Character Development

  I am about half way done with my book now but the main character Tris has already changed a lot throughout the book.  At the beginning of the book, Beatrice Prior was a normal 16 year old girl part of the Abnegation faction.  After her aptitude test showed she was divergent and after she chose Dauntless at the choosing ceremony, Tris has undergone many changes.  The first change is that before the choosing ceremony Tris really didn't know where she belonged and after all her training and time spent with the Dauntless, she finally found out that she loved the Dauntless.  Tris feels more free and has the ability to do more things than she could in the Abnegation Faction.

 
  The second change Tris has gone through is that she is now a better fighter and she is much tougher now.  At the beginning of initiation Tris was a terrible fighter and didn't want to hurt anyone, but after other initiates bullied her Tris became tough and when she fought she fought without mercy.  When she was fighting Molly (one of the bullies), Tris beat her to the ground and kept kicking her until Four the trainer pulled her away.  The third change is that Tris is now becoming one of the Dauntless.  At the beginning of the book, Tris was a selfless Abnegation girl but after doing things like jumping from a moving train to zip lining off of the top of the highest building in the city has transformed her and made her brave.  Tris feels like she can relate and fit in with other Dauntless members and really trusts them.

This is the main character Tris.

Future Predictions and Questions

  So far in my book a lot has happened.  I am only on page 179 out of 487 but I still have lots of questions and predictions.  So my first question is, why does the Dauntless faction have to get so many piercings and tattoos to show their bravery?  Eric who is one of the Dauntless leaders has many piercings covering his face and head and I feel like this doesn't show bravery at all it just makes him look ugly and scary.  My next question is, what is beyond the fences around the city that the Dauntless patrol?  In the book Tris and other initiates take a field trip to the fence that surrounds the city and Tris noticed that when they closed the gates, the lock was on the outside which makes me wander if they are keeping something out or in.

  Another question I had was, what happened to this future society that made the government turn to the faction system and why are divergents do dangerous to the system?  So the government says that the only way the society will survive is if the people know what faction they belong in.  Many people have different opinions on what led to the faction systems, like some say that people were to selfish and wanted power.  Some future predictions I have is that Four will find out that Tris is Divergent because Tris is intelligent, brave and selfless which means she is more than one type of faction.  Another prediction I have is that Tris will have to fight Peter and she will beat him because she recently just beat Molly and Tris is angry at what they did to her and tells herself that she will hurt them.  My final prediction is that Al and many other initiates will not pass and become factionless because they are to weak or not Dauntless material.

This is the main character Tris practicing on a punching bag.

Divergent Summary

  So far in my book "Divergent" by Veronica Roth we know that the setting takes place in a dystopian future in Chicago.  The people are split into 5 different factions to keep peace and balance.   There is a day every year in which all 16 year olds will choose the faction that they will live in for the rest of their lives.  Once they have selected by drawing blood and letting the blood fall into a bowl of their chosen faction, they are now a initiate of that faction and may never see their family again.  Once they have selected they must go through initiation into the faction and those who do not pass or do not choose a faction will live factionless and homeless for the rest of their lives.


  The 5 factions are Candor (Honest), Abnegation (Selfless), Amity (Peaceful), Erudite (Intelligent), and Dauntless (Brave).  The main story follows a girl named Beatrice who later changes her name to Tris, as she goes to school on the day of the aptitude test to help her make her choice on what faction to pick.  She drinks a blue liquid and goes through several simulations that are supposed to narrow down which faction she would fit the best into.  The tester Tori leaves the room then returns and says, "Beatrice, your results were inconclusive.  Typically, each stage of the simulation eliminates one or more of the factions, but in your case only 2 have been ruled out… People who get this kind of result are… are called… Divergent."(Roth pg's 21-22)

  In this dystopian society people who are Divergent are considered dangerous to the system.  Why do you think Divergent's threaten the system and people's way of life in this world?
Also post what you got on your test and what faction you are best suited for.

The cover of the book.

Here is a link that will lead you to an aptitude test to find our which faction you would be best to live in.

http://assets.divergentthemovie.com/aptitudetest/


Here is a link to another test.

http://www.divergentfactions.com/divergent-faction-quiz.html

About The Author Veronica Roth

  The book I will be reading and blogging about this trimester is called "Divergent" by Veronica Roth.  Some information about the author Veronica Roth is that she is 22 years old and a graduate of Northwestern University.  Roth graduated with a degree in creative writing.  While she was a student there, she chose to work on the story that would soon become "Divergent", instead of doing her homework.  In my opinion, that was a very smart move by Roth because now she is very well known author because of the success the Divergent series has had.

  Roth is now a full time writer and lives near Chicago which is a coincidence because the book takes  place in Chicago.  "Divergent" is Roth's first novel and surely not the last, as she has 2 sequals to the book already and a movie that came out on March 21, 2014.  Veronica Roth is an amazing author and as I have started reading the book I can see that she really spent time writing and imagining the world that the book takes place in.

This is a picture of Veronica Roth.

About The Author

  Charlie Higson is an author, actor, comedian, and writer.  He wrote the very popular "Young Bond" series which has sold millions of copies worldwide.  He began his zombie adventure series for teenagers in 2009 with "The Enemy" and 1 year later came out with "The Dead."  Charlie is a huge fan of horror movies and books and studied gothic literature in college.  He has 3 teenagers and he says they are his inspiration for these teenager based novels.  He currently lives in London, England.

  He was born on July 3rd, 1958 in Somerset, England.  Charlie formed the band the band The Higsons where he was the lead singer and they released 2 singles.  He stared in many television programs on BBC as an extra.  Charlie Higson is still writing good books for teens even today and is  a world known author.















This is a picture of Charlie Higson.

Analysis of a Piece of Text

 
  A paragraph of text from my book, "The Enemy" by Charlie Higson is on page 439 when the leader of the grown ups is trying to figure out who he is.  "Fat man.  Bald.  White vest with a a red cross on it.  He knew the words.  Saint George.  Then he smiled.  The man was him.  It was was... What was it?  A mirror?  A window?  Yes.  He was Saint George.  A crusader.  That made him happy.   To remember hard words like that.  He was Saint George.  This city belonged to him."(pg. 439)

  This text is at the very end of the book.  Obviously we know that this guy is not alive.  He is one of the millions of other brain dead grown ups who want to kill the children.  But this guy is different from the rest of the other grown ups.  He is more intelligent and is able to get other grown ups to follow him into battle.  This guy believes he is Saint George who was a was a soldier in the Roman army and later venerated as a Christian Martyr.  He was believed to be born in 303 A.D and was a great military general.  The guy must have died with the Saint George Red Cross shirt on so he thinks he is him.

  It is believed in the story that this guy was one of the last alive grown ups to turn into a zombie so his brain isn't as rotten and therefore he is more intelligent.  Earlier in the book his army lost a battle to Arran and the kids so he has now sworn to kill them all.  He looks in the mirror or what he thinks is a mirror and tells himself that he is Saint George,  a crusader and that this city is his.  I predict in the next book the kids will see him again but I think Saint George will be more prepared and kill all of the kids with his undead army.
















This is the cross of Saint George.

Zombies

  Many books, movies and T.V shows in the past couple of years have been about zombies.  For example my book "The Enemy", by Charlie Higson.  An outbreak of a disease turns mostly every person on the planet into a brain dead zombie that only wants meat.  Only children survived and must survive in this new harsh world where they adapt to survive, or act stupid and get themselves killed.  Another example is The Walking Dead, which is a T.V series on AMC following a character named Rick Grimes and his struggle with other survivors to survive.  It is kind of like a W plot that never seems to end.  The show is in its 4th season and many people Rick has loved have died and every time they think they have a breakthrough something bad happens which puts the hero back a step and somehow he will overcome that obstacle.

  In the new season, where Rick and many survivors are living in a prison where walkers or zombies are trying to break trough the fences every day.  New illnesses are making people sick inside the prison and when they die they turn into a walker and want to only kill and eat live meat.  Recently the prison was attacked and many people died, walkers almost knocked the fences down and many people are getting scared.

  They always seems like in science fiction stories it always take place in a post apocalyptic future where a disease killed most of the population and turned them into zombies where a hero and his friends struggle to survive and there is always other survivors that want each other dead and everyone struggles to survive.

This is a picture of the popular T.V show The Walking Dead.