Divergent: A Mostly Faithful Adaptation Of The Book

Divergent

I just watched Divergent, the film adaptation of the first book in Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy. Divergent stars Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior and Theo James as Four.

Divergent

Divergent takes place in a futuristic Chicago. When a person reaches the age of sixteen, they must decide what faction they belong in. Beatrice and her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) were born into Abnegation; Beatrice decides to leave Abnegation so that she can join Dauntless, while Caleb decides to leave Abnegation in favor of Erudite.

In the book, Beatrice and Caleb’s parents did not introduce them to Jeanine Matthews, the leader of Erudite. In the film, though, Beatrice and Caleb’s mom and dad (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn) introduce their children to Jeanine Matthews (a very evil Kate Winslet). Much like the book, the film adaptation is violent. However, the knife stabbing scene in the book was not in the film adaptation, thus causing Edward to stay in Dauntless instead of becoming one of the Factionless.

Beatrice changes her name to Tris when she joins Dauntless; she begins training and must fight with the other transfers. She is not the best fighter. Tris becomes friends with Christina (Zoe Kravitz), a transfer from Candor. Christina says whatever is on her mind because she is honest; honesty is one of the traits of someone from Candor. 

Tris and Four in Divergent

When Beatrice took the test to determine which faction she belongs to, she found out that she could be in three different factions. She found out that this means her brain works differently; she is Divergent. Divergence is very dangerous, and if the wrong people find out about someone being Divergent, they will kill that person. When Beatrice joins Dauntless, she must hide her Divergence from everyone. However, her instructor, Four, finds out that Tris is Divergent when Tris goes through a simulation of fears. He decides to protect her because he is also Divergent and knows how dangerous that is.

Tris must deal with a bully named Peter (Miles Teller) who dislikes her because she is a “Stiff.” “Stiff” is a derogatory word for someone who’s from Abnegation. Tris is attacked by Peter, Drew, and Al, but Four saves her from being thrown into the chasm. Al apologizes to Tris, but Tris won’t accept his apology. Al jumps to his death. He was not going to make it in Dauntless.  Tris feels that Al’s suicide was her fault because she was mean to him before he died.

Tris finds out that Four’s real name is Tobias Eaton. His father is Marcus Eaton, one of Abnegation’s leaders. There were rumors that Marcus abused Tobias; those rumors were true.  Tris finds out why Four is called Four—-she sees in his fear landscape that he has only four fears.  Four is afraid of his father. One of Four’s fears is heights, which we see when Tris and Four climb the ferris wheel to search for Eric’s (Jai Courtney) team’s flag. 

Pretty soon, the members of Dauntless become victims to a simulation. They are supposed to go to Abnegation and kill the members of Abnegation. Most people are asleep, but Tris is awake. Tris is reunited with her mom, who dies trying to save her. She is later reunited with her brother and father. Her father also dies trying to protect her.  Tris, Caleb, and Marcus go to Dauntless, where they meet up with Four. Tris makes Four see that it’s really her (Four had a gun pointed at Tris). Tris makes Jeanine stop what she was doing and tells her to end the simulation. Jeanine does what Tris tells her to do, even though she doesn’t want to. 

There is a lot of action in Divergent. I liked Divergent a lot. It was a little different from the book, but it was a mostly faithful adaptation. I would recommend Divergent to fans of the book series, fans of dystopian /post apocalyptic book and movies, and fans of action/adventure movies. I would give Divergent a A-.

Divergent: Welcome to Veronica Roth’s Post-Apocalyptic World

“One choice decides your friends. One choice defines your beliefs. One choice determines your loyalties— Forever. One choice can transform you.”

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth

When I first heard about Veronica Roth’s Divergent, I thought it was similar to Susanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Both books are part of a series. Divergent is the first book in Veronica Roth’s series, and is followed by Insurgent and Allegiant. The Hunger Games is the first book in Susanne Collins’ series, and is followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Both of these trilogies have been made into movies. Divergent comes out in theaters on March 21, 2014. Divergent and The Hunger Games belong to the genre known as dystopian literature, or post-apocalyptic literature. They both have lots of violence in them. Unlike The Hunger Games, though, in Divergent there is not a love triangle. Despite all these similarities, Divergent is a great book. It stands on its own in the dystopian genre. Veronica Roth has a promising career as a writer.

Dauntless the Brave

Divergent is about a sixteen- year-old girl named Beatrice Prior, who must decide on Initiation Day which faction she will belong to for the rest of her life. Beatrice was born into Abnegation but doesn’t really feel like she belongs there. Not feeling like you fit in is a common feeling of most teenagers. Choosing what you want to do for the rest of your life is a very difficult decision to make for anyone. Choosing to leave one’s family forever is another decision, which is tough to make by oneself. After her aptitude tests, Beatrice is told that she is Divergent, but is not told what that means. Being Divergent is dangerous, but Beatrice does not know why. Tori, Beatrice’s test administrator explains, “Beatrice,” […] “under no circumstances should you share that information with anyone. This is very important.” Tris decides to switch factions and join Dauntless.

When Beatrice joins Dauntless, she changes her name to Tris. Tris must go through a series of tests, along with the other Dauntless initiates and transfers. She makes friends with Christina, Will, Al, Uriah, Marlene, and Lynn. Tris has never had any friends before. She also makes enemies with Peter, Drew, and Molly. Everyone has met someone who is or was a bully, and knows how difficult it is to deal with them. Tris is attracted to one of her teachers, a mysterious eighteen-year-old man named Four. Who is Four? What are his secrets? Why is he called Four? Why is he trying to protect Tris from the Dauntless leaders finding out about her being Divergent? Tris learns more about being Divergent when she has another conversation with Tori in Tori’s tattoo parlor, “Among other things, you… you are someone who is aware, when they are in a simulation, that what they are experiencing is not real,” […] “Someone who can then manipulate the simulation or even shut it down. And also…” She leans forward and looks into my eyes. “Someone who, because you are also Dauntless… tends to die.” Being Divergent does not just mean that you are someone who can cheat on a test. It means that you think differently than everyone else.

Divergent has a lot of violence in it. The students at Dauntless learn how to fight, and they must fight against each other whether they want to or not. They fight against their friends and their foes. One of the students, Edward, is stabbed in the eye by Peter and Drew, after Edward is ranked first and Peter is ranked second. Peter saw Edward as his rival and wanted to eliminate him. I liked how Tris dealt with the bullies. She is a strong female character because she not only stands up for herself, but she also stands up for her friends. She is not afraid to speak her mind.

Overall, I liked Divergent a lot. The one thing I had a problem with is that later in the book, Tris and Four cannot stop kissing. They kiss even though people are dying around them. They should be trying to stop more people from dying instead of kissing each other. There could have been someone who told them that now is not the time for you to do that, but there wasn’t. If there had been, it would have been cliché because you see that all the time in movies. I get that Tris and Four like each other and maybe even love each other. I also understand that both Tris and Four have trouble with intimacy. If they have so much trouble with intimacy, then why are they always kissing, holding hands, and hugging each other?

Shailene Woodley as Beatrice Prior

I look forward to reading Insurgent and Allegiant. I also look forward to seeing Divergent, which stars Shailene Woodley as Tris and Theo James as Four. I recommend Divergent for those of you who are fans of The Hunger Games or other dystopian literature.