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The Divergent Trilogy is More Relevant Than We Think
Back when my son still liked reading together at bedtime (those were the days!), we read the Divergent series. It was enjoyable but we moved on and it became yet another series taking up room in our bookshelves. In deciding to declutter the house, I found myself trying to decide which books would stay and — because procrastination is always more fun than work — ended up re-reading the series. As I did, it struck me just how relevant it is to us today.
The Divergent trilogy takes place in a dystopian world — the city of Chicago — in which most people belong to one of five “factions” (groups) based on their philosophy about what causes war. It’s an interesting set-up but what is most fascinating to me is how many people appeared to miss the heart of the series.
In most summaries of the plot (including in the previews and promotional materials for the movie franchise), the factions are described in simplistic terms. Dauntless are brave, Erudite are smart, Abnegation are selfless, Candor are honest and Amity are peaceful. As some reviewers hilariously pointed out, the factions seem similar to the houses at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter world. While this may seem true at first, it misses the point the author was trying to make.
In the world of Divergent, the factions are much more complex than mere adjectives. They have a purpose: “They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world’s disarray.” In other words, people have divided themselves into world-views. This is indeed an interesting point and one which has modern-day relevance. If you take some of our groups into consideration — Religion, Race, Class, Gender, Conservatives, Liberals — they start sounding pretty faction-like.
In general, human beings tend to divide into groups. Just ask any adolescent to tell you the different cliques at their school and most adults can list the group divisions at their work, religious organization or large social interactions. Humans just seem to group ourselves together automatically. Even people who feel separate from larger cultural groups appear to find or develop their own. That’s one of the reasons for inner city gangs or for communities like furries. Yet one of the big critiques of Divergent is that people don’t…
