Divergent Chapter 21 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
No, I was wrong; I didn't jump off the roof because I wanted to be like the Dauntless. I jumped off because I already was like them, and I wanted to show myself to them. I wanted to acknowledge a part of myself that Abnegation demanded that I hide. (21.11)
Tris here considers the idea that the Dauntless initiation didn't change her identity; it just allowed her to bring out a part of her identity that she had to hide before. She hasn't changed, she's just been given room to show her true identity. (But if you think this issue is settled, keep reading, because things are about to get confusing.)
Quote 2
In the past four days, I faced four fears. In one I was tied to a stake and Peter set a fire beneath my feet. In another I was drowning again, this time in the middle of an ocean as the water raged around me. In the third, I watched as my family slowly bled to death. And in the fourth, I was held at gunpoint and forced to shoot them. I know what fear is now. (21.9)
The Dauntless initiation is about 1/3 fighting and 2/3 psychological torture. But note how symbolic all these fears are for Tris: she's not really afraid of fire or drowning. (There's not even a lake anymore in this "setting.") Why does she get these symbolic fears? Why isn't she just afraid of spiders like the rest of us?
Quote 3
The articles troubled me, but I had friends to cheer me up, and that is something. When the first one was released, Christina charmed one of the cooks in the Dauntless kitchens, and he let us try some cake batter. After the second article, Uriah and Marlene taught me a card game, and we played for two hours in the dining hall. (21.6)
Since Tris isn't used to having friends, she makes some statements like this that make it pretty easy to see where the theme of friendship pops up. When something bothers Tris, she has friends to help her. So we could say that, in Divergent, friends are people who cheer you up.
Quote 4
I don't need them—but do I want them? Every tattoo I got with them is a mark of their friendship, and almost every time I have laughed in this dark place was because of them. I don't want to lose them. But I feel like I have already. (21.113)
Real talk: sometimes friends can get you down. Because they're all competing for the same thing, Tris and her friends sometimes fight—both literally (when they're punching and kicking in the arena) and, well, literally in a different way (when they're arguing about whether they can trust each other). Friendship sure is good and bad mixed together.
Quote 5
"Is he right?" Will asks quietly. "Are you trying to manipulate us?"
"How on earth would I do that?" I scowl at him. "I'm just doing the best I can, like anyone else."
"I don't know." He shrugs a little. "By acting weak so we pity you? And then acting tough to psyche us out?"
"Psych you out?" I repeat. "I'm your friend. I wouldn't do that." (21.45-8)
We know Tris isn't manipulating her friends. But it must be super weird to be friends with people most of the time and then try to beat them into unconsciousness the rest of the time. No wonder Will is unsure if he's being manipulated.
Quote 6
I nod. Four told me that Eric's vision for Dauntless is not what it's supposed to be, but I wish he would tell me exactly what he thinks the right vision is. I get glimpses of it every so often—the Dauntless cheering when I jumped off the building, the net of arms that caught me after zip lining—but they are not enough. Has he read the Dauntless manifesto? Is that what he believes in—in ordinary acts of bravery? (21.98)
This vision of the politics within the Dauntless faction tells us that there's a little fight going on over whether Dauntless should choose competition or teamwork as their main goal. So even though all the Dauntless have already made their One Big Choice, they've still got some littler choices to make about what that One Big Choice really stands for.
Quote 7
"A little girl?" scoffs Peter, throwing off Will's hand. "Are you blind, or just stupid? She's going to edge you out of the rankings and out of Dauntless, and you're going to get nothing, all because she knows how to manipulate people and you don't. So when you realize that she's out to ruin us all, you let me know." (21.42)
What do you think Tris looks like from Peter's or Will's perspective? Because we get the story from Tris, we know she's not manipulating people to win the competition. Tris has got lots of secrets, but that's not one of them. But from Will's or Peter's point of view, she could be keeping lots of secrets: she's manipulating people, she's Divergent, she loves a vampire.