Text Connections

  A text-to-self connection for my book Divergent is that sometimes I feel like there is someone controlling me and not allowing me to think on my own.  This is like my book because the government in my book wants you to think a certain way to be able to be controlled.  But Divergents don't think one way and that is why they are so difficult to control.

  A text-to-text connection for my book is to Fahrenheit 451.  My book connects to Fahrenheit 451 because in the book, the government hankers to control the people and make sure that nobody can learn from books in dismay that the people might take on the government.  That is why they burn the books, to prevent the people from gaining knowledge of the past and revolting against the government.  A quote from my book that supports this is when Tris and her mother are talking, "But our minds move in a dozen different directions.  We can't be confined to one way of thinking, and that terrifies our leaders.  It means we can't be controlled"(Roth pg. 442)  Governments in both societies want the people to think a certain way so they can be manipulated and controlled by the government.


  A text-to-world connection for my book is that in today's day and age, the government feels like a major presence in our society.  Every month you hear reports on the news about how the government is being incriminated of spying or listening in on people's conversations.  The technology is available that the government could be able to eavesdrop on any one's conversations.  The government can use technology like this to control and manage the people.  The government claims that they use this type of technology to prevent terrorist plots or other tragedies from happening.  But  most people feel like they are violating their privacy.  This is like my book because in the book, the Erudite have created a serum with transmitters to take control over the Dauntless soldiers to kill the Abnegation people.

I myself am against this idea of the government spying on the people for many reasons for example privacy!  Hello?  Does really anyone want the government watching and listening to them 24/7?  No!How do you, the reader, feel about this issue in our society today?  Comment your opinion.

A picture of a sign saying the Government is watching people.

A cartoon sketch of the government spying on the people.

Here is a link to the 'New York Times' website article talking about this issue.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/facebooks-zuckerberg-complains-to-obama-over-government-spying/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0