The book Divergent, by Veronica
Roth is about a girl named Tris, who lives in a futuristic dystopian world
where the people are split into factions based on what values they think are
most important. The factions are Erudite which values knowledge, Amity which
values peace and kindness, Candor which values honesty, Abnegation which values
selflessness and Dauntless, which values courage. The factions were created
because in turmoil, different people blamed certain qualities for their
problems (for example abnegation values selflessness and blames selfishness and
greed). However I believe that by breaking up the population into factions, the
problems were made worse.
For example, the Erudite faction
which once was a faction that valued wisdom and knowledge that was used to do
good now is greedy and constantly hungry for knowledge. As well, dauntless, a
faction that used to favor courage in sticking up for friends and yourself is
now full of reckless and violent people with little sense of comeradery. I
think that by breaking up into factions and just focusing on one value, they
forgot all other values. The Erudite found knowledge, but lost Abnegation, the Dauntless
found courage, but forgot Amity. The factions seem to think that since another
group of people focuses on that value, they don’t have to, but the truth is the
best type of person is the one who can be courageous, friendly, honest,
knowledgeable, and giving all at the same time.
good job! i really liked how this blog post mostly focused on the factions and how they should be. when you explained that with special talents, there also comes loss of different, just as important, qualities. when i read this book, i realized that a perfect society isn't made up of different parts, but it more of everything combined that will makes perfect societies. what are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteGood blogpost, Lillian.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading (your copy of) Divergent now and I think you're right about the factions being a bad idea. From this book as well as other dystopian works, we learn that splitting up societies and viewing them as "perfect" never benefits the society, and instead puts too much pressure on each place to be seen as idealistically perfect. I think this happens especially in dystopian novels when they split up societies into different groups.
I read "Divergent" already and it's a great book. I agree on your opinions on the factions. Good blog post overall.
ReplyDelete-Tahiyat