After the fear landscape the pretty-much-a-couple head down to the river's edge to talk about fears and life and romantic things. Early on, Four dismays how he hasn't been able to conquer any of his fears in two years and Tris says, "You can't be fearless, right? Because you still care about things. About your life."
Going back to the Tao Te Ching like I so often do, there's a large focus on how hold attachments will lead ultimate unfulfillment. In chapter thirteen there's a blurb that I think melds well with Abnegation
Going back to the Tao Te Ching like I so often do, there's a large focus on how hold attachments will lead ultimate unfulfillment. In chapter thirteen there's a blurb that I think melds well with Abnegation
"What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?"
Now, the first thought to follow this is, "Well, if you believe the Tao Te Ching, why weren't you Abnegation, miss Erudite?" To which I can only assert my imperfection on my way to enlightenment and point out the fine line between abnegation reasoning and Taoist reasoning. Those in the faction forget themselves because they are pressured to. They believe selfishness will lead to ruin while Taoism asserts that we can only understand things as they naturally present themselves--that there is a balance, a harmony, between human faults and letting go of our flaws and our talents and simply being.
I think this is where Abnegation stands to fail: they forget themselves because they are supposed to, which means they are still thinking of conforming, which is a selfish thought. We cannot focus on human rules and forget our human traits. Chapter thirteen of the Tao Te Ching isn't about forgetting yourself, but seeing beyond yourself--which, is something that could help out everyone in the text if they learned it; but that's why they call it enlightenment, after all.
This is what kept my attention through the majority of the chapter, not the mushy, "I don't care if you're not pretty" lines that Tobias spouts, which, to me, are clearly something for female readers to connect to and swoon for. This book just caused a lot of introspection on my behalf. They speak of their fears, and their values, and there is a confession and a first kiss. They kiss for several minutes by the roaring water and Tris alludes to the fact that she thinks that they are soul mates.
Gross. Hasty. Gross.
2 comments:
This comment is only regarding to the part where you're talking about "Abnegation conforming themselves, which is an act of selfishness." Do you believe that all Abnegation are this way? Because for people like Tris, who have to constantly try to fit in, I do agree with you. But, isn't it possible, that if a person is a truly Abnegation, that they won't have that conscious thought of trying to conform? It could just come naturally to them and they wouldn't feel the need to be pressured.
It is possible! But still, the Abnegation act the way that they are taught, and wanting to please your parents for example, can be just as selfish as it is selfless. I don't think there's a way for a human to erase gratification as it's too embedded in our minds and our veins. The factions work on the fear of the factionless--the fear of disorder and discord, so I don't selflessness born from that can be true.
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