Four Part 3 Summary

The Son

• Four has moved into a small apartment by himself.
• Max, one of the faction leaders, pays him a visit, and says it's about time to pick his job.
• Four wants to be an initiation instructor, but Max alludes to the fact that Dauntless needs a new leader.
• Max pretty much says, "You have a choice, as long as you choose to be a leader," and Four decides to try it, even though that means he'd eventually have to meet his father.
• In the cafeteria, Shauna says she's in patrol leadership, and Zeke will work in the control room.
• Zeke goes to talk to some girls, and when he returns, he's set up a double date: Zeke and Maria, Four and Nicole. Shauna seems jealous.
• When Four returns to his apartment, he finds a broken glass in his garbage can. Who is sneaking into his apartment, breaking his glasses, and putting the shards in the trashcan?! Who is this safety-first burglar?
• The next morning, Four goes to the Pire to meet Max. Eric is there too.
• The first step to becoming a leader of the Dauntless faction, a faction known for its reckless feats of strength: paperwork.
• Four has to fill out a questionnaire.
• After paperwork, it's time for Four's date.
• He botches it immediately with his terrible social skills, and Nicole leaves the date early.
• Shauna shows up and asks Four to go to the training room. He says, sure.
• Then we move on to the next day in the leadership-training program: learning computer skills! Who knew that being a faction leader was a lot like taking a correspondence course through the mail?
• Eric makes fun of Four for coming from Abnegation, where he didn't have a computer, but Four is the third person to pass the exam.
• When he returns to his apartment, someone has been there again!
• They're not breaking drinkware for no reason; they left him a cryptic note.
• Four assumes the note is from his father, who wants to give him information.
• He goes to Zeke and wants to review the security footage to see who's been in his apartment.
• As they scroll through the footage, something else catch's Four's eye: Jeanine Matthews in Max's office. Le gasp!
• It seems they're working together to find the next Dauntless leader.
• Being distracted by that footage keeps him from finding out who was in his apartment.
• He goes to where he thinks the note is leading him anyway: a train.
• He jumps on, but it's not Marcus. It's a woman.
• It's… his mother! Dun dun dunnnn!
• She's not dead, obviously. She's now a leader of the factionless.
• She wants Tobias to join her, because Jeanine is planning something. She wants all the leaders to be pawns she can control.
• He says he'll never join her.
• That night, he can't sleep, so he decides to get a tattoo instead. (Bad idea!)
• He wants a picture of all the faction logos on his back. Guess if he can't be factionless he can be all the factions.
• Tori agrees to do it, but she advises him not to show anybody, or they might think he's… Divergent!
• Wait, what's Divergent?
• Tori explains that they are people who can control simulations and "refuse categorization" (3.252) She tells Four that he's Divergent. She also tells him that he's a masochist, as she starts to tattoo his entire back.
• She only gets the outlines of Dauntless and Abnegation done that night.
• The next morning, Four is late to his meeting with Max, who is trying to decide between Eric and Four as the new leader.
• Four doesn't want to be the new leader. He refuses to be Jeanine's pawn.
• Max wants to know what their ideas are for improving Dauntless.
• Eric suggests they make initiation more competitive. A limited number of spots, and those who don't make it end up factionless.
• Four thinks that's the worst idea since New Coke.
• He says he would improve Dauntless by preparing people "physically and mentally to defend the weak against the strong." (3.292) That way they won't be "controlled from the outside." (3.295) Hello, Divergent foreshadowing!
• Max asks Eric to leave so he can talk to Four alone.
• He doesn't want Four as a leader, because Four can think for himself (not that he says this out loud), so he agrees to get Four a job as an initiation instructor and control room attendant.
• Four goes to his friends after and they hang out and have a good time.
• Later, he returns to the homeless man he met way back in Part 1, and he gives him a note to give to his mother: "Evelyn, Someday. Not yet." (3.368) He signs it "4" and says, "P.S. I'm glad you're not dead." (3.368)