Chapters Ten Through Twelve

I continue to have questions about the process for selecting initiates. Since girls are physically not as burly as boys yet are still expected to compete with them, there must be fewer females in the abnegation faction. However, now that I give it some thought, there might be an advantage giver to the girls in the mental and emotional side.

As Tris and Peter fight one another, I notice that Peter seems to be very snide. Tris tries not to think about his remarks, but she can't forget them, which causes her to falter and fail. Perhaps Peter is more mental than physical and Tris must learn to disregard him, or it may be that Peter is mostly physical and Tris hasn't yet learned to be mentally strong. 

I also am anticipating the "Visiting Day." Al and Tris discuss this, Tris explains that she "'[doesn't] know it it will be good or bad'" to see them again. Al thinks that it would be bad to see them again. By this, I think that Al is nervous that he will become more upset and find the transition to Dauntless more lengthened. For Tris, I think that she wishes to see her mother, who she so loved, but she is frightened to visit with her father, whom she has betrayed.

Moving forward to the field trip to the fence, I was hoping to learn more about what lays in the outside world. What I was able to find out was that interestingly enough, the Dauntless didn't have to guard the fence until just five years prior. I believe that someone had tried to escape the compound, as evidenced by the way the wall is locked on the outside. Tris herself, on page 122, asks, "'what do you think is out there?'", adding "'I mean, beyond the fence.'" Christina's answer is only of course what average member of the factions knows lies beyond: farms. 

The Amity control the farms, where they spend time picking produce (apparently by traditional methods) and singing songs as well as traditional instruments. Despite the lack of true intellectual activity, life in Amity seems beautiful and extremely enjoyable. 

Upon being woken up at a late hour by Four and Eric, it was my last thought that a game would be taking place. This, however, is precisely what happens. At Navy Pier, I take notice of some interesting setting descriptions provided buy Tris. The Great Lakes now have, it seems, become largely marshland. I wonder what sort of dramatic change could cause this phenomena. Additionally, the number of abandoned buildings that Tris can see makes me wonder what sort of population the factions have. Certainly, there cannot be many. If there are such few members at the time of this book, then how many people were there when the factions were established?

One sentence in particular irks me: "Whoever left these places left them by choice and at their leisure. Some places in the city are not like that." I wonder what sort of sinister event forced these people to leave their homes in a hurry, and how many of these people survived. Speaking of that, I am dying to know where the ancestors of the faction members originated: were they government leaders? Average Chicagoans?

Finally, I am see an oddity in the family units of the factions: everyone seems to have exactly one sibling who is exactly their age. Robert and Susan both were 16 and attended the choosing ceremony, while both Caleb and Beatrice left their families in the same year. I also now have found out that Rita, who fell to her death in the initiation, was a sibling to another initiate. Are all of these children truly biological siblings? Who are their birth parents? Are their parents forced to give birth to twins?