Book Club Kits: Divergent

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In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

• What purpose does each of the five factions serve in society? Why were the factions created? Do you believe that the factions are, “working toward a better society and a better world” (pg. 44) as they claim to be?
  
  
• What does it mean to be factionless in Tris’s society? How does a person become factionless?
  
  
• What personality types are drawn toward each faction? Do you think these factions represent every basic personality type and fulfill all the basic needs of people? If not, what faction(s) would you create to fill in any gaps?
  
  
• Why is Tris’s government run only by members of Abnegation? Do you think this is a good idea? How would our government be different if only people exhibiting Abnegation traits were allowed to run for office?
  
  
• What faction do you think you would have been born into, given your family and its values? Which faction would you select at your Choosing Ceremony? Why? How would you feel about making a decision that would determine your life’s course at the age of sixteen?
  
  
• How does initiation change Tris? Do you think she made the right faction choice? How do you think she might have changed if she had chosen one of the other factions?
  
  
• How does the idea of “faction before blood” come into play throughout the book? Do you think this idea has a place in today’s society, or is it contrary to what most people believe? In our society, what ideas and beliefs are people loyal to in the way Tris’s society is loyal to the concept of the factions?
  
  
• Tris says about Candor, “It must require bravery to be honest all the time” (p. 62). Do you agree? Which do you think is a braver faction, Dauntless or Candor? Would you like to live in a society like Candor, where everyone tells the truth no matter how hard it is to hear?
  
  
• What is the difference between being fearless and learning to control your fears? Do you believe anyone can be truly fearless? What does Tris mean when she says that “half of bravery is perspective” (p. 458)?
  
  
• Is Four’s desire to be “brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest” (p. 405) realistic in the society in which he lives? Is it possible to exhibit all of those traits in our society?
  
  
• Tris’s mom says, “Human beings as a whole cannot be good for long before the bad creeps back in and poisons us again” (p. 441). Do you agree or disagree? Why?
  
  
• At the beginning of the book, Tris does not understand what it means to be Divergent. How do you think she would explain it by the end of the book?

Divergent on IMDB.

Check the catalog for availability: Divergent [videorecording DVD]