I mean, the plot of this novel is super compelling, and I feel like I should be incredibly interested in what’s happening, but it’s like the plot has been filtered through the most boring lens in the world and I’m just… meh about it.
Anyway, our poor, bruised heroine has now fought another girl, and is just lying down to sleep when their dormitory door bursts open and, guess what! They’re about to get hazed!
“Everybody up!” someone roars. A flashlight shines behind his head, making the rings in his ears glint. Eric. Surrounding him are other Dauntless, some of whom I have seen in the Pit, some of whom I have never seen before. Four stands among them.
Roth has the weirdest priority for what she chooses to highlight in her writing—like when on earth would you ever zero in on someone’s piercings when a flashlight was on their face? Is that to remind us that Eric is clearly Unhinged because of all the metal in his head?
Christina stands next to our bunk wearing only a T-shirt, her long legs bare. She folds her arms and stares at Eric. I wish, suddenly, that I could stare so boldly at someone with hardly any clothes on, but I would never be able to do that.
So here’s what’s fun about the new wave of Strong, Independent YA heroines: they have switched from being overtly slut-shaming (the ‘I’m not like other girls’ narrative) to being covert about it. The authors are trying to show to the audience how okay they are with openly sexual females by including the sidekick (worth noting, often the sidekick is also a WOC, which is a whole other can of worms) being bold and owning their bodies, but then having the heroine lament how they wish they could be that way but that it, regretfully, is not for them.
Which is fine and valid, and of course not all girls or even women will feel comfortable about their bodies that way, but when literally every YA heroine echoes this same sentiment, it furthers the narrative that the main character cannot be openly sexual if they’re female. Never in your life would you see a YA novel with a male protagonist looking at his friend and wishing he could be comfortable in his sexuality like them. Seriously, look for it, I'll wait.
Not to mention, in terms of the story-line, this is the most useless bit of information we could get. I’m well aware (as a reader) that Tris is maybe not as comfortable with nudity or sexuality because of the faction she’s from. I don’t need the author to tell me that through another woman’s sexuality. It’s just another case of character building by comparison and it’s not interesting to read.
There’s some weird editing that happens, and they all run to the train tracks, where it appears that they’re going to play a huge game of paintball… which sort of makes me laugh because it’s not exactly death-defying to do that. I mean, sure, yeah, if they’re not wearing armour that would hurt, but paintball?
I run after [Four], not waiting for Christina or Will or Al to follow me. Four turns around as I fall into stride next to the car and holds out a hand. I grab his arm, and he pulls me in. Even the muscles in his forearm are taut, defined.
Tris and Four would probably be #Fitstagram models if they existed in this universe. Like they would pose for couple photos with their protein powder and try to shill their own training program.
They’re playing Capture the Flag, and to be honest I’m starting to think being Dauntless would be fun if it wasn’t obvious that it’d be the faction full of meathead asshole kids who think competition is the only thing in life and walk around and ask ‘Do you even lift?’ Like it sounds like a nightmare.
They pair off, with Eric and Four as team captains, and YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHO FOUR PICKS FIRST. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS AT ALL. TOTALLY NOT OBVIOUS.
He picks Tris first. Because of course she does. She’s got loads of hidden potential and she needs to prove that to him angrily.
No I’m not even kidding she literally says that:
Whatever Four’s strategy is, it’s based on the idea that I am weaker than the other initiates. And it gives me a bitter taste in my mouth. I have to prove him wrong—I have to.
Not only is this false as hell, since in an earlier passage in this chapter she talks about squaring off against a girl who doesn’t even have enough strength to throw a proper punch, it’s really lame that her first big ‘I can do this!’ moment is going to be to prove Four wrong. Yawn.
Once they reach the dangerous and abandoned city they’re going to be playing is (were you expecting something safe) they begin to wander around to figure out where to hide their flag, and Tris makes the funniest and most honest observation about her faction ever:
I have realised that part of being Dauntless is being willing to make things more difficult for yourself in order to be self-sufficient. There’s nothing especially brave about wandering dark streets with no flashlight, but we are not supposed to need help, even from light. We are supposed to be capable of anything.
You know why we discovered fire, and invented flashlights, and all that other fun stuff? Because we recognised that we didn’t have night vision, and therefore needed something to help us see in the dark. Dauntless is literally that kid that got lost on a school camping trip while they were coming back from the bathroom at night because ‘I’m not afraid of the dark like some loser’.
Okay, Chad, I was just asking if you wanted a flashlight because it’s pitch-black out, but whatever.
Anyway, lots of boring exposition about Capture the Flag happens, and Tris decides to climb to the top of the Ferris Wheel, and Four follows her. No doubt so they can have some weird heart-to-heart about their muscles.
I could probably quote all of the weird sexual tension moments that happen while they are climbing an old and decrepit ladder to a huge ferris wheel, but instead I’ll just tell you to imagine that feeling you had when you sat next to your seventh-grade crush on the bus and your arms and knees almost touched but didn’t. That’s literally the whole sequence.
Of course, what’s some romance without a little death-defying danger! For the female protagonist, of course, not for the male love interest. That’d be a bit too much. Tris nearly falls to her death and Four saves her by turning on the Ferris wheel! Thank God he was there to rescue her!
If I’m grumpy it’s because I was promised a bad-ass feminist hero and instead got this used Kleenex instead.
Anyway, they now know where the other team’s flag is, and Tris decides to put on her Leader pants and tell them how to get to it, and they find it and they’re victorious and happy… except Christina turns into a huge asshole at the last second.
The flag hangs from a tree branch, high above my head. I reach for it, and so does Christina.
“Come on, Tris,” she says. “You’re already the hero of the day. And you know you can’t reach it anyway.”
She gives me a patronising look, the way people sometimes look at children when they act too adult, and snatches the flag from the branch.
So… having had a lot of short best friends, I want to tell you how much that would actually encourage a short person to climb you like a ladder and stick their foot into your face to grab something before you did. What kinda weird bullshit competition between females is this?
Ugh, I bet Tris and Christina will be paired together for a fight in the next chapter.
Tris apparently revels in her status as Soggy Ankle Sock, because instead of doing that, she steps back and thinks this:
Maybe she’s right; I’ve already proved myself today. I do not want to be greedy; I do not want to be like Eric, terrified of other people’s strength.
OKAY SO, IF THAT WAS THE GOAL, WHY HAVE CHRISTINA ACT THAT WAY. WHY NOT JUST HAVE HER GRACIOUSLY STEP BACK FROM THE FLAG.
Anyway, they’re all celebrating Tris’ smarts and she has this weird kind of epiphany:
If my entire life is like this, loud laughter and bold action and the kind of exhaustion you feel after a hard but satisfying day, I will be content. [ … ] I realise that all I have to do is get through initiation, and that life will be mine.
Mmm, except everything we’ve been shown up until this point has proven the exact opposite, where you’re surrounded by bullies and psychopaths, and you literally only have three job options available to you and that’s if you’re considered ‘good’. But sure, try and make me feel like this faction isn’t crazy, be my guest.
Well that was the world’s longest chapter, and half of it was Tris and Four climbing up the side of a ferris wheel—I’m not even kidding. The action scenes took maybe half a page. So you’re welcome for letting you guys skip that.
Until next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment