Taylor Donohue
English 10
Miss Fordahl
April 3, 2014
In Divergent, by Veronica Roth, futuristic, run down Chicago and it's people are divided into 5 different factions, or groups, to try to solve the problems as to why society fell. The factions are, Abnegation for selflessness, Candor for honesty, Dauntless for bravery, Amity for peacefulness, and Erudite for intelligence. Once the children of each faction turn 16 years old, they have a test to determine which faction they belong to, and then a ceremony in which they choose the faction they would like to be in. Beatrice Prior, played by Shailene Woodley, the main character and the narrator of the story, is one of the many new 16 year old young adults on the verge of starting a new life, either staying with her family and being Abnegation, or leaving her family behind and joining a different faction. Torn as to what she should do, Beatrice hopes the test will point her in the right direction, but is only confused further when she discovers that she is anything but ordinary. Beatrice is told she is Divergent, meaning she doesn't belong to just one faction, and that she must never tell another soul of her secret, because its dangerous. Later Beatrice leaves her home in Abnegation for Dauntless, a whole different ball park. Once she reaches the Dauntless area, she meets a new, handsome face by the name of Four, Played by Theo James, who just happens to be one of her instructors. Throughout the book, Beatrice learns what it it really means to be divergent, and why its so dangerous. It is truly a great story, with lots of thrills, excitement, and of course some romance.
The book compared to the movie had a bunch of differences, but also a large amount of similarities. Two of the similarities are the devastatingly sweet love interest between Four and Beatrice, and another being the many different characters, and their relationships with Beatrice. I personally love a nice, sweet romance between the main character in a story, and a handsome stranger. I mean come on, who doesn't? Beatrice and Four start out as instructor, and initiate, but it soon grows into something much more. What about some differences between the movie and the book?
In the book everything was so planned out and descriptive, I can imagine how hard it would be to put that on a TV screen, but just some of the things they cut or changed, made the movie very different from the book. One of those things was the fear landscape during the final test. When Beatrice was trying to swat the birds away with a burning branch? Yeah, didn't happen in the book. In the book Beatrice had a gun and was randomly shooting in the air, attempting to kill, if not scare away the many crows. When she finally did scare them away, a random post came out of the blue and Beatrice was tied to it, trapping her in the fire. Yes, she did have a fear of being burned alive, but it was originally by Peter, another Dauntless initiate. Whats another thing that was changed?
Another thing that was changed was the Visiting Day part, where the families of the initiates visit them at their new faction. That part in the book was when Beatrice's mother visited her, and when Beatrice finds out that her mother was originally Dauntless, and her mother tells her about what Divergence is. Visiting day didn't happen at all in the movie! They had to completely change that part. I have to say, that part made me a little disappointed.
Overall, both the movie and the book, Divergent, were really good, but in their own ways. I did enjoy the movie, but personally the book will always be my favorite. That's my opinion on the matter, why don't you pick up the book, watch the movie, and form your own, you won't be wasting you time!
