Divergent Chapter 8: Why is it always spiders?!

Hey hey hey! Over 10k of academic words later and I finally feel like tackling Divergent again! We last left on a very intense cliffhanger ooh~

Basically, Tris has to make sure she does well in this weird hazing exercise to make sure she fits in somewhere for the rest of her life.

The more I describe this the more it sounds like a terrible Greek system in a bad movie, but whatever.

I can say this with absolute confidence: Elle Woods would be a Dauntless and she'd slay the initiation.

“The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun. The second thing is how to win a fight.” Four presses a gun into my palm without looking at me

Well thank God we’re getting the training montage. I’m intrigued to see where this goes, because I’m getting really annoyed with the YA trope where the heroine is just suddenly amazing at fighting and kicking ass. Let’s get to the gist—shooting a gun and fighting are really difficult skills to master, and it can take years until you feel comfortable doing them.

Back to that above quote, ‘pressing a gun into my palm’ really seems like a weird choice to me. It makes me feel like it’s a tiny toy gun that he just passed to her.

A behind-the-scenes look at the Dauntless training room.

Also, I get that the Dauntless are like crazy assholes, but don’t they care that someone could accidentally get killed if someone fucks around with the guns they’re handing out?

It feels dangerous to me, as if just by touching it, I could hurt someone

WELL SHE’S NOT WRONG.

There’s three stages to this initiation, one that is physical (probably endurance and fighting), one that is emotional, and one that is mental.

So.... what’s the difference here between emotional and mental?

Tris tries to shoot a gun unsuccessfully a few times, ultimately hitting the center of a target. There’s yet another inner monologue about how maybe she really does belong here, which is actually getting a bit tired at this point.

They head to lunch, and she sits with Christina and Al, and I’m super beginning to think I would probably end up in Candor because speaking the truth all the time sounds amazing.

“Sorry am I being rude?” she asks. “I’m used to just saying whatever is on my mind. Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packaging."

Seriously! What’s more brave than living in complete and utter honesty?

Tris has a weird sort of problem with public affection, and part of me is like, ugh same Tris get a room but then I remember I’m pretty terrible about PDA .

There’s another training montage, this time with punching bags. I’m having a hard time believing Tris is picking this up as quickly as I’m being told she is. From the way she was described it didn’t sound as if she had much strength.

Four (seriously with this name again) stops by and reminds her to keep her core tight (which is a completely legitimate training thing) by pressing his hand to her abs but apparently this is charged with chemistry.

After training and before dinner, Al literally just grabs Christina and Tris and says “k we’re getting tattoos now because we’re young and stupid and made a huge decision” and honestly? That sounds like a fabulous idea in this circumstance.

Aaaand then we have the stupid ‘makeover’ scene done by—you guessed it—Christina. Just once I would like to either see the makeover happen by a man or by the heroine’s own hands. Or how about no makeover?

My eyes were blue before [ ... ] the eyeliner makes them piercing.

Yes... Tris... that’s what eyeliner is for.

Regardless, I like this image of Tris looking into the mirror and kind of learning to identify herself; it’s a really nice sentiment, and I love that she’s not thinking “omg I’m beautiful” but rather just accepting that the face that’s looking back at her is just her face and that it can be striking.

They go watch Al being tattooed (he gets a SPIDER omg):

I feel Ron so hard on this

But Tris does something that actually makes me root for her and gives her a bit of humanity (despite it being the most basic design outside of this book world):

“Want a tattoo?”
[ ... ]
“Yes, [ ... ] three of these flying birds.”

I touch my collarbone, marking the path of their flight—toward my heart. One for each member of the family I left behind.

You guys, I am so hormonal, that made me tear up like crazy.

That’ll be the chapter for today! I think I’m gonna do one chapter at a time so I don’t feel like these get too wordy. Don’t forget to check out the new chapter of City of Ashes on my BookTube!

-C