Divergent Chapter 9 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
I guess I haven't really had a friend, period. It's impossible to have real friendship when no one feels like they can accept help or even talk about themselves. That won't happen here. I already know more about Christina than I ever knew about Susan, and it's only been two days. (9.7)
If you can't remember Susan, she's a neighbor from the Abnegation days who… well, we don't remember. Which is kind of the point: Abnegation don't talk about themselves (or laugh very much, since it's hard to joke about self-sacrifice), so you can't really make close friends there. Which means that when she arrives at the Dauntless compound, the whole having friends thing is totally new potatoes.
"Fine," Eric says. "You can come up, Christina."
Al walks toward the railing.
"No," Eric says. "She has to do it on her own."
"No, she doesn't," Al growls. "She did what you said. She's not a coward. She did what you said."
Eric doesn't respond. Al reaches over the railing, and he's so tall that he can reach Christina's wrist. She grabs his forearm. Al pulls her up, his face red with frustration, and I run forward to help. (9.97-101)
Tris doesn't choose to help Christina when Eric punishes her by making her hang over the chasm. But Al-the-crier has enough courage and comradeship to want to help the poor girl out, even if it means facing up to Eric, who's a dangerous and unfriendly guy. So who seems like the better friend here?
Quote 3
If there were people around, I doubt any of them would help Christina. We are with Eric, for one thing, and for another, the Dauntless have different rules—rules that brutality does not violate. (9.68)
Power sure is a nice thing to have, unless you're a psychopath with control issues and no one to stop you—then it's kind of a pain in the rear for everyone around you. Just ask Christina here.
Quote 4
If conflict in Dauntless ends with only one person standing, I am unsure of what this part of initiation will do to me. Will I be Al, standing over a man's body, knowing I'm the one who put him on the ground, or will I be Will, lying in a helpless heap? And is it selfish of me to crave victory, or is it brave? I wipe my sweaty palms on my pants. (9.51)
Tris is thinking something that we would like to write a paper on: Does competition reveal identity? Faced with competition for the first time (unless she used to play dodgeball in school, which we doubt), Tris has a question about how she will do and what that will reveal about her. Is she brave or selfish—or not selfish enough?
Quote 5
If I help her, Eric would make my fate the same as hers. Will I let her fall to her death, or will I resign myself to being factionless? What's worse: to be idle while someone dies, or to be exiled and empty-handed? (9.80)
Even after the big decision about what faction to be in, Tris is left with dozens of other choices about how she wants to act. Here's one of the most striking choices. And what's striking about it is that Tris doesn't choose the action-hero "do the right thing no matter the cost" choice. Instead, she chooses to let her friend dangle for a while. Yikes.
Quote 6
"Because I've told them," she says, through the gritted teeth of her smile. Her teeth are straight on top and crooked on the bottom. She looks at me. "We try to be pretty honest about our feelings in Candor. Plenty of people have told me that they don't like me. And plenty of people haven't. Who cares?" (9.24)
In direct contrast to Tris and her secretive family, we have Christina and her crazy truthful Candor ways. Don't like someone? Feel free to tell them. Candor try to live a life of radical honesty—which kind of makes Christina the opposite of Tris in this one area. And also probably makes for some awkward Thanksgivings.