Choices Quotes in Divergent

This is the big choice that Tris faces; and luckily for her, she has some help in making that choice. Before she decides, she gets to go through the Sorting Hat—er, we mean the aptitude test. But even with that aptitude test, notice how big this choice is: it gets three repetitions of the phrase "I will decide." That's how we know it's important.

Everyone in a faction does the same things because they're in that faction. And yet Tris recognizes the possible separation between the "individual preference" and "Faction customs." Is Tris the only one who feels like making a non-faction choice? (Probably not, but it can feel like that sometimes.)

Tris isn't the only one who wants to express her individual choices against the faction norms (see above). Even Caleb, the perfect Abnegation, does something very non-Abnegation here. And we know this is a big issue because Tris keeps breaking in to tell us it's a big issue: Caleb's eyes are stern, his voice has an edge. If this were just a boring line of dialogue, Tris probably wouldn't be noticing all these little physical clues.

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.

Here, Tris talking to ex-Abnegation neighbor Robert, who has chosen to switch to Amity, where he farms and sings. That sounds like an okay life, right? But when he presents this option to Tris, she responds that she doesn't choose things just to make her happy. That sounds a little Abnegation to us. And also a little judgy.

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.

There's that phrase again: "faction norms." What's fun about this moment where Tris invades the Erudite library looking for her brother is that she notes the Erudite norms (wearing blue) and talks about that a fair bit; and then she very briefly mentions how weird this looks to her because she's used to "dim lighting and dark clothes." Why is used to that? Well, because that's the norm of Dauntless faction.

Tris at one point looks down on Al for not acting—for not making a choice (10.78). But here Tris makes a very heroic, self-sacrificing choice not to act, herself. Instead of shooting her family (in this fear simulation), Tris makes the choice to give her own life. And we get that choice very directly in Tris's italicized wish that she should be shot instead. It may look passive, but it's actually a pretty strong choice on her part.

Being undecided can be very painful, as we see when Tris makes up her mind and instantly feels calm. What's curious about this choice for Tris is that she sees it as hardly a choice: her "list of options narrows" and there's only one path she can take. That's the opposite of making a choice, right? ("I have to do this" vs. "I choose to do this.")

Tris's mom gives her the talk here. No, not the talk about the birds and the bees—the talk about how faction leaders try to control people's thoughts but can't control the Divergents. This puts the whole "faction norms" thing in a different light: it's not just about a sense of community or anything, but about reducing the number of choices people make. It's about having "power" over people.