It’s true. Secretly if I could be any character in a book I would be Tris Prior of the Divergent series written by Veronica Roth. I pick this book up all the time, and I frequently find that I can take away lessons from Tris’ story. I can take what I saw in her and apply it to my own life. This month, my fellow iGlobe readers, I challenge you to take the test that faced Tris at the beginning of the first book in the trilogy. What faction would you fit in best? Then, if you haven’t already, I dare you to become the hero in your own story.
First, who is Tris Prior? In short, she is just a girl. She could be any girl. You. Me. That girl you sat next to in the subway the other day. She’s a girl with big choices to make that seem, ironically because of what she decides of herself, daunting.
I think I wanted Tris as a friend in real life when she said, “Everyone knows where they belong. Except for me (Roth).” Somehow, that spoke to me, and I might be assuming a lot but I think that probably speaks to a lot of people regardless of where they are.
Her story starts out where we get to learn about how her world is set up. It starts with family, and how she is about to take a test that will tell her who she is supposed to grow up and be. But, does that mean she has to leave her family to do it?
Her city’s rules mandate that she must join one of five ‘factions’ that were set up to keep the peace after a horrible war that destroyed the world outside of her city’s walls. Those factions represent the best qualities in humanity, and the law groups people together by what personality quality they most identify themselves with. The faction choices are:
Abnegation - selflessness. The people in this faction believe in selflessness, and they avoid vanity, self-indulgence, and go about helping others. They are important because they are the leaders of the city. They were chosen to be the leaders because they only want to serve others and have no interest in power.
Amity - these are the farmers. They believe in kindness and peace. They grow all the food, and they make sure that everyone in the factions are fed. They do everything they can to avoid confrontation, and believe strongly in forgiveness.
Candor - they believe in honesty as the highest good no matter who might get hurt. They are the judicial branch of the city. The people who fit here are known well for always speaking their mind even when you wish they wouldn’t.
Erudite - These are the teachers, doctors, and scientists. They value knowledge above all, and are constantly studying. Secretly, they also envy power and look to take it.
and
Dauntless - the people who fit here are brave, possibly a little reckless, but they always look like they are pursuing excitement. They are also the soldiers of the city, and protect the citizens from any sort of threat.
About the test, she contemplates her possible results with some trepidation. Prior says, “Today I take the test. I’m scared it’ll tell me I’m not Abnegation, (and) that I have to leave my family. But I’m even more scared that it’ll tell me to stay.”
In the story, I got the impression that Tris didn’t see herself as the hero type. Between the self-loathing and the self-sacrificing, I kind of think she was simply looking for peace. Not to give anything away, but she winds up choosing who she thinks she really is, only to find out that she is way more than she ever saw in herself. At every step of the way. She just does what comes naturally, and then that leads her to the next set of choices/tests that determine her ultimate fate. Life kept throwing rocks at her, and she couldn’t dodge them so she dealt with them.
So, to conclude, I ask all of my readers to accept the gauntlet thrown down before Tris. Choose a faction, and then run with it as we all look for peace. We all are living a novel. Our choices unfold the scenes and chapters for us, and they lead us to where we are now and where we are going to be. Since we can’t escape the mandate to ‘choose’ who we are just as Tris couldn’t, we might as well make our choice one we want to keep. Go be that person you believe you are with the same boldness Tris didn’t know she had inside herself. For the record, that’s exactly what I intend to do, but unlike Tris I would caution one thing: be sure to write yourself a novel full of happy endings. In the opinion of this author, I think we the characters living our own stories deserve it.
