Yay! First late blog post, I knew it would happen eventually. I'm thinking that Wednesdays were not that good of a choice when it came to picking a posting day. I'm thinking that if I post at least once a week, I'll still be making my goal. (my weeks usually start on Mondays :P)
So, I just finished the "Divergent" Series by Veronica Roth. They were very good and followed in the footsteps of other dystopian young adult (YA) greats such as "The Hunger Games" and "The Giver". I am a big fan of dystopian fiction, there is something so intriguing about reading stories where people believe they can make people behave and act a certain way to bring about peace within a community. The issue with this is that it never works.
Divergent takes this idea very literally. The main character, Beatrice Prior (later known as Tris) lives in a world, that is split into factions. Each faction values a certain characteristic. She was born into the faction Abnegation, which values selflessness. Each faction is responsible for certain jobs within the city based on their values and strengths.
This is a very interesting world, that becomes even more intriguing once we find the reasons for the factions and how the world became like it is to Tris and the others.
At the age of 16, those that are born into factions, take a test that tells them where they belong based on how they react to a simulation. They are given a choice to stay in the faction they were born in, or switch to one of the others. The main character Tris, never felt selfless enough to truly belong in Abnegation. She liked the idea of being brave like the Dauntless, and knew she was not fit for Candor (the honest) or Amity (the peaceful). Erudite (The intelligent) was her other choice, but with the way her father spoke of this faction, she did not want to join it, nor did she think she was smart enough.
She eventually does choose and her world gets turned upside down, which leads to an ending that I was NOT expecting.
Now I am getting into Spoiler territory. If you wish to not be spoiled, please scroll until you see a picture of an adorable doggy with a smile on his face.
SPOILERS AHEAD, SCROLL TO PUPPY FOR SAFETY!
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Okay. if you are still with me, I'm assuming you have completed the series (YAY!) or don't plan on reading it but are intrigued.
Oh the ending. The ending of this series was heartbreaking and unexpected and I honestly did not know how to feel about it. I was angry for one, but insanely curious at the motive. This was the first YA novel I've read where the MAIN CHARACTER, yes, TRIS, dies at the end.
She doesn't die like Harry, where she goes and has a long talk with a mentor and then chooses to live. She doesn't die and become a vampire like Bella. She dies. She gets shot and she dies. Simple as that, but NOT simple as that. SHE DIES! Who kills the main character? Veronica Roth, that's who.
I'm getting all worked up again as I write this. I love happy endings. I love when the main couple lives happily ever after and manages to bring peace to the universe they live in. This was not the case in in final book of "Divergent" Tris died and in doing so, she changed her whole world and society and allowed them to start from the beginning and rebuild. She gave all of her friends a second chance.
I did not feel good about this ending until I read a blog post by the other herself, which can be found here:
She speaks of being true to Tris' character. She said she did everything she could to save Tris, but in the end, she allowed Tris to do what she had to do. I love this idea. I love the fact that the author wrote the book she wanted to write and allowed the characters the freedom to make their own choices. Even though I am still in shock over this ending and I don't think I will ever get over it, I am still insanely impressed and I hope other authors follow in Roth's footsteps and use this idea to bring a bit more reality to the future of YA stories and characters.
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END SPOILERS
"It's like in the
great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and
danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how
could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so
much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will
shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant
something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr.
Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances
of turning back, only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something...
That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for." - Sam Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings)
This is one of of my favorite quotes because it can be applied to many books. This is the first thing I thought of when I was trying to get over the shock of the end of "Allegiant".
One of the reasons why I want to teach English, is that I want to instill a love of reading into my students. I have always loved to read, I can thank my parents and many wonderful teachers for instilling this love into me. I want to do the same for my future students.
Books can provide role models, a means of escape and they can be teachers themselves. The recent trend in dystopian fiction seems to tell us that our world doesn't feel right and we need to do something about it. I think writing these stories and teaching them to a younger generation is a fantastic idea. Tris and Katniss show traits of selflessness, bravery, love, loyalty and goodness. They also have rebellious streaks in them, they do dangerous things without thinking. They learn from their mistakes. Having children read about them will let them know that they too can change the world. No matter where you come from, as long as you care for others and be a good person you will succeed. Now, Divergent does give mixed feelings on that last part, BUT, that is spoiler territory, so I will not elaborate.
This post was a bit all over the place. I had started writing it last Tuesday and I got caught up in the whirlwind of life. Hopefully next week's post will be better.
I know it will be since next week is the first week of classes!
I am excited to share my first week of grad school with you all.
Until then.... Do some reading and remember:
“A reader lives a
thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once.” - Jojen (A Dance with Dragons)
- Laura
