Insurgent Theme of Family

The family is a unit. Every family has its own unique customs, mannerisms, history, and way of dealing with (and causing) problems. No family is isolated. Families have to interact with each other, whether it's at school functions, weddings, holidays, and, well, funerals.

When you think about it, families are like little factions. So in Insurgent, we have factions within factions (and if you take a look at the identity crises most of the characters are going through, we have factions within factions within factions. We're paging Christopher Nolan for the sequel.) Do families distill the rules of their factions down to the simplest elements, or do they simply complicate things further?

Questions About Family

  1. How does losing her mom and dad affect Tris? Are there any decisions you think she'd make differently if they were still alive?
  2. Does being Marcus and Evelyn's son make life easier for Tobias, or harder?
  3. How do you think Caleb is coping with the death of his parents?
  4. What other families do you see in the novel? How are families and factions similar, and how are they different?