"Divergent" or Intellectualism Equals... Fascism?

Hey y'all! So while on holidays with my family (I'm eighteen but still have to endure these. I have three younger siblings and a mother who is rejecting the age of technology kicking and screaming. Much yelling and talk of being braindead occurred. No, the trip was not worth it) I finished the first Game of Thrones book in about five days (socialising got in the way of doing so faster) and had to borrow my sister's book to read until we got back to the hotel. It was a little book I'd heard things about: Divergent. 

(Spoilers will be included. Consider yourself warned)

As my father so wittily pointed out, it's about a man particularly interested in undersea exploration. Geddit? Diver gent? Yeah, I didn't laugh either. I gave him a slow clap and eye of disdain though, which is something. Family holidays do not an enthusiastic Rachel make.

Anyways, I thought I'd talk about this book, be a little different as I've only spoken about one other book here before if memory serves (Gregory Maguire's "Wicked"). I feel like I should talk about "Q and A" at some point too, I still consider it a favourite. I'm straying from the point. I'm sure this point has already been made but this book... it's not bad per se, it's just... well...

I have to say this in a gif, excuse me:

Sam from iCarly, you always know just what to say

It's stupid. You think about it for a second or two and everything falls the fuck apart. And then you think some more and you realise that it's sending some really weird messages. And then you think a little more and realise that this would never happen. Ever. Like, physically could not. And then you get annoyed again because, ugh, stupid. So dumb. Oh, so very dumb. 

(Sidenote: I haven't seen the film, this is just about the book. Sorry. I hear the film's pretty faithful though)

The basic premise of the book is, post apocalyptic/dystopian future in which the country or whatever is split into factions based on ideology (and originally on what they felt was causing the flaws in society):

Erudite: Favours intelligence and blames ignorance for humanity's flaws

Candor: Favours honesty and blames, well, dishonesty

Amity: Favours peace and blames aggression

Dauntless: Favours bravery and blames cowardice

Abnegation: Favours selflessness and blames selfishness

It's all very Hogwarts house-y if everyone in Hogwarts took the houses waaaay too seriously. Erudite are the Ravenclaws, Amity the Hufflepuffs, and Slytherin and Gryffindor are smushed together in Dauntless (Abnegation and Candor don't get Hogwarts houses because the Hogwarts houses kinda make sense and those two are stupid.) Seriously, they're really weird groupings. Candor always tell the truth and learn how to tell when people are lying, Dauntless jump off of trains, Amity... hug people? That one isn't covered very in depth, maybe in the second book which I probably won't read).

The deal with this book is, it's stupid but it has interesting characters. Predictable but so very easy to read. I knocked it out in a day or so. It was entertaining until towards the end where the connotations get... dicey.

So, our protagonist is Beatrice "I only have this name so I can change it to an unusual and edgy nickname later" Prior (later known as Tris, shocker) and she's an Abnegation-born girl about to take her aptitude test to find out which faction she's best suited to, which everyone takes when they turn sixteen. All the sixteen year olds will then choose which faction they want to be in from then on, must pass initiation or end up "factionless" (this world's poorly coded homeless/poverty stricken). SPOILERS: She's a special snowflake and doesn't fit into just one of these highly specific categories, she is equal parts Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. Divergent. She's told to hide this away and tell no one, she chooses Dauntless and goes off on her merry way. Stuff and things ensue. I'm not gonna do a plot summary, if you've read it, you've read it. 

One of the things that really struck me about this book was how self-contradictory it is. From what I can glean, it's trying to make a sweeping statement about corruption in government and flaws in human nature but it never really takes a stance. I'm not saying it has to, these things can be left ambiguous but then toward the end it flips the neutral standpoint and making statements that it previously rebukes. It's all very strange.

Oh, and kinda reeks of communism.

Not even kidding.

Now, to be fair, the breed of communism leans far more towards early christian communism and community (you know, where the term originated) than Marx and Engels' ideals. Veronica Roth, the author, describes herself as a devout christian and so this isn't necessarily that surprising (god is also her first thank you in the acknowledgements). Because of this, the Abnegation faction (who effectively live communal lives free of worldly possessions and spending all their time doing voluntary work for charity and such) is generally painted as the good guys in the story, despite Tris leaving them early in the book. Most of her arc is around accepting that she has both Dauntless and Abnegation inside her and that she can use them together to greater ends. 

Dauntless is also shown in a positive light where most books might make it the hyper aggressive Slytherin of the five, instead being shown as well meaning but ultimately corrupt and attractive to aggressive opportunists (not unlike communism). There's new leadership that focuses more on cruelty and lack of mercy over personal, inner courage (not unlike communism) A large portion of the book is spent debating whether courage is absence of fear or, as Ned Stark puts it in Game of Thrones, action in spite of fear. It's explored fairly well over the book's course but is undermined by the stupid "let's take bravery as a trait as literally as humanly possible" writing decisions. I mentioned jumping off trains earlier, didn't I? Yeah, the Dauntless get trains everywhere and, instead of the trains stopping, they jump on and off of moving trains, then off buildings and such. It's really stupid. I get that there can be a fine line between bravery and stupidity, but seriously. And, because faction traits are strictly enforced, you don't jump off the moving train? Boom! Homeless. You'd think that self preservation would be somewhere on the faction's register, I mean, two kids die before the book's halfway point. It just end up feeling like they're trying a little too hard to be the hunger games.

Not even kidding

Then the most problematic faction depiction, Erudite. Where to begin. Erudite are the intellectuals, they seek out knowledge wherever they can and write articles do research for the nation. The are the bad guys. *Sigh of despair*. Basically, the reason we are given to hate the Erudite is that they've been bullying the Abnegation with "false" reports (I'll explain the quotations in a second, bear with me) about corrupt government, hoarding resources, and child abuse, claiming that no one can be that selfless. This is, I'm convinced, the only reason Candor exists as a faction because if it didn't seeking out knowledge AND truth would be Erudite's thing. Erudite are annoyed at Abnegation because they want more power and, according to Tris's father in the book, they thirst for power because that is what a thirst for knowledge always leads to. 

A little bit more context: The Abnegation run the government. The government is made up almost ENTIRELY of Abnegation people, with one Erudite. The idea is that, because they put others first, they are incorruptible. The Erudite are suspicious of this because NOBODY OPERATES LIKE THAT. That is not how human nature works. Basically, the Erudite have some sense. They start a revolution because they feel like the current system of government is unfair. Which it is. Surely in a world where there are five faction, all five should be represented in government, right? It doesn't have to be proportional, just have at least one from each. My Erudite homies can see that clear as day (having read the book I'd have to say I'm team Erudite. Or team "this book was stupidly oversimplified and none of these things alone could define me". Probably the latter.) 

Other qualms that the Erudite have are that they're being held back from prosperity by the focus on poorest members of society, meaning that they can't develop luxury goods or improve medicine, transport, housing etc. A valid argument, and one that has often been made against communism (lack of rewards and incentive for skilled individuals to excel). And especially considering that the factionless ONLY exist thanks to the current system of government. Oh yeah, the current system is "you fail arbitrary initiation exercises (like jumping off a moving train) and your prospects plummet to zero (you might become a janitor or something, if you're lucky). The Abnegation, who focus most on the factionless with their charity work, are in charge of the government, do nothing to change this. Every other faction has free food, water, shelter and security as a given, couldn't you just- ugh, this world's logic is so dumb. Another point for Erudite's cause, methinks.

Regarding the reports made about Abnegation, while the resource hoarding claims are untrue, the child abuse is right on the nose. The head councillor beats his son into selflessness, because it's apparently for his own good, leading to his fleeing the faction to Dauntless out of necessity. And, as mentioned by Tris's brother, they are not allowed to seek out information or ask questions in Abnegation. Censorship and brutality for the good of the people? Oh hey, that sounds like

COMMUNISM!

And what group, pray tell, was vehemently against communism in its early years and printed propaganda against them while the rest of the world was all "well, the Moscow underground is pretty cool"? Fascism. Namely, nazism. And this, the final third or so of the book, is where the message becomes really weird. The Erudite are planning a revolution and are going to use the meatheaded Dauntless (not unlike Hitler's bownshirts, justsayin *cough*) to fight for them by using.... wait for it.... SCIENCE MIND CONTROL!

Just... whut?

Now's the part where I get all "this is our society, people, this is what we've come to". Except, no, this is what we've been for a while. I wish this was a more isolated thing but it's not. The cultural belief that knowledge and the people who seek it are inherently corrupt or corruptible is a highly prevalent one. It's "mad scientist" theory at its most basic and it needs to stop. Science and knowledge are good things. We live in the age og the internet, where information is available at the click of a button (as it is in Erudite too, which baffles me because surely that's a good thing. Yeah, there's propaganda, but if people are intelligent they'd be able to critically analyse what they're told and make judgements. This book really doesn't understand how intelligent, educated people operate, gah). I get fear of modern technology in things like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Metropolis, they're fears about changing technology and such but the technology in Divergent (aside from the serums and stuff) is not so unlike our own. Really, it comes across a little like this:

I'm gonna wrap this up cos I'm rambling now but in closing points, I used to watch a lot of Saturday morning cartoons as a kid (and possibly up until recent years, don't judge me). I don't know if I'm along in this but as a general rule of thumb, I wanted the villains to win. Characters like Plankton in Spongebob Squarepants, Dr. Drakken in Kim Possible, Dr. Doofinshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb, Pinky and the Brain, Dexter, basically anyone trying to

"take over the world", as it were

I'd always be interested in seeing them succeed (part of the reason I loved Megamind was that it actually explored this). They're pretty much all megalomaniacs but I can't help but wonder that if they were to have power, whether or not they'd eventually start inventing crazy contraptions to aid society instead of take it over. 

On the subject of Divergent, I refuse to believe that the Erudite are composed entirely of megalomaniacs, that isn't shown anywhere in the book and the mind control shtick seems super out of character for the Erudite, especially considering that the system IS actually off balance and corrupt. The worst is cold pragmatism from their leader (which, in itself, isn't something that a supposedly hyper intelligent group would favour, surely knowing that pragmatism conflicts with human nature and can lose efficiency thank to it...) I've given this far too much thought. 

In the spirit of analysis and intelligent debate, leave a comment if you agree or disagree with this review, I got a fun comment telling me I knew nothing about Harry Potter and insulting my grammar in a previous post, you can go ahead and tell me I know nothing (Jon Snow) if that is your opinion. I'm not likely to agree but hey, freedom of expression. 

Spoiler: Up next I'm possibly gonna write something about spoilers. 

Embrace the Madness 

(also, I feel like I might need a new tagline, this one seems to fit my style less and less... Thoughts?)