In order for my readers (if you really exist, you could just be figments of my imagination) to fully understand my use of the title "Dauntless" in this blog, I have to take you back to January, 2014. This is when I discovered the Divergent series, by Veronica Roth. I know this might sound like an exaggeration, but when I say that reading the Divergent series changed my life, I mean it. Many of the people closest to me can attest to this. Yeah, yeah, saying a young adult dystopian trilogy is a life changer can make me seem really lame, or really juvenile, or perhaps both. But it's true, and here's why: Reading the Divergent trilogy gave me an opportunity to see myself the way other people see me. To step outside of my skin, so to speak, and see myself as I really am. Without my own prejudices and 30 years of accumulated complexes, insecurities, and projections. And I was amazed by what I saw.
This post will likely have many, many parts. And yeah, they're going to be full off spoilers. So if you haven't read the books yet, consider yourself forewarned.
Like The Hunger Games, I first heard about Divergent when they were in the process of making it into a movie. I saw the trailer while in the theater to see Catching Fire, so I decided to at least read the first book before seeing the movie. I was pretty busy that January, given I was teaching an entire semester's worth of American history over the four weeks of Christmas break, online. But I thought having something interesting to read would help give me a break here and there. Little did I know when I started book 1 (also known as Divergent), that I would read the whole trilogy- over a thousand pages in total- in fewer than 3 days, while teaching that class, and that my life would never be the same afterwards.
As a brief overview for those who have not read the books and yet are going to continue on with these posts, spoilers be damned, is this:
It takes place in a decaying Chicago, I'm guessing anywhere between 200 and 500 years in the future. Essentially, the world's population was devastated by a futuristic eugenics project gone horribly wrong. The US is thrown into disorder, and the government is left trying to figure out how to manage the chaotic and severely messed up nation they are left with. As a result, they put a number of willing participants into walled Midwestern cities, to see how they can fix their problem. In Chicago, the society is divided into five factions, each focusing on a specific virtue, and shunning a specific vice they blame for the world's problems:
It takes place in a decaying Chicago, I'm guessing anywhere between 200 and 500 years in the future. Essentially, the world's population was devastated by a futuristic eugenics project gone horribly wrong. The US is thrown into disorder, and the government is left trying to figure out how to manage the chaotic and severely messed up nation they are left with. As a result, they put a number of willing participants into walled Midwestern cities, to see how they can fix their problem. In Chicago, the society is divided into five factions, each focusing on a specific virtue, and shunning a specific vice they blame for the world's problems:
Abnigation blames selfishness for the problems, thus they live an extremely selfless life, even dressing all in grey, allowing no free time for self indulgence, and eating plain food, so as not to feed selfish desires. In Biblical terms, we would call this, "mortifying the flesh," or, "dying to self."
Amity blames discord for the world's problems, thus they strive to live a life of peace, at all costs. These are basically the hippies. They grow the food for the city, happily work the land, dress in bright colors, sing, dance, and generally life a happy life. Under no circumstances is argument allowed. They could rival even the most dysfunctional families who love to pretend any issues don't exist.
Candor blames deceitfulness. They live a life of total honesty. There are absolutely no lies, no secrets, no social "niceties" that most people consider polite, but the Candor would view as deceitful. They dress in black and white, and are the society's lawyers.
Erudite blames ignorance. They believe that knowledge is the key to avoiding problems. So they are the society's academics and scientists.
Dauntless (yes I know this one is out of order, but all you OCD people are just going to have to deal. K? K.) blames cowardice. They strive to defend the defenseless, defy fear, and do what needs doing, despite how scary it may be. These are the ones who dress in black, with different hairstyles, piercings, and tattoos.
At the age of 16, each child in the society must choose his or her own faction. They may choose the faction in which they were raised, or they may choose a different one. There is also a segment of the society that failed to make it in whichever faction they chose, and they are known as the Factionless. They're the poor and the homeless of society. Because of this, it is important that each teenager choose wisely. The day before the choosing, each 16 year old is given a test to figure out which faction best corresponds with their natural aptitudes, but each person can choose his or her faction, regardless of the test results. In rare cases, someone will test positive for more than one faction, and these people are known as the Divergent. They are feared by society, and basically have to keep their status under wraps, in case they are discovered and killed. Tris Prior is the protagonist of this series, and she is Divergent, testing positive for Abnegation (in which she was raised), Erudite, and Dauntless, the faction she chose.
Amity blames discord for the world's problems, thus they strive to live a life of peace, at all costs. These are basically the hippies. They grow the food for the city, happily work the land, dress in bright colors, sing, dance, and generally life a happy life. Under no circumstances is argument allowed. They could rival even the most dysfunctional families who love to pretend any issues don't exist.
Candor blames deceitfulness. They live a life of total honesty. There are absolutely no lies, no secrets, no social "niceties" that most people consider polite, but the Candor would view as deceitful. They dress in black and white, and are the society's lawyers.
Erudite blames ignorance. They believe that knowledge is the key to avoiding problems. So they are the society's academics and scientists.
Dauntless (yes I know this one is out of order, but all you OCD people are just going to have to deal. K? K.) blames cowardice. They strive to defend the defenseless, defy fear, and do what needs doing, despite how scary it may be. These are the ones who dress in black, with different hairstyles, piercings, and tattoos.
At the age of 16, each child in the society must choose his or her own faction. They may choose the faction in which they were raised, or they may choose a different one. There is also a segment of the society that failed to make it in whichever faction they chose, and they are known as the Factionless. They're the poor and the homeless of society. Because of this, it is important that each teenager choose wisely. The day before the choosing, each 16 year old is given a test to figure out which faction best corresponds with their natural aptitudes, but each person can choose his or her faction, regardless of the test results. In rare cases, someone will test positive for more than one faction, and these people are known as the Divergent. They are feared by society, and basically have to keep their status under wraps, in case they are discovered and killed. Tris Prior is the protagonist of this series, and she is Divergent, testing positive for Abnegation (in which she was raised), Erudite, and Dauntless, the faction she chose.
I'll get into this more in the next post, but reading the thoughts and processes of Tris Prior as she figures out her life and makes the decision to allow herself to become...her, was remarkable. It was as though Veronica Roth had somehow managed to write my own biography, without ever having met me. Even down to specific thoughts and situations...it was, I'll admit, a bit creepy at times. But people had been telling me for most of my life, that they wished I could see myself the way everyone else sees me. And these books finally gave me the chance to do exactly that. Get to know Tris Prior, and you get to know me. I got to know Tris, and I got to know myself. And my life has been forever changed.
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