Social Choices In The Book 'Divergent' By Veronica Roth

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Wenner 1 Mallory R. Wenner Dan Hour 1 English 08 October 2014 “One choice decides your friends. One choice defines your beliefs. One choice determines your loyalties - forever. One choice can transform you” (Roth). In the novel Divergent, by Veronica Roth, the characters’ decisions are greatly impacted by the societies that they live in. The influence of the societies on the characters can be seen as the social, cultural, and moral decisions Divergent characters make, that ultimately reflect the society that they are engrossed in. Primarily, the social choices that Divergent characters make reflect the social hierarchy,…show more content…
For example, Eric, one of the Dauntless leaders, tells Christina to hang over the chasm in order to prove that she is not a coward. Eric said to Christina, “Climb over the railing. If you can hang over the chasm for five minutes, I will forget your cowardice. If you can’t, I will not allow you to continue initiation” (Roth 100). Christina replied, “Fine” (Roth 100). Christina chose to hang over the chasm, an almost suicidal choice she normally wouldn’t make, because Eric said that if she didn’t she would have to become factionless. Dauntless has taught initiates that backing down to a challenge is a cowardly, going against their main value of bravery. Eric’s authority to make Christina factionless, pressures her to choose to risk her own life. The initiate trainer, Four, has a high social position in the Dauntless compound, giving him the courage to challenge Eric. Four challenges Eric when Eric tells him to throw knives at Al, but is still forced to submit to Eric’s status as a Dauntless leader. Eric reminds Four that he is in no position to challenge him when he states, “I have the authority here, remember? Here, and everywhere

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