Analyzing Themes In 'Divergent' By Veronica Roth

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In the novel Divergent by Veronica Roth, there are many themes that appear throughout the story. As I read and analyzed the text, I found many different important details that stood out to me. In this long write, I will be explaining my ideas as well as incorporating those I gathered from previous group book club discussions. Before I started to read the story, I first read the summary and observed the cover of the book. The term that initially stood out to me was “Choices.” At first, I was confused as to why the author was focusing so much on this one word. What important choices was the protagonist going to make? However, I now know that those choices you make in life affect yourself, others, the environment, etc.. When I continued reading, I saw this idea when the protagonist, Beatrice (Tris), decided to leave her faction and join Dauntless. This scene wasn’t very surprising to me, actually. The author dropped multiple hints beforehand, signaling her struggles to identify with abnegation. “We aren’t supposed to look into mirrors because it shows self-indulgence… I looked at myself and noticed I wasn’t necessarily pretty…” (p.18). This not only hints at her difference to abnegation, but as we read further, we discover that she is truly divergent--belonging to more than one faction. …show more content…

In that story, Bilbo (the protagonist) is faced with a conflict that makes him choose between helping his friends on an adventure or leaving them to fend for themselves. In similarity, he chooses to help his friends. The difference between these texts is that Bilbo physically helps his friends defeat their problems one-by-one, while Tris indirectly gave Christina confidence by restoring her pride with the flag. However, in both situations, the characters are faced with either being selfish or selfless, and they both choose to be selfless. Which in the end, accomplishes the same