everyone to attain the same hype and success of The Hunger Games. In the meantime, I’m content to wait for the ‘next big thing’ to be thrust upon us, one that satisfies a niche that isn’t currently pervading the media landscape.