Chapters One Through Three

Initially, I observed that this book feels much like The Giver meets The Hunger Games. In the opening lines of the piece, Beatrice describes how her mother "pulls my hair away from my face and twists it into a knot", just as The Hunger Games feature the mother fixing her daughter's hair in the beginning. The cult-like ways of the various factions remind me of how all people in The Giver lived in a cult society, worshipping the organization of the community. Without a faction, there is no reason to live anymore. In addition, the ways in which characters are forced to make quick decisions and fight for themselves reminded me of The Hunger Games.

As for setting, I got the image of a city that is surreal-- one that can't possibly exist on Earth today. I am very curious about the society in which Beatrice lives: What year is it? What happened to the society of today? Are there other settlements existing? How many people live in the Chicago area?

In regards to the history of the factions, I strongly picked up on the fact that Beatrice had not seen the word "murderer" in quite some time. "It has been a long time since I last read that word, but even its shape fills me with dread", says Beatrice on page 17. I imagine that crime is practically nonexistent or very uncommon amongst the factions. On the other hand, the way that the factionless man grabbed Beatrice and said that she appeared to young to be out alone made me wonder if perhaps evildoing only exists among the factionless.

Other details which stuck out to me was the way that each building had glass walls. Where do such materials for construction come from? I find it highly unlikely that such odd buildings exist in today's Chicago.

The factions themselves are all very striking to me. The way that each has it's own culture and popular styles suggests that they are as the ethnic groups of today's world. Beatrice looks upon her own faction as an ethnicity of sorts, remarking that "when I look at the Abnegation lifestyle as an outsider, I think it's beautiful." However, they most certainly will not adopt bits of new "cultures" or mix. I noticed that the book hinted that there are perhaps punishments for betraying your faction and adopting another-- what type of punishments are they, though?