Divergent Journey Map: Thematic Connection, Identity

“I walk slowly around him. On his back is more ink than skin. The symbols of each faction are drawn there- Dauntless at the top of his spine, Abnegation just below it, and the other three, smaller beneath them. For a few seconds I look at the scales that represent Candor, the eye that stands for Erudite, and the tree that symbolizes Amity. It makes sense that he would tattoo himself with the symbol of Dauntless, his refuge, and even the symbol of Abnegation, his place of origin, like I did. But the other three? ‘I think we’ve made a mistake,” he says softly. “We’ve all started to put down the virtues of the other factions in the process of bolstering our own. I don’t want to do that. I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest.” (Roth, 405).

“ ‘Decades ago, our ancestors realized that it is not political ideology, religious belief, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of human personality- of humankind’s inclination toward evil, in whatever form that is. They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world’s disarray.’

My eyes shift to the bowls in the center of the room. What do I believe? I do not know; I do not know; I do not know.

I think of the motto I read in my Faction History textbook: Faction before blood. More than family, our factions are where we belong. Can that possibly be right?” (Roth, 42-43).

In the futuristic dystopian nation created by Veronica Roth, a society that was created from the remains of a war-stricken world, one choice determines the rest of your life, the choice of a faction. The founders of this nation had determined that it was in fact human personality that was to blame for a warring world. They divided into 5 factions that each sought to eradicate those qualities that they thought were to blame, Amity- those who blamed aggression, Erudite- who blamed ignorance, Abnegation-...