The Importance of Discovering One’s Identity in “Divergent” In Neil Burger’s Divergent, the main character Beatrice Prior played by Shailene Woodley, states (referring to the factions of her society), “Everyone knows where they belong except for me.” This statement shows that she is uncertain of her future and is filled with negative emotions such as confusion and frustration in the beginning of the movie. However, she perseveres to unearth her true identity despite the many challenges. This clearly informs the audience that the movie will revolve around the importance of Beatrice’s discovery of her true identity. Frustration set in when Beatrice could not figure out who she truly was in the beginning of the movie. Beatrice thinks she does …show more content…
Instead, Beatrice had to deal with the confusion as she was clueless about what an inconclusive test meant, especially because her results were not how she expected it to be. She lost confidence in herself and wanted an answer for her true identity. At the choosing ceremony, Beatrice decides to join Dauntless in order to gain respect from others, but most importantly, for herself, which was an aspect that she did not have when she was in Abnegation. In Dauntless, she strove to gain respect from her instructors and friends despite being mocked by one of her competitors, Peter, played by Miles Teller. The importance of knowing one’s identity in this case is to avoid confusion, and to ensure that one has a positive self-esteem so that respect can be had for oneself. After discovering her true identity, Beatrice changed her name to Tris, and persevered in becoming a Dauntless member in order to hide her identity as a Divergent. In Dauntless, she was trained to be determined and fearless. Although the trainer, Eric, played by Jai Courtney, told her that she was out of the group, she still got on the train to the challenge site anyway, and when Eric asked who let her out, she replied, “I did.” This clearly shows that she is determined to be a Dauntless member despite being different from