Tris, Christina, and Will all get another tattoo together, bringing their totals to two so far. Although it appears that Tris has only two tattoos, the way she describes them reason otherwise. Tris claimed that both of her shoulders hurt from the tattoo needle, yet she only describes the tattoo on her right shoulder, not the one that her left shoulder received. I wonder if perhaps it will be revealed at a later time, or if I just misinterpreted the text.
It seems as if everyone is forming close relationships with some one they admire, and it's getting a little weird. Tris and Tobias's relationship is somewhat annoying now, and Will and Christina's is becoming weirder each passing day with their idle touching. I can somewhat understand how some readers didn't enjoy the book, but the book's main ideas and positive qualities by far outweigh the negative.
Tobias (as he is now known to Tris) had an interesting discussion with Tris while the two were within his fear landscape. In response to Tris's comments on the aptitude tests, he states, "the aptitude test tells you nothing. Tris, hoping that this might be a clue to him being Divergent, anticipated an answer to why he had chosen Dauntless. Before he could answer, his voice trailed off as the next fear in the fear landscape came to view. I wonder what it is then that inspired him to join the Divergent? Victoria Roth sure did leave a lot of cliffhangers...
Well luckily that cliffhanger wasn't too terribly long. Although Tobias claims that his aptitude test reveals that he is of Abnegation, Tris still senses a lot of Dauntless in him, and therefore holds onto the hope that he is Divergent as well. Perhaps though, the two factions are so similar to one another that he is equally talented in both. Tobias reasons, "all your life you've been training to forget yourself, so when you're in danger, it becomes your first instinct."
A lot of what goes on with the factions is very similar in my mind to the literary them "coming of age". The characters are sort of forced to find out who they are and what traits define themselves or are their strongest points. For Tris, this is especially difficult as her testing showed aptitude for three factions, and therefore is very conflicted as to which one truly fits her being. Over the course of the book, it is being exposed by the faction system simply does not work, much of it based off the fact that no one perfectly fits into any one of the factions.
Due to Tris's escapade with Tobias, their relationship is now a bit awkward. It is obvious to those around her that something is up. Due to their relationship, I wonder if some will become jealous of Tris since Tobias is likely to favor her. I am also still having a difficulty seeing Tobias as an eighteen-year-old. He just seems so advanced for his years.
Lauren's fears are all very rational in my opinion, and I would find it hard to rank them based on difficulty. Her fear involving the death of her father would probably be applicable to me since I have never before lost a family member or friend who I visited more often than once every several years. I don't really know how I personally would go about dealing with it, and therefore it frightens me. Any involving my own death of course would be frightening, especially being hit by a train. Public ignominy would also quite frightful, depending on who the onlookers were.
I find it interesting that "most [initiates] will have anywhere from ten to fifteen fears in [their] fear landscapes." I think that in reality, people would be more likely to have upwards of that figure. For example, if someone is afraid of spiders, doesn't it make sense that they would be afraid of other biting or stinging bugs such as wasps, bees, and ants? If one was afraid of being hit by a train, why not a car or a bus? I wonder how the fears are selected, if perhaps there is an intensity cut off where only the most intense feeling fears make it into the simulation. Either way, I think I might be surprised to see what my most intense fears are.
This doesn't exactly have to do with your blog entry, but I just thought of this while reading your second paragraph. I read the dedication of this book and how it deals with her mother, who she had no idea how strong she could be. Then, when you brought up why Tobias left Abnegation and it turns out that the reason is because of his abusive dad. Maybe this is much more personal to Veronica Roth than people might perceive. I'm wondering if her father had been abusive when she was younger and her mother never did anything about it, but finally, one day, she proved Veronica wrong and saved her just before it was too late. Maybe all the symbolism in the book is an interpretation of Veronica's family situation and if it is, I applaud Veronica for such creativity.
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