As with virtually all Utopias in human history, the factions too seem to be falling from their original founding beliefs. Iowa's own Amana Colonies was founded as a Utopian religious community and is one of the longest lasting of it's sort. The communistic system soon too came crumbling down, however, with the Great Depression of the 1930s. The one thing that sets the factions apart from examples in modern history is that there is seemingly nowhere for the residents to flee to. Perhaps outside of there compound is a large population of people somewhere, but until it is found, the faction's members are trapped.
The issue of who is to blame for the rotting of the system is an interesting one, but I think the source is a bit obvious. Although the members of Abnegation are supposed to support the views of all others, how is this possible when humans simply aren't perfect? Personally, I believe that each faction should possess their own nation state-like government that rules over the people of that faction alone. Each faction could contain a diplomatic house so that close relations with other factions may be retained, but the unity of the factions is imply implausible. Like I stated before, each faction is sort of like a different ethnicity, each with their own political views and culture. Multiethnic nations of today are the source of some of the world's most atrocious violence.
Additionally, media is becoming a form of propaganda. Each faction apparently has its own newspaper, which sometimes contains slander against other factions. For example, the Erudite newspaper attacked Abnegation with unfounded rumors and positioned them in an awful light, only contributing to the political strife erupting between Abnegation and the Erudite. A monopolized media group comprised of members from each faction would be more ideal. As a result, malice would not end up in the general press for the whole population to absorb.
Moving away from politics, I was provoked by the final line of the chapter-- "peace is restrained; this is free." Although true, how can one find true happiness by being entirely free? This is the Dauntless mindset, in which all things dangerous an risky are acceptable. I verily think that the restraining peace provided by Amity could result in a content life. In my opinion, there needs to be some form of dictation in life that provides direction in life.
Tris's amazing ability to manipulate the mind simulation as she was drowning in a glass box was quite impressive. If I myself was in a similar situation, I would rather relax myself for the final breath of life rather than thrashing for a likely impossible escape. In my own pool, I sometimes imagine what it would be like to drown. The more you fight and panic while drowning, the quicker oxygen runs out. However, by remaining eerily still, I can almost feel the oxygen slowly deplete, until I must take another breath. During drowning, it would be those final precious moments that I would fight to keep so that I may set my thoughts straight and prepare for a hereafter before loosing consciousness or taking a breath of water.
Tris's Divergent traits are very interesting to me. I imagine that her simulations are like a lucid dream; there is a faint realization that the simulation is fake, and therefore, once good control is learned, the dream can be hijacked. The one thing about her Divergence still making me ponder is Tori's comment that Tris is someone "'someone who, because you are in Dauntless, tends to die.'" Is being Divergent in any faction punishable by death, or is it only in the Dauntless faction? Four seemed very concerned about the simulation and deleted all the information from it as to protect her. I think that "Divergents" are seems as an imperfection in the now dystopian society, and as a result they must be destroyed.
Answering one of my questions that arose in earlier chapters, murder does not occur; or at least hasn't taken place in the time of Tris's life. Interestingly, Tori theorizes that Divergence is a symptom of something that the Dauntless leaders specifically care about. I wonder if perchance it is revolution against the system that worries them. In almost all other dystopian fiction I have read, such as The Giver, The City of Ember series, The Hunger Games, and Haddix's Shadow Children series, the protagonist has beaten the system and either revolted or escaped. I foresee a similar conclusion in this particular book series.
Coming back to the simulations, I wonder what sort of simulations I would have to endure. I feel as if killing people I know in everyday life would be the hardest for me. Then again, a painful execution wouldn't be the greatest also.
Tris's preliminary rankings surprise me; I thought she would try to lengthen out her simulations to prevent herself from becoming too conspicuous. As I expected, Peter, Molly, and Drew took their revenge. Or was it them who attacked her? Up to the end of chapter twenty-one, I can't be sure. I know that Peter was there, but apparently Al was part of it too? All three were boys, so Molly mustn't have been part of it. I'm surprised that Al would stoop so low as to perpetrate violence against someone he resented simply because she was better than him.
Finally, I learned some important information that Tris overheard immediately before she was attacked. An unidentified female uttered to Eric in the dark that his "'first priority is to find them [the divergent]. Always.'" The Dauntless administration doesn't seem to have caught on that Tris is truly Divergent, although further examination of her records and simulations may reveal her true being.
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