Divergent Chapter 11 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • The next day, the initiates take a field trip (yay) to the fence around Chicago (boo).
  • Tris had another nightmare, this time about Peter torturing her to get her to admit to being Divergent.
  • They take the train to the fence, with Tris staring at Four's muscles the whole way. Subtle.
  • The fence around Chicago is guarded by Dauntless with guns, though no one knows what they're keeping out (monsters?) or keeping in (annoying kids?). 
  • In fact, the Dauntless used to patrol the poor factionless part of town, but Abnegation voted them out, saying that the poor needed help, not police. (This sounds like a good time to have a class discussion on, well, class.)
  • While they're examining the fence, a truck full of Amity farmers comes through. And Robert is on that truck. (Who's Robert? He was a young Abnegation neighbor, which you shouldn't say five times fast.)
  • Robert seems sad by the fact that so many other Dauntless around Tris are jerks. Oh, and also Tris is entirely black-and-blue. He tells her that she should be happy.
  • But Tris says that happiness isn't her goal. 
  • After that, Four gives Tris some advice about fighting, which is to attack first. 
  • So in other words, this is just a typical field trip, like the ones you take at school.