Chapter Twenty-Four

In this chapter Al commits suicide. Tris' descriptions through the entire chapter are sporadic, as would be her  emotions at the time and the text has a generally solemn feeling. I'm not sure how much of that is a reader's intuitive response, but either way it was a nice effect for the heaviness of the situation. This is a pretty distinct chapter: Tris wakes up > Al is dead > They throw a funeral > Tris struggles, so I'm just going to focus on analyzing a couple of quotes in this entry.

"That is death--shifting from 'is' to 'was'."

Her description of death isn't emotional in anyway, and I think it's because she hasn't experience death close to her before--she's detaching like an Erudite. 

"Stupid. I don't know why people try to make death seem like sleep. It isn't. It isn't."

Tris is angry at Al's death, and I don't think--at least at this juncture-- she'll move much beyond that stage. I don't think it's in Abnegation blood to accept death, but to blame themselves forever. This disrupts the five stages of grief--it disrupts human nature, as do the presence of factions.

"Pride is what killed Al. It is the flaw in every Dauntless heart. It is in mine."

Tris' quick and proud response to Al's sorry repentance is what pushed him over the edge. We watched him break down through Tris' eyes throughout the entirety of initiation, but she was the straw that broke the camel's back. She calls him a coward--to which I don't entirely disagree--but she's covering guilt. 

"Four wasn't trying to persuade me to give up. He was reminding why I couldn't--I had to protect Al. The thought makes me ache now."

Aaaaaaand some realization. Tris isn't entirely responsible, but she withheld her forgiveness, leaving business unfinished between them; this is probably the worst feeling a human can know. Loose ends are the most strangling.

Now, I'm all for comfort but the fact that there was romantic development during Al's funeral just felt a little dirty to me. Mourning time is for mourning, not mooning.