I am now noticing that Tris, as she is now known, still is holding onto her Abnegation-like thoughts, but she loves the idea of this new life among the dauntless. As she begins trying to fit in, I wonder what her first tattoo will be? All Dauntless seem to have one, so I imagine that it must be a requirement.
On page 65, I also picked up on my first bit of symbolism, and I imagine that there is much more that has escaped me. As Tris and the fellow outsider initiates cross the Pit, to their left the water is calm, which I suppose represents a calm yet serious side of the Dauntless. Moreover, to the right, the water below is thrashing-- "it is white, battling with rock." To me, this would represent a fierce side of the Dauntless, yet the white I believe represents purity. Perhaps the fierceness is for a just cause.
Often times, I notice that Tris is faced with those who judge her purely based on her faction. She has already been called a "stiff" multiple times by members of various factions, and it seems that other factions do not have a pejorative names that label them. I have also picked up on rivalries amongst those within dauntless. The way Four became tense around Eric makes it appear that Four fears Eric, who maybe rules with an iron fist over all members of Dauntless. In addition, Four's stern warning to Tris-- "Careful, Tris"-- might reveal the reason for divergent being dangerous. Her inability to contain actions that are not encouraged in either her birth faction or her initiate faction seem to anger Four.
At the beginning of initiation, the nine newcomers are told that "'preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear.'" I suppose that this means that backing down is not an option, and this is why it must be important to eliminate as many as half of the initiates who simply aren't prepared. It also makes me wonder if the other factions eliminate as many as half of the new initiates. If so, the population of the factionless must equal the population of the city... but I could understand the Dauntless doing this since it takes a certain level of fearlessness to be factionless.
When all of the newcomer initiates gather for dinner, I notice how their communication is much like that of a multicultural collection of individuals. They are all shocked by the various oddities within each faction and develop new ideas with one another. For example, Tris is the only one who is disrupted by public display of affection, and therefore she claims that she will try to become accustomed to it. The relationship between Tris and Christina is growing to be very strong. The way that they make eye contact in the mirror is in my opinion rather symbolic as Tris and her mother did it the day of her aptitude test. Speaking of her family, I was very touched by the tattoo selection Tris made; I do not believe that she could have picked anything more meaningful as three falcons flying to her heart to represent the family she left behind.
On page 94, I see that Tris still is tied to her old faction rather strongly. She says, "I shouldn't be gossiping anyway. Gossiping is self-indulgent." This is just one instance where she has reverted to the rules of her birth faction and allowing them to dictate her feelings. This also provides further evidence as to why being divergent is a danger.
Just as within The Hunger Games series, there is a group of antagonists. Likewise to The Hunger Games, this group is described as cold and ruthless. The way that Molly beats Christina without mercy is evident of this.
Also, I think that I have discovered a deeper meaning behind the water symbolism back in the top of my post! I believe that the cam side represents Four with his sternly calm and occasionally pleasant side. The violent side, however, is almost certainly meant to represent Eric. He is by far the more aggressive of the two, as evidenced by his punishment of Christina for her failure to fight to a K.O. The way the waves were crashing up and reaching for her as she dangled off the edge of the rail was almost like Eric trying to pull her down into the water. This is clearly a sort of symbolism that foreshadows the personalities of Four and Eric.
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