Study Guide

Allegiant Lies and Deceit

By Veronica Roth

Lies and Deceit

Chapter 1: Tris

Cara: "Maybe he's still angry that you lied to him and went behind his back to work with his father," Cara says. (1.13)
Lies are the huge cracks in the foundation of Tris and Tobias's relationship. To push this metaphor further, honesty is the caulk that can repair the crack. Or something like that. We're not Home Depot associates.

Chapter 2: Tobias

Tobias "Four" Eaton: "How is revealing the truth to our entire city an act of betrayal?" (2.20)
The short answer: when your city was founded on a basis of lies and deceit, the truth is tantamount to treason. Is the truth relative, or is it always true?
Beatrice "Tris" Prior: I know as I'm saying the words [you're the better liar] that they hit a sore spot in both of us. She lied to me so many times. (2.35)
Is honesty always the best policy? Here, Tris has to lie in order to escape execution. We've heard that the truth will set you free, but in this case, lies set Tris free. We think.

Chapter 4: Tobias

Tobias "Four" Eaton: I'm not a good liar, so instead I select a part of the truth. (4.7)
Is telling only partial truths the same as lying? If Tobias is good at keeping things from people, doesn't that make him a good liar?

Chapter 7: Tris

Christina: "[My mother and sister] just want me to live an honest life, you know? And I can't do that here. I just know that I can't." (7.16)
What is keeping Christina from being honest if she stays in Chicago? Is Christina's entire life a lie if she stays in Chicago? Is it possible to live honestly when everything around you is a lie?

Chapter 8: Tris
: "A lie of omission is still a lie." (8.62)
Ah, we're thinking about partial truths and lies again. According to Christina's sister, a partial truth is the same as a lie. The fact that Tris agrees (and therefore agrees not to keep anything from Tobias) shows huge growth on her part.

Chapter 15: Tris
: "[Edith] provided only as much information as you needed to meet the goals of our experiments," says David. "And in many cases, that meant oversimplifying, omitting, and even outright falsehood." (15.4-15.5)
So many plot points in this book arise from lies. However, if Edith had told the truth—that the people of Chicago are genetic experiments—would they still have tried to leave? Would things have been as (relatively) peaceful as they were?

Chapter 18: Tobias

Beatrice "Tris" Prior: "[Tori] gave her life defending us," Tris says with surprising gentleness. "Without her, none of us would have made it out." (18.42)
We're not sure if Tris knows she's lying here or not. All Tori did was run into a patrol, accidentally get shot, and die. There was no heroism involved. Is Tris lying to herself, or is she just giving Tori's brother, George, an enhanced version of what happened so he won't be as sad about his sister's death?

Chapter 22: Tris

Beatrice "Tris" Prior: [Edith] delivered a skillful manipulation in that video, which was intended to keep us contained and dedicated to the vision of the Bureau. […] I wonder if Edith Prior believed her own words, or if she just said them because she had to. (22.98)
This is a good question. Was Edith lying voluntarily? If she had been lied to, she could have believed the lies and just passed them along. Is that the same as lying deliberately?

Chapter 23: Tobias
: "The Bureau talks about this golden age of humanity before the genetic manipulations in which everyone was genetically pure and everything was still peaceful," Nita says. "But Rafi showed me old photographs of war." (23.154)
Shocker: the government lies. This is pretty much a required development in any dystopian fiction. (Or, you know, real life.)

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