Chapter Five

Finally, the choosing ceremony is upon us as readers and Beatrice as our portal! It was as I expected of dystopian fiction, reminiscent of books like The Giver, and certainly heavier than The City of Ember. It was difficult to follow the actual events because of the point of view, which I actually liked quite a bit. Beatrice was conflicted and emotionally distraught, and so her descriptions of what was around her were erratic. She mentions that Caleb's completely calm and collected, as if he's known all along where he belongs, but she's shocked to see that he spills his blood into the crystal clear water,  being the first of Abnegation to transfer.

Unlike Beatrice who transfers to Dauntless--which is bad in itself--Caleb transfers to the enemy faction where he most likely will not be welcomed, disregarded the hate his father's preached to them in recent years. I really respect his decision, antagonist group or not! It takes a great deal of bravery (or selfishness, some would argue) to choose oneself over his or her family. In the end our hopes and dreams come first, and each life exists as an individual entity, as I have stated before, and I think that separates Caleb and Beatrice.

While he is able to make the choice with what appears to be minimal inhibitions, Beatrice is torn between what she wants and what her family would want. Her aptitude for Abnegation leads her to try to be selfless, but in the end she falls to "selfishness" by choosing Dauntless. I believe that the view of selfishness and selflessness depicted by the Abnegation is a bit skewed, since no human being can truly forget themselves, but the visible struggle Beatrice has to try and do so is interesting when compared to how her innate behavior  shows the very trait she thinks she does not possess. Beatrice strives to fall in perfect matching order with those around her, but will never be able to, as she is Divergent--she is an individual, and to use her words,

"I am Selfish; I am brave."

I also noticed that she pays extra attention to eye color throughout the text, including her own. Marcus' eyes are described a strange deep blue, which I'll mark now and analyze in later posts.