Divergent Veronica Roth's Symbols

Divergent Symbolism is based on the fact that the future Chicago has been divided into factions which were: Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, and Candor. These factions were established on the belief that human personality caused warfare (not our current views that it is caused by nationalism, political beliefs, race, or religion). Each faction was formed intending to remove whatever reason they felt caused conflict. For example, Dauntless blamed cowardice, Abnegation blamed selflessness, Erudite blamed lack of knowledge, and the list goes on. Similarly, these factions and their beliefs formed the basis of Veronica Roth's Symbols in her book ‘Divergent’. On this same note, Tris garners her inspiration from Tori, who conducted her test. She saw Tori's neck tattoo of a hawk while doing the test and inquired about it.

Tori told her the reason for the tattoo was that she used to be afraid of the dark. In some places in the ancient world, the hawk symbolized the sun, and Tori decided that "if I always had the sun on me, I wouldn't be afraid of the dark". Tris decides her tattoos should commemorate her past and embrace her current life in this same fashion. The way each faction wanted to be seen and treated was symbolized in the kind, color, and style of their clothes. Abnegation wears grey clothes showing blending in and a sense of equality. Amity wears comfortable and bright red or yellow clothes, symbolizing kindness and joy. Candor wears black and white to symbolize honesty because ‘the truth is black and white’ just as Tris noted.

Dauntless wear all black clothes and have piercings and tattoos symbolizing standing out, unlike the Abnegation symbols that show a lot of blending in. This means that though Tris became comfortable with the gun in certain situations, the gun symbolizes her understanding that sometimes, bravely and selflessness can mean the same thing. Also, she knows that shooting to prominent and shooting to kill are different things. For example, she shoots Peter in the arm to make him cooperate (even though he constantly tormented her during her Dauntless initiation). In the same vein, she appeals to the 'controlled' Tobias by putting herself in harm's way to reach the 'real him'. In this part of the book, she shows another link between bravery and selflessness.