Chapter 15

     Today is a very special day for the initiates, because it's Visiting Day! Surprisingly, Tris' mother shows up. They catch up and when Tris asks about her father not being there, her mother explains, "Your father has been selfish lately." Not a good thing to be called as Abnegation, and definitely something I didn't expect to hear of Tris' father. Tris and her mother have an unpleasant conversation with Will's erudite sister, and then Tris' mother takes Tris to a corridor and tells her many things. She knew Tris would be Divergent. Many members of Abnegation are. Lastly, she tells Tris to find the truth behind the serum in the aptitude test rooms. When she leaves, Tris discerns that her mother was Dauntless (I knew it!)

Chapter 14

     In this chapter Tris heads back to the bunks after a shower, with only a towel on. Peter and his gang happen to be the only other initiates in the room, so she gets cornered. As Tris tries to dash away, Peter snags her towel. She's revealed to the whole group of bullies. This is especially bad for Tris, kind of the final straw. I admit, I did feel bad for her when I read this chapter, when this book hasn't really evoked any empathy from me yet.

     The next scene is in the fight room, and Tris is matched up with Molly. Tris goes crazy, and starts beating Molly even after she's downed, leaving Molly in a bloody mess. Four pulls her off, and Tris is left to think; "I wish I felt guilty for what I did." I hate when characters get like this. "Oh, I did something sort of bad to a villain, I'm just as bad as said villain." No. We all wanted to see that villain get what they deserve. 

Chapter 13

     In this chapter the Initiates are taken to the range. Today though, they learn how to throw knives instead of shoot guns. Freakin' sweet. Everyone seems to get the hang of it, except poor Al. In traditional Eric fashion, Eric walks up and taunts him. Eric tells Al to hit the board, so Al throws a knife, but completely misses. Eric tells him to pick it up. The only problem is, everyone's still throwing knives, so Al obviously refuses. Eric makes Al stand in front of the target while four throws knives at it. Tris however, tells Eric that this act is not bravery, and standing in front of a board is easy. So Eric makes Tris stand in front of the board. Smooth move, Tris.

     Thankfully, Four is throwing the knives. Four hits the board each time he throws, but taunts Tris in between throws. On his third throw, Four nicks Tris' ear. It was obviously intentional. After the throws, Tris confronts Four for being a jerk. "You know, I'm getting a little tired of waiting for you to catch on!" He replies, stating that his actions helped Tris. Yes folks, Four may be mad, but there must be some kind of method to his madness.

Chapter 12

    In this chapter the initiates are woken up early and on the trains for a game of capture the flag. The teams are picked on the train, with Eric picking the big buff people, while Four picks the agile people (this includes Tris, by the way). They go to the starting point, and everyone on Four's team argues over what strategy they should go for. Tris goes climb a giant ferris wheel to get a better view of the battlefield. She gets a bit of a shock when Four reveals himself. She had no idea. While they're climbing we find out that Four is afraid of heights. I know that feel, bro. When Tris asks him how he survives the Dauntless compound with his fear, he tells her, "I ignore my fear"....."When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn't exist." They get to a good height, where Tris formulates a strategy that wins them the game. Good on ya' Tris. After the game, Tris realizes after making new friends with the Dauntless born that choosing Dauntless was maybe a good idea.

Chapter 11

     In this chapter Tris and the other initiates go to see the wall and learn what kind of jobs a dauntless can have. Tris meets an old friend while here, Robert, who transferred to Amity. He seems to be having a pretty good time in Amity, working on farms and singing songs. To be honest, looking at all of the other factions, moving to Amity looks like it could be a pretty good life. They all seem to have it pretty good. To be fair I don't know much about Amity yet, but it looks kind of like the best to choose. Turns out Tris was thinking these same thoughts, but forced them out of her head because she knows thinking them won't change anything. Four comes over and says to Tris, "I am worried that you have a knack for making unwise decisions." Truer words couldn't have been spoken four, my main man. By talking to Robert, Tris has gathered more unwanted attention to herself from Peter and crew. Oh well. On an ending note Tris thinks it looks like the wall is meant to keep them from leaving the city, rather than keeping people out. Eerie.

Chapter 10

      In this chapter we get to see the initiates fight again. This time it's Tris vs Peter, with a lot of tension due to Peter's putting graffiti on Tris' stuff. None Tris' friends thinks she can do it. This makes Tris upset because,
" ... the fact that they don't believe, not even in a tiny corner of their minds, that I have a chance against Peter bothers me." That's a feeling we've all felt. It really sucks the most when even your friends don't believe in you. But I digress, we're sitting here getting ready for Tris to beat him up. Then, in a plot twist that wasn't really a plot twist, Peter beats her senseless. Tris wakes up in a hospital room, surrounded by her friends. As they leave, Tris ponders whether or not her parents will come see her on visiting day.

Chapter 9

     Today Tris and the other initiates are pitted against each other in hand to hand combat to practice what they've learned. The training is overseen by Four and, unfortunately, Eric. Al makes Will see lights in the first fight, and then Four gets called away on some business. The second fight is overseen by only Eric who pits Christina against this behemoth of a girl named Molly. Molly beats the tar out of Christina for a while until Christina forfeits. Eric tells them this is against the rules and drags them off to the chasm, a giant indoor waterfall. He tells Christina, "If you can hang over the chasm for five minutes, I will forget your cowardice." Christina faces the chasm courageously and hangs for five minutes, but almost meets her end in the process. Way to be a jerk, Eric. In my opinion, Eric was acting cowardly by making Christina do this. It's an act of selfish brutality.

Chapter 8

     After Tris kick some butt in firearms and hand to hand combat training the initiates are allowed to do their own thing for a while, something Tris was never allowed to do. Christina takes her to get a new look, because her Abnegation clothes were really fetch, and she should stop trying to make fetch happen. Just joking, though Christina does say that they're, "ugly and gigantic." Tris feels like a new person after getting a Dauntless makeover. I can relate, as it always makes you feel good to get a haircut or a new pair of shoes. They head over to the tattoo parlor, where Tris and Tori are reunited. Tris expresses some reluctance at getting a tattoo, but decides to get three birds, each one representing a family member she left behind.

Chapter 7

     The initiates are led into some dark caverns by a Dauntless named Lauren. They divide up, and Four (who will be their instructor) leads the non-Dauntless born initiates through the rest of the tour of Dauntless HQ. After the tour the go and eat, Tris eating a Hamburger for the first time. While eating, some really pierced teen-aged Dauntless leader named Eric comes over, and we get the impression that he likes to kick puppies in his free time. After their meal, Eric leads the initiates through the rest of their tour and informs them that only a few of them will pass training. Those who don't meet standards get to live Factionless. The initiates obviously state the unfairness in this, to which Eric replies, "You chose us, now we have to choose you." After receiving this news the initiates are led to their quarters, where everyone cries themselves to sleep. Reminds me of the first day of high school. I came home thinking I've got four more years of that? It was really intimidating at first.

Chapter 6

     Beatrice is sent with the Dauntless initiates to her first test. Jumping into a moving train. She clutches and makes it into the train, where she meets her bff to be; Christina. They ride along for a while, until they receive word that, "They're jumping off!" Time for test number two; jump off of a moving train, onto the roof of a skyscraper. Once more Beatrice clutches, making it onto the roof. Unfortunately, a Dauntless born initiate doesn't, reminding the initiates that this is no game. It's quite ironic that this abnegation girl who has had to relent from physical activity for all of her life made it, when a girl who's been training for this all of her life didn't. I guess when it's your time to go, it's just your time to go. A Dauntless man shows up and introduces them to test number three; Jump into a hole in the center of the roof. Beatrice is like (para- phrasing here), "Back off, I got this." She jumps in and is caught by a net near the bottom. She there meets a boy named Four. He asks for her name so he can record it, telling her this is her chance to be whoever she wants. She chooses the name Tris.

Chapter 5

     Ladies and Gentlemen the moment we've all been waiting for, the Choosing Ceremony! Beatrice and her mother embrace before Beatrice has to take the stage. Her mother tells her, "I love you. No matter what." Quite touching, but more importantly the statement indicates her mom knows something is up. The teens take the stage, and after a speech about the forming of the factions they are ready to make their choice. One by one they spill blood from their palm into one of five bowls, each containing something relating to the five factions. When Caleb steps up he spills his blood into the... Erudite bowl?! The Abnegation poster boy? Unbelievable. Beatrice is up and after some thought she chooses... Dauntless?! Okay that one I saw coming. The book just wouldn't hold up if the plot centered around Beatrice's life as a charity working robot.

Chapter 4

     After her creepy encounter with the Factionless man Beatrice high-tails it home. She gets to her house about the same time as Caleb and they both agree not to talk about the aptitude test because it was wiggity- wiggity- whack! As they eat dinner with their family we learn that the Erudites really don't like the Abnegation and like to call them out all the time. An Erudite woman says about the Abnegation leader Marcus, "Marcus's violence and cruelty toward his son is the reason his son chose Dauntless instead of Abnegation." Ouch. There is some foreshadowing in that statement though (hint hint). Beatrice  and Caleb head up to bed, and Caleb asks Beatrice how her test went. She says (para-phrasing here), "That's none ya' business." They go to bed, awaiting the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow.

Chapter 3

     Beatrice wakes up from the tests as her instructor gives her a look like, "Whaaaaaaaaat?" Her instructor, Tori, says she is Divergent (Hey! There's the title!), ergo she shows traits of all the different factions. This freaks Beatrice out because it means she could be factionless. Factionless all have crap jobs and get very little food and clothing. Tori tells Beatrice that she can't tell anybody about this and that she needs to get outta dodge.
     As Beatrice heads home she runs into a factionless on the streets. She offers him some food (Good on ya' Beatrice!), but when he takes it he also grabs her wrist. They talk a bit about the choosing ceremony, and he doesn't seem to have anything devious in mind (thank Jebus). He does give her some advice though, "Choose Wisely."

Chapter 2

In the beginning of chapter two Beatrice and Caleb are hanging out in the cafeteria of school waiting for the dreaded aptitude tests (dun dun dunnnnn). As Beatrice looks around we are introduced to the Amity faction. They sing songs and love life and beauty and what not. Think of them as the hippies of this world. We also see that the Candor faction like to debate about (trivial) things, most often as a passtime. I guess you can think of them as... Lawyers? I don't know, They just like to argue. Caleb comes back after taking the test and he seems pretty freaked out. Then Beatrice's name is called and she heads to the test rooms, which are made of glass (OH NO. VANITY!). She's given a serum that knocks her out and puts her through a series of tests. In one there's a choice between cheese and a knife. Next a rabid dog. Finally there's a Candor man that asks her, "Do you recognize this man?" pointing to to the picture of a man on the newspaper he holds. She recognizes him but says she doesn't. He says quite franticly, "If you do you could save me! You could save me!." She still says she doesn't. Not cool Beatrice.

Chapter 1

All right so chapter one of this book is read and I'm already pretty interested. The story is set in future Chicago and the government is controlled by five different factions. Each faction has it's own set off values, like a culture or religion. The Abnegation faction, for instance, are all about being selfless. They're essentially the universal yes man. It is dystopian literature so they obviously have some quirks in each faction. Abnegation people, as the main character Beatrice informs us, "Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair." She's talking about a mirror. Her faction has something against self indulgence, so they count looking into a mirror as vanity. We learn as Beatrice gets to school that the Abnegation faction isn't so popular lately. A boy from Erudite pushes Beatrice in the hallway and calls her a "stiff." Judging by the fact that they are all about being intelligent and all wear blue sweaters I assume they're like the preps. Beatrice also notices the most hardcore of the factions, the Dauntless, jumping out of speeding trains. They do this on a daily basis to get to school or work or wherever. They wear black and have tattoos and basically look like they'd fit in at a metal concert. The faction is all about bravery, thus their job is to guard the city walls. Beatrice arrives at school, and they sit down, awaiting the "aptitude test". DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN