Divergent, Chapter 13: The next person to call Tris a strong female protagonist gets blacklisted

We had a weird interlude of stupid long chapters with this novel, and now we're back to (mercifully) short ones, so I'll take what little victories I can get.

I'm losing patience with this book and its terrible pacing, because as cool as it is to describe each and every one of the initiation stages, that is not something that really needs to take the place of the plot...

Which... I'm still not sure what the main conflict here is. Because if the whole book is 'omg is she gonna get into Dauntless' well, then, I'm sorry, but that's a terrible plot. It is Chapter THIRTEEN and I still don't really know who or what the protagonist is fighting against, and that seems incredibly weird.

Well without further ado, let's see if this chapter brings some plot int the situation!

[W]hen I trudge into the training room, yawning, a large target stands at one end of the room, and next to the door is a table with knives strewn across it.

So they're throwing knives (seems super safe and definitely logical and useful, like every exercise in this book. 

The Crazy Murderous One, Eric, is in an especially bad mood today, and Tris tells us why:

[L]ast night's loss must have bothered Eric more than he let on. Winning [ ... ] is a matter of pride, and pride is important to the Dauntless. More important than reason or sense.

YUP, SURE SOUNDS LIKE THE KIND OF PEOPLE I WANT GUARDING MY CITY. SIGN ME THE FUCK UP.

Anyway, Eric notices that Al isn't hitting his target at all, because, weirdly, maybe not everyone is going to be good at aiming a knife at a target in less than a half an hour, and orders him to go collect his knives while everyone else is still throwing theirs. Al, of course, refuses, and Eric has a hissy fit:

"Clear out of the ring." Eric looks at Al. "All except you."
[ ... ]
"Stand in front of the target," says Eric.

I'm just going to be frank with you guys, throwing a knife at a moving target is completely different than hitting one one mounted on the wall. It would take all of them years of practise to have mastered it completely, and this whole sequence seems like an excuse for Sexy Four Scenes because of shit like this:

Four scratches one of his eyebrows with a knife point and approaches Eric. 

And it leads us into a weird scene where Tris volunteers to take Al's place and Four is going to be throwing knives at her head.

man, when will YA protagonists stop being so self-sacrificing

I'm uncomfortable at where this is going, because I really feel like it might be headed for a gross moment between Tris and Four.

I hold my breath as he turns the last knife in his hand. I see a glint in his eyes as he pulls his arm back and lets the knife fly. It comes straight at me, spinning, blade over handle. My body goes rigid. This time, when it hits the board, my ear stings, and blood tickles my skin. I touch my ear. He nicked it. 

And judging by the look he gives me, he did it on purpose. 

 Anyway, everyone leaves, and LIKE I JUST PREDICTED, they have a gross blowout where Four is super violent toward her for her ~protection and she swoons over how he looks. Complete with highlights like:

"You did that on purpose!" I shout.
"Yes, I did," he says quietly. "And you should thank me for helping you."

And don't forget Four mysteriously not telling her why he's helping her:

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of waiting for you to catch on!"

Mmm, don't you just love it when people purposely keep you in the dark on a life or death matter? Makes me all tingly.

But wait, there's more!

He glares at me, and eve when he glares, his eyes look thoughtful. Their shade of blue is peculiar, so dark it is almost black, with a small patch of lighter blue on the left iris, right next to the corner of his eye.

Ugh, love to stare at men's eyes when they glare at me. It's my fave.

You guys, every time I type something up from these books, I often edit them into more concise sentences without realising it, and it's so frustrating that I can't keep them that way.

But do not forget the best part!

I wish he would yell. It would scare me less. He leans his face close to mine, which reminds me of lying inches from the attack dog's fangs in the aptitude test, and says, "If I wanted to hurt you, don't you think I would have already?"
He crosses the room and slams the point of a knife so hard into the table that it sticks there[.]

me too, Jessica

I am so goddamn sick of this in books. Especially YA books. If a grown man did this to me, I would be terrified out of my mind, and there's no way I would ever think that it maybe meant he ~loved me or something. It's this nonsense that teaches women that violence=for our own good, and that men sometimes lose their tempers because they just love us so much.

Directing violence toward your (young) female protagonist is not edgy or romantic anymore, it's harmful and we need to recognise the kind of culture it creates. Literally the only cue I have here that I don't need to be worried for Tris' well-being is that the novel just wants us to believe she finds him super sexy.

Whatever, I'm done. And so's this chapter. I'll see you guys with a City of Ashes recap! I can't believe that shit is looking more appealing at this point.