Mom’s Cheat Sheet:
The Divergent Trilogy

With so many teen sci-fi books topping the bestseller lists these days, it can be hard to keep them all straight. I made this cheat sheet to get you caught up on one of the big players: the Divergent trilogy.

What’s the big deal?
The Divergent trilogy portrays a possible future for our world, which is a fascinating subject for teens. It raises questions about the role of the government, truth, freedom, and control. Many teens can relate to the characters in this series and the issues they face.

Who’s (meant to be) reading it?
This series is aimed at mature young adults (ages 14 – 18) with crossover appeal for adults.

What’s it about?
Set in a futuristic Chicago, this suspenseful dystopian series follows Beatrice “Tris” Prior and her efforts to overthrow the power-hungry leaders of society.

Who’s in it?

The Characters:

• Beatrice “Tris” Prior – The main character and narrator for most of the series (intelligent, brave, selfless)
• Tobias “Four” Eaton – Tris’s love interest, a Dauntless trainer, and son of Marcus Eaton (handsome, intimidating)
• Caleb Prior – Tris’s brother (inquisitive, loves reading)
• Natalie Prior ­– Tris’s mother (selfless, mysterious)
• Marcus Eaton – Tobias’s father and the original leader of the Abnegation faction and the city (cowardly, abusive, dishonest)
• Evelyn Johnson-Eaton – Tobias’s mother and leader of the factionless (deceptive, stubborn)
• Jeanine Matthews – Erudite leader and the main antagonist in Divergent and Insurgent (extremely smart, manipulative)
• Eric Coulter – a Dauntless leader (ruthless, competitive)
• Peter Hayes – Tris’s main rival in Divergent (unpredictable, violent, jealous)
• David – Leader of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare and main antagonist in Allegiant (jealous, deceptive)
• Christina – Tris and Tobias’s best friend (honest, loyal, pretty)
• Tori Wu – tattoo artist who helps Tris in Divergent and Insurgent (loyal, distrustful of leadership)

The Factions:

• Abnegation – (the selfless) originally the governing faction
• Dauntless – (the brave) soldiers and protectors of the city
• Candor – (the honest) leaders in law
• Erudite – (the intelligent) this faction cherishes wisdom and learning
• Amity – (the peaceful) this faction grows food for the city
• Factionless – anyone without a faction, also in charge of cleaning and maintaining the city

What are they doing? *Spoiler Alert*
In Divergent, Beatrice (Tris) takes the required aptitude test to determine her faction. She shows an aptitude for multiple factions, making her “Divergent”. She chooses Dauntless, where she meets Four (Tobias) and competes with the other initiates for a spot in the faction. She earns her place, makes friends and enemies, and survives an attack from Peter and some other boys. The entire Dauntless faction is later injected with a serum that places them under the control of Jeanine Matthews. Tris (who is resistant to serums), her father, her brother Caleb, and Marcus break into the control room where Tris faces down a serum-controlled Tobias and stops the massacre.

In Insurgent, Tris and Tobias discover that Tobias’s mother, Evelyn, is alive, leading the factionless, and plotting to take control of the city. The factions are at war with each other and no one trusts anyone else. After multiple captures, near death experiences, fights, and betrayals, both Eric and Jeanine are killed and Evelyn establishes a factionless government. Tris then plays a video to the entire city of her (now deceased) mother saying that the outside world needs help, and once the city has a strong Divergent population, it should open its gates.

In Allegiant, Tris, Tobias, Caleb, and some others escape the city and end up at the Bureau of Genetic Welfare. There, they learn that their city, called Chicago, is a social experiment designed by the government to correct the genetic damage they inflicted a few generations earlier by trying to rid people of traits like violence, greed, and cowardice. Tris, being Divergent, is considered genetically healed, while others (like Tobias) are still genetically damaged or only partially healed. When Tris learns of David’s plan to wipe the memories of everyone in Chicago, she sacrifices herself to erase the memories of everyone at the Bureau instead. She survives a death serum, but is shot and killed by David. The city is opened up and becomes one of the few places in the country were genetically healed and genetically damaged people live peacefully together.

What else should parents know?
These books are violent, disturbing, and the characters deal with many heavy issues. Tris loses a friend to suicide, both her parents are killed in battle, and she has to kill a close friend in Divergent. She loses more friends to death and betrayal in Insurgent and Allegiant. Tris herself dies in the final book in a heroic effort to save her brother and her city. There is a lot of cruelty and desperation, but there is also hope, love, and friendship.

What to ask your kids:

1. Do you think the factions were a good idea? Were they working?
2. What faction would you choose? Why?
3. How did the Dauntless initiation change Tris?
4. Is there a difference between being fearless and being brave? Which one is Tris?
5. If you had to choose between knowing the truth and being happy, what would you pick? What does Tris choose?
6. Is the outside world what you expected it to be?
7. Did Tris make the right choice by sacrificing herself to save her brother and the memories of everyone in Chicago? What would you have done?
8. If Tris could see the outcome of her sacrifice, do you think she would be happy? Would she do it again if she had to?