Divergent Chapter 1 Quotes
Divergent Chapter 1 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
My cheeks warm. I get up and dust myself off. A few people stopped when I fell, but none of them offered to help me. Their eyes follow me to the edge of the hallway. This sort of thing has been happening to others in my faction for months now—the Erudite have been releasing antagonistic reports about Abnegation, and it has begun to affect the way we relate at school. The gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and the unassuming demeanor of my faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too. But now they make me a target. (1.37)
The book opens with a couple of hints that not all is well in Chicagoland. In this passage, an Erudite boy has pushed Beatrice and called her a "Stiff." But this isn't just about Beatrice. No, this bullying has been happening to a bunch of other Abnegation kids, too. To make matters worse, no one from other factions is stepping in to stop it. This is a picture of a society with a big problem coming.
Quote 2
We walk together to the kitchen. On these mornings when my brother makes breakfast, and my father's hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and my mother hums as she clears the table—it is on these mornings that I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave them. (1.14)
Much like in our world, one of the main sources of guilt for Tris is her family: they seem like such perfect Abnegation folk, and it's beautiful to watch them (see "Family"), but Tris still doesn't feel like she belongs (see "Identity"). That's pretty much the perfect formula for guilt, when your family and your identity don't mesh.
Quote 3
I stare into my own eyes for a moment. Today is the day of the aptitude test that will show me which of the five factions I belong in. And tomorrow, at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a faction; I will decide the rest of my life; I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them. (1.9)
This is the big choice that Tris faces; and luckily for her, she has some help in making that choice. Before she decides, she gets to go through the Sorting Hat—er, we mean the aptitude test. But even with that aptitude test, notice how big this choice is: it gets three repetitions of the phrase "I will decide." That's how we know it's important.