How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Maybe Eric perceives Four as a potential threat to his position. My father says that those who want power and get it live in terror of losing it. That's why we have to give power to those who do not want it. (7.62)
In Abnegation, power seems to go to those who don't want it. But in Dauntless, power seems to go to whoever wants it most, like Peter, who wants it so bad he stabs a guy in the eye. What's funny about this situation is that Four doesn't want power in Dauntless, which makes him a good Abnegation, but not such a great Dauntless.
Quote #2
It takes me five rounds to hit the middle of the target, and when I do, a rush of energy goes through me. I am awake, my eyes wide open, my hands warm. I lower the gun. There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage—in controlling something, period. Maybe I do belong here. (8.22-3)
Power isn't just about governments, it's about individuals and how they feel (when they have guns). Tris feels a very specific type of power when she's packing: the power to shoot things. This is very Dauntless of her, since they're into that sort of power (controlling, shooting).
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
"Were you even listening?" The heat in my cheeks is gone, and my breaths are more even now.
"Your stupid ex-faction isn't just insulting Abnegation anymore. They're calling for an overthrow of the entire government."
Will laughs. "No, they're not. They're arrogant and dull, and that's why I left them, but they aren't revolutionaries. They just want more say, that's all, and they resent Abnegation for refusing to listen to them."
"They don't want people to listen, they want people to agree," I reply. "And you shouldn't bully people into agreeing with you." I touch my palms to my cheeks. "I can't believe my brother joined them." (19.20-2)
Dauntless power usually involves destroying stuff (or people); Erudite power seems to involve bullying people into agreeing with you (or controlling their minds, which is practically the same thing). But notice all the other themes floating around power: there's the society issue (which faction should rule?) and the family issue (how could Caleb join those Erudite who want power?).
Quote #5
"Among other things, you...you are someone who is aware, when they are in a simulation, that what they are experiencing is not real," she says. "Someone who can then manipulate the simulation or even shut it down. And also..." She leans forward and looks into my eyes. "Someone who, because you are also Dauntless...tends to die." (20.48)
Tris is pretty good with a gun, but she's even better at manipulating the simulations. This power might help Tris, but it also makes her a target. But then again, that's almost always true of anyone who has power.
Quote #6
"Because you're from Abnegation," he says, "and it's when you're acting selflessly that you are at your bravest." (24.76)
Oh Four, you're so wise. Here's one of his impassioned arguments about how the virtues of the five factions can work together (to form Voltron). So Tris is braver—and more powerful—when she's being selfless. And her selflessness seems to come from her family. In that sense, her power lies not in her faction identity, but in her personal relationships. And family is something that crosses faction boundaries.
Quote #7
I stand next to the chasm. I hear the roar of the water. I scream into the hand that covers my mouth and thrash to free myself, but the arms are too strong; my kidnappers are too strong. The image of myself falling into darkness flashes into my mind, the same image that I now carry with me in my nightmares. I scream again; I scream until my throat hurts and I squeeze hot tears from my eyes. (27.38)
Tris may be going through a part of Lauren's fear landscape, but it's a fear that just happens to line up with her own recent experience of being powerless when Peter attacked her. We can see here the long-term consequences of powerlessness, since her experience with Peter leads to her being afraid here. Other consequences of powerlessness? Nightmares, and, oh yeah, death.
Quote #8
This time, I do not hit the bird as hard as I can. I crouch, listening to the thunder of wings behind me, and run my hand through the grass, just above the ground. What combats powerlessness? Power. And the first time I felt powerful in the Dauntless compound was when I was holding a gun.
A lump forms in my throat and I want the talons off. The bird squawks and my stomach clenches, but then I feel something hard and metal in the grass. My gun. (30.5-6)
As Tris (and Four) make clear, Tris's fear landscape has a lot of powerlessness in various forms (birds, drowning, ocean waves, etc.), because Tris's big fear is losing control. But since people can control their fear landscapes, Tris can summon a symbol of power to combat the symbol of powerlessness: gun vs. birds. Although if she can control the fear landscape, why not get lots of guns, Matrix-style?
Quote #9
"Currently, the factionless are a drain on our resources," Jeanine replies. "As is Abnegation. I am sure that once the remains of your old faction are absorbed into the Dauntless army, Candor will cooperate and we will finally be able to get on with things."
Absorbed into the Dauntless army. I know what that means—she wants to control them, too. She wants everyone to be pliable and easy to control. (34.26-7)
Here's Jeanine laying out her plans for what she would do with power: get rid of the factionless and make Abnegation go away. Well, that sure clears up that question.
Quote #10
My father says—used to say—that there is power in self-sacrifice. (38.24)
Look at that interjection, that tiny little reminder that her dad is dead. (As if we'd forget.) Because her dad has—excuse us, had—a theory of power, and because he put that theory into practice, he's dead now. So was his self-sacrifice a form of power or powerlessness?