Summary

‘Divergent‘ is a story of how a sixteen-year-old is caught in the middle of an identity crisis, a power-hungry maniac, and teenage love. Veronica Roth’s ‘Divergent‘ is a captivating young adult dystopian novel that catapults readers from the easy-go-lucky lifestyle of one faction to the chaotic, back-stabbing lifestyle of another, carefully meshed in young adult love, a search for meaning and identity, betrayal and community.

‘Spoiler Free’ Divergent Summary

‘Divergent’ by Veronica Roth introduced readers to a dystopian city-state where society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to upholding a specific virtue: Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (peacefulness), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery), and Erudite (intelligence). Beatrice Prior, a sixteen-year-old girl born into the selfless Abnegation faction, faces a life-changing decision when she takes her mandatory aptitude test. Instead of receiving a clear result indicating the faction she belongs to, Beatrice discovers she is Divergent, meaning she exhibits qualities of multiple factions.

Forced to keep her divergence a secret, Beatrice makes a daring choice during the Choosing Ceremony and joins the fearless Dauntless faction. Renaming herself Tris, she begins her rigorous initiation process, where she faces physical and mental challenges that push her to her limits. Along the way, Tris develops deep friendships and potential romance, but she also uncovers dark secrets that threaten the very fabric of society.

As tensions rise between the factions, Tris finds herself entangled in a dangerous web of political intrigue and power struggles. She must navigate this treacherous landscape while uncovering the truth about her identity and the world around her. Tris’ journey of self-discovery and resilience leads her to question the flawed society she once believed in and to challenge the status quo.

Divergent Full Summary

Warning – This article contains important details and spoilers

The novel begins with Beatrice Prior, a teenage girl living in Abnegation, preparing for her Choosing Ceremony. At the age of 16, every teenager in the city is made to take an aptitude test that determines which faction of their society they share dominant characteristics with. Afterward, the 16-year-olds attend a Choosing Ceremony, where they choose the faction to which they’ll belong for the rest of their lives.

Beatrice worries that she’ll find out that she’s better suited for a faction other than Abnegation, thus disappointing her brother, Caleb Prior, and her parents, Andrew Prior and Natalie Prior. She is especially scared of disappointing her father, Andrew, an important government official, and Andrew’s friend Marcus, another influential government leader.

During her aptitude test, Beatrice is given a hallucinogenic serum. She sees a series of visions: a dog attacking a child, a man who interrogates her about her knowledge of a ”brutal murderer,” etc. At the end of the test, Beatrice’s examiner, a woman named Tori, tells her that she is Divergent: a forbidden mental state that allows her to move between different factions. Tori makes Beatrice promise never to tell anyone about her Divergence and she warns her that the government wants to kill off all Divergent people.

At the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice sees her brother Caleb choose Erudite, instead of the usual Abnegation. Afterward, she chooses Dauntless. Although she’s excited and curious about Dauntless, she’s also worried that her parents will be devastated by the loss of their two children: after 16-year-olds choose their faction, they’re rarely allowed to visit other factions.

Beatrice is taken to her new community in Dauntless. There, she meets the Dauntless leader, Max, as well as Eric, a young, frightening government official, and Four, a charismatic young man who trains new recruits. Beatrice renames herself “Tris,” and quickly makes friends with Dauntless recruits from other factions, such as Christina, Will, and Al.

The recruits begin their training, competing for a small number of spots reserved for the most highly-ranked trainees. Four coaches Tris and her peers through combat exercises. Tris is a poor fighter as she’s no match for opponents like Peter, a huge, sadistic recruit. In her first fight with Peter, Peter sends her to the hospital. Afterward, she resolves to train even harder.

Tris distinguishes herself in a citywide game of capture-the-flag that’s designed to measure recruits’ abilities. Tris climbs to the top of the Chicago Ferris Wheel, allowing her team to launch a surprise attack on its opponents. Tris’ bravery and quick thinking impress Four, as well as her fellow recruits. Four begins flirting with Tris, exciting her but also making her a little uncomfortable.

Tris stands up for a weak-willed trainee named Al, offering to take his place in a sadistic punishment that Eric devises for him. At the same time, Tris begins to enjoy her combat training more and more, she doesn’t feel the same sense of mercy or caution that she was taught in Abnegation for so many years. Tris gets a visit from her mother, Natalie Prior, and Natalie tells Tris that she knows about her Divergence. Natalie also tells her to ask Caleb to research serum when Tris next sees him, but Tris has no idea why Natalie made this request.

Eric releases a ranking of the recruits: Tris is ranked low, while Peter is ranked second. That night, Peter stabs the top-ranked recruit, a boy named Edward, in the eye. Afterward, Edward drops out of Dauntless. Then the recruits enter the second part of their training: psychological training. They’re injected with the hallucinogenic serum and forced to experience the things that frighten them most.

Privately, Four conducts a “fear simulation” with Tris, and discovers that Tris is good at resisting the effects of the serum. Four recognizes that Tris is Divergent since they can resist mental manipulation. Tris asks Four how he knows so much about Divergence, but Four doesn’t reply.

Reports begin to circulate about how Abnegation leaders, Andrew Prior and his friend Marcus in particular, have become corrupt. Although she’s infuriated by these reports, which she regards as propaganda, Tris concentrates on her training. She bonds with other recruits, such as Uriah and Marlene, who were born in Dauntless, rather than transferring from another faction. When the second round of rankings is released, Tris is at the top of her class.

That night, Peter and a gang of followers try to kill Tris by throwing her into a chasm, but Four saves her life. Tris is shocked to discover that one of the people who tried to kill her was Al. Al, Tris realizes, has come to hate Tris for making him look weak. Tris angrily tells Al that she’ll kill him if he ever tries to talk to her again. Shortly after that, Al commits suicide by throwing himself into the chasm.

Tris proceeds with her psychological training. Four allows her to witness his own “fear landscape.” Tris notices that Four has only four fears, which is where his nickname came from. One of Four’s fears is his father, Marcus, who abused him with a belt when he was a child. Four’s real name, Tris realizes, is Tobias, and he used to live in Abnegation. Following the fear simulation, Tobias kisses Tris, and she kisses him back. Tobias reveals that he knows Tris is Divergent, cementing their bond.

Tris fails badly at her fear landscape despite the early promise she’d shown. Frustrated with herself, she goes to visit Caleb, who’s now living in Erudite. Caleb tells Tris that he’s tempted to believe the things that Jeanine, his leader, had been writing about their father and Abnegation.

Tris and her peers prepare for their final challenge: a fear simulation. In her fear simulation, Tris performs very well, mastering her fears, including her fear of having sex with Tobias. As a result of her good performance, Tris graduates at the top of the rankings. She and her peers are injected with a chemical, supposedly to allow Eric and Max to track their movements. Afterwards, Tris and Tobias have sex.

The next morning, Tris wakes up to find that her friends have been transformed into mindless soldiers, thanks to the tracking chemical. Tris is immune to this mind control, however, due to her Divergence. She pretends to be a “zombie” as Eric and Max send their new soldiers into Abnegation. In Abnegation, Tris joins with Tobias, who’s also revealed to be Divergent and therefore immune to the effects of the chemical. Soldiers capture Tris and Tobias and bring them to Jeanine, the mastermind behind the mind control scheme. Jeanine reveals her villainous plan, to use her new soldiers to conquer all of the city, then orders her soldiers to kill Tris and Tobias.

Tris is taken to a tank, where she’s to be drowned. Before this can happen, however, her mother saves her. Natalie sneaks Tris out of the building and Natalie sends her to a secret compound where Andrew, Caleb, and Marcus are hiding out. Before she can leave with Tris, however, Natalie is shot and killed.

Tris joins up with Andrew, Caleb, and Marcus. They plan to break into the Dauntless headquarters and shut down the computers used in controlling the soldiers. Together, they manage to infiltrate the compound and make their way to the computer room, but not before Andrew dies protecting Tris. In the control room, Tris finds herself facing Tobias, now under a new, stronger mind-control drug. Tobias raises a gun to Tris’ head, but Tris can convince Tobias to put the gun down. Freed from his mind control, Tobias switches off the computers, foiling Jeanine’s plot. The book ends with Tobias declaring his love for Tris.

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