The 2010s really were the best time to be a teenager. We had it all. Vine was still around, One Direction were in their prime, and of course, there was no shortage of dystopian fantasy books to read. I remember my friends and I obsessively taking internet quizzes to figure out if we could win the Hunger Games and what Divergent faction we’d belong to. The bestselling series by Veronica Roth had millions of readers in a chokehold, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Watching Beatrice Prior go from a meek, quiet little girl to jumping off of moving trains and fighting for the things she believed in made 13-year-old me feel like she could do anything.
Well, my dystopian girlies, we’re in the midst of a renaissance. Veronica Roth recently announced The Sixth Faction, set in an alternate universe in which Tris does not choose to join Dauntless as she did in the original series. With the release slated for later this fall, I felt inspired to revisit the original Divergent trilogy and see how it holds up now that I’m older. Do these books hold up, or were they just a product of the YA dystopian craze? Here are my thoughts on the series as an adult. Warning: major spoilers ahead.
1. The factions’ histories are deeper than I remembered
Most of us who read the Divergent books when they were first released have probably boiled down the five factions to their most basic archetypes: the Dauntless are brave, the Abnegation are selfless, the Erudite are intelligent, the Candor are honest, and the Amity are kind. And while that’s still accurate, one of the first things I noticed upon starting my reread is that the faction system is actually built on the opposite of these qualities.
Very early on in the series, it is explained that each faction was created to eradicate the qualities believed to be responsible for much of the world’s conflict–so those who blamed cowardice formed Dauntless, those who blamed ignorance formed Erudite, and so on. That simple of a switch right from the start made me realize that there were likely a lot more details I’d misremembered.
2. The propaganda hits far too close to home
Series like Divergent used to be an escape for me as a young teen, but now that I’m older, the lines between fantasy and reality have become so much more blurred. One such example here is seeing how the factions use propaganda to pit themselves against each other. At several points throughout the first book, Tris mentions Erudite has released accusatory articles against Abnegation, spreading rumors that her old faction was withholding luxuries and questioning whether they were truly fit to run the government. I found it almost heartbreaking to draw a connection between moments like this and the current state of our world, where we’ve used similar tactics to sow mistrust of certain groups for years. Still, they say even the most fantastical stories are rooted in truth…
“I found it almost heartbreaking to draw a connection between moments like this and the current state of our world, where we’ve used similar tactics to sow mistrust of certain groups for years.”
3. The factions have their own methods of manipulating people
Another thing I’d forgotten was just how much of this story is moved forward by different serums. Tris is given a serum as part of her aptitude test to determine which faction she’s best suited for, and must face her worst fears while under the influence of another serum during her Dauntless initiation. Eventually, we learn that each of the factions has its own kind of serum, even though they’re used under wildly different circumstances. Candor makes people take a truth serum when they’re being put on trial, while Amity microdoses its residents with a serum that makes them more peaceful.
4. Tris’s grief is an important backdrop to a lot of the series’ conflict
Insurgent isn’t nearly as action-packed or fast-paced as the first book in the series, but what I really enjoyed in its place was seeing how Tris’s inner turmoil informs her choices. This book picks up right where Divergent left off, and Tris has suffered all kinds of loss: her parents, her friends, her faction. Worst of all, she is directly responsible for some of this loss. After already struggling to figure out who she’s meant to be, Tris’s entire worldview changes so much in such a short amount of time, and she ends up in a really dark place that I wasn’t expecting. I was really glad to see that the level of trauma she experienced as a result wasn’t glossed over in the rest of the series in favor of more entertainment.
5. Our choices define us just as much as our identities
So much of the series is driven by Tris’s desire to figure out where she belongs, and it goes deeper than simply joining one faction or the other. Some of the labels she and other characters wear are more important (or more dangerous) than others. But as Tris eventually comes to learn, it’s not just where you grew up or your test results that define who you are, but also the choices you make. Even within that, it’s not just about choosing a faction, but about choosing what you believe in, choosing to leave or stay when that belief system is challenged.
“Her story begins with her having to choose between remaining in Abnegation or finding a new life in Dauntless. In the end, she was both selfless and brave.”
One of the quotes that stood out most to me during this reread came from Allegiant: “I’m wondering if we ever really need these words, Dauntless, Erudite, Divergent, Allegiant, or if we can just be friends or lovers or siblings, defined instead by the choices we make and the love and loyalty that binds us.” We’re all made up of so many interesting facets that it does everyone a disservice to boil each other down to our most basic components. It’s what we do with the qualities we’re given that should carry more weight.
6. The ending wasn’t as bad as I remembered
What can I really say about the ending that hasn’t already been said? I remember being so upset that Tris dies at the end of Allegiant. What author in their right mind kills off their main character? But that’s just it—I have to applaud Veronica Roth for being willing to take such a huge risk. And honestly, it makes sense for Tris as a character. Her story begins with her having to choose between remaining in Abnegation or finding a new life in Dauntless. In the end, she was both selfless and brave. As devastated as I was when I first read that, I can appreciate it now as a full-circle moment.
One thing I’ll never forgive? Four ending up with Christina. Thankfully, that particular detail comes from a short story that was published later, not as a part of the original trilogy. But for my mental sanity, it doesn’t exist.
7. Each book is just the same story in a different font
The further I got in the series, the longer it felt… and not just because each book had more pages than the last. Eventually, I realized the reason I felt this way was that I was reading the same story over and over again. Divergent pits some of the factions against others; in Insurgent, it was all the factions against the factionless; and Allegiant focuses on those in the city versus those outside. I tried so hard during this reread not to compare Divergent to the other popular franchises of its time, like The Hunger Games, but where the latter was able to build on the previous story, the former could only do so much. Despite this one major critique, the series was fun to revisit overall. It may not hold up as well from an adult lens, but it’s still incredibly entertaining and surprisingly relevant.
Hannah Carapellotti, Contributing Writer
Hannah is an Ann Arbor-based writer with a bachelor’s in English and writing from the University of Michigan. Outside of The Everygirl, Hannah has written for The Michigan Daily, where she also served as an editor. She currently works at an independent bookstore and is interning for a literary agency.
