Final Reflection

           

              The picture above is a good representation of my attitude towards reading. I definitely do like reading. Everything from newspapers, to novels, to magazines, I enjoy reading all the words spelling out different stories and life lessons. I do have trouble making time for reading in my day-to-day life. For me, it's hard to have a set time where I just focus on making progress in whatever I am reading. In making time fore reading, I struggle to find that time that is for reading, as I am trying to balance homework, sports, music lessons, friends and family. So that is something that I have been working on and need to continue working on in the future. Being able to choose books independently is very important to me. I honestly won't enjoy reading if I do not like the book or genre. I am not a big fan of non-fiction (which I know is a problem since everything we read in class is almost nonfiction) and when I am given a nonfiction piece, I usually take a longer time on it or I am not motivated to finish it. So for leisure reading, I like having the option of choosing books from my favorite genres from my favorite authors. For future reading, I do have a couple of goals.    1) I want to set time aside just for reading. 2)Read more nonfiction. 3)Read from a wider range of genres. (This semester, I was stuck on sci-fi and I got really sick of it). So to prevent that from happening again, I need to read from more genres.

               
                The picture above shows my feeling for blogging. I really am not a big fan of it. The best part maybe seeing others commenting on your blog or you looking at other peoples's blogs. It gives you an idea on what other people in the classroom are reading and what books they are spending their leisure time on. For me the worst part of bogging is summarizing what I've read. Instead of having a short summary and longer reflection, I have just the opposite. Although I don't like it, making your "reading life" and thoughts public online is beneficial for other student. It gives them some suggestions on the books that are enjoyable while others, you should steer clear from. But it all depends on your style/type of reading.

  
         
             The above moving laughing smiley face describes my school year as a freshman student. It's hard to believe that we have less than 6 days left! I think I have definitely changed or grown throughout this year. I have worked hard to not only maintain my grades but to excel in them and really try my best. I have made many friends this year--some of whom I am very closely to now. A positive experience that I've had this year was definitely being apart of Stugo. I really enjoy Student Government because I love all the people in it and I like being able to contribute ideas and arranging school event like homecoming, staff appreciation breakfasts, spirit week,etc. Also seeing how attached all the seniors were to Stugo made me really motivated to try and contribute in Stugo. One goal that I have for my sophomore year is to just speak up more. I want to try and get involved in some new things whether it's clubs or sports, I want to try it. Thank you everyone for a great year and making my freshmen experience really great!   :)  

The Maze Runner

           Summary: A boy named Thomas wakes up in a metal box, with no memory of the past, only his name. He wakes up on a type of farm, known as the Glade. There are many other boys living in the Glade. The area is surrounded by very high walls, like a maze. Every month a boy is sent into the maze. Supplies come through an elevator each week. Thomas learns that in the maze, there are these monsters called grievers. If one stings you, you go through a very traumatic experience called "the changing." He meets the leader Alby, the second in command leader named Newt, and befriends a younger boy named Chuck. He makes a rival/frenemy, I guess you can call it, with Gally, who is very suspicious of Thomas. And he meets Minho, a runner.The day after Thomas arrives, a girl comes, the first ever. Her name is Teresa. Thomas feels a strong connection to her.Thomas decides he wants to become a runner. When he saw Alby (who got stung) and Minho struggling to come out of the maze, he runs in, breaking one of the Glade's biggest rules. All 3 of them were stuck in the maze at night. They survive the night, making Thomas a hero for some, but really suspicious in others's eyes. Since he broke one of the rules, he is sentenced to "Glade jail." Minho allows Thomas to become a running trainee. Gally objects, accusing Thomas of being a spy. Teresa is still unconscious but she and Thomas begin communicating telepathically. She tells Thomas that they both had something to do with the making of the maze. After spending the day in jail, Thomas begins his training under Minho, and he learns how the runners map the maze. Then Teresa wakes up and tells Thomas that the maze is a code. Alby and Newt become very suspicious of her. That night, the maze does not close like it normally does. They all hide in a boarded up house, waiting for the grievers to come. Gally tells them that the grievers will kill one glader each night until they're all dead. Thomas and Teresa investigate the maps and discover letters that don't really have any meaning. Thomas then allows himself to get stung by a griever trying to remember the past. After recovering, he remembers that Teresa and him were forced to help the creators of the maze and that he knows a way out. They have to all go into the maze to escape. Thomas leads them and as they are escaping, they are attacked by grievers. Many die but the rest of them escape and come face to face with the creators. A woman comes to greet the Gladers and she tells them they have done well. She has a young boy with her. That boy is Gally. He throws a knife at Thomas, but Chuck sacrifices himself and jumps in front of the knife to save Thomas. Thomas attacks Gally, and suddenly a group of rescuers come and shoot the woman and take the gladers to a dormitory-type building. They finally feel safe. We later find out in the book that the gladers have not escaped. They have just moved on to the next step of the trials. The point of the experiment is to find people who are resourceful and intelligent enough to fight the Flare (a deadly disease) and rescue humanity.

          My thoughts on the book: I did like the plot of this book for sure. Sure it was like a typical sci-fi novel, where the main characters are under a simulation, but instead of fighting other humans like in Divergent and Insurgent, they were fighting monsters, which was a good change. I actually liked the movie more than the book. Part of the reason was because I think the book dragged on a bit, while the movie showed the whole plot and didn't leave that much out. Also the movie did a good job of showing how the grievers looked because if I hadn't known how they looked, I wouldn't really know what to visualize. Honestly, I'm just tired of sci-fi, which I know I've mentioned in my other posts. Over the summer and in the future, I want to read  a wider variety of genres. I really have been wanting to read Papertowns by John Greene. I've heard it's good and I liked The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska.

Holiday Season Summons Memories of Good Deeds by Tara Dixon Engel

 1) How does the writer want the reader to feel when reading this column?

         

          After reading this column, it is easy to see how Engel wants the readers's emotions to be. By using touching good deeds and gestures, the readers are supposed to realize how the holidays truly bring out the best out of each other. The column makes us appreciate the little things like compliments, or kind smiles from strangers. It doesn't always have to be this big, grand gesture, but rather something small and genuine that we remember the most. In the article, the news reporter was so apologetic and anxious when she didn't have all the money, thinking that the attendant would call the cops on her, but instead he put another $2 worth of gas into her car, and told her to have a Merry Christmas. The reporter referred back to the event and said: "It was a small gesture, from the attendant, wherever he is, has likely long since forgotten. But I never forgot. Through all the years--almost 30-- and all the kind things people have done for me, I still remember that simple, heartfelt gesture"(Engel).

2) What does the writer want the audience to remember the most?

        Like I said in the first prompt, Tara Dixon Engel probably wanted us to remember that good deeds are sometimes better when they're small, because they look like the people did these good deeds effortlessly, making it genuine. Also she probably wants this article to inspire us to be more like the people in this column, making us want to do more good deeds for others. I was definitely inspired reading about the reporter and the gas attendant, and the kind gesture was heart-warming. But there is no problem with big gestures, Engel proved as she said: "I've had volunteers willingly hand over their coat they wore here to someone who needed it more than they did." These type of nice and caring things make us as the readers feel proud of the community in which we live in, and also the people in the community who would make these sacrifices for someone who they may not even know.

3)What is the purpose of the column?

        I think the purpose of this column was mainly to inspire people and show how the holidays have made people do some awesome things for others. I also think it was to recognize the people who made these kind gestures, as they may not have gotten much credit at the time. It brings some recognition to the House of Bread organization as Engel states how:" The House of Bread is a nonprofit community kitchen which serves a hot, nutritious lunch to anyone in need, in addition to providing personal hygiene and cold-weather items." This column acknowledges these not so well-known organizations and shows their gratitude to everything they have done.

4)How does the author utilize diction and syntax methods effectively to support the writer's message and purpose?

         The quotes and the direct statements from people really make this column sound like a story, which I  liked. It flows well and it makes it fun to read because everyone's personal experience sounds like a short story. The section about the military family had a lot of syntax and quotes, and these quotes really got Engel's point across. When Engel was talking about the family, she said:"My daughters were 3 years old and 11 months old at the time. When she spotted him coming down the hallway where we were waiting, the smile on his face was priceless. The months of separation had been worth it. Even more powerful, she said, was the look of joy on her 3 year old's face as she raced up to her father yelling "Daddy's home! The hug they shared made this moment all the more special. It was a day I'll never forget." The quotes, coming from the perspective of a military wife, really makes us appreciate the service and sacrifices these people make, risking their lives everyday in the military. It makes us grateful and thankful, and it also makes us appreciate everyone, whether its our friends or family.

5) What is the value of this column to society? What difference does it make that this column was written? How does this column send a message to society that society perhaps needs to be reminded of in our present day?

         This column is a great thank you note to all the people who effortlessly do genuine acts of kindness, but is also an eye-opener to maybe people who need to think of other sometimes. In this column, it is evident that these good deeds to not require money, time or work but simply just a kind gesture like pumping extra gas in their car and relieving someone of their anxiety. So I think this column is worth a great value to society. The difference that this column makes is that it informs us of all the good things that people are doing. With so much conflict in our world, catastrophes, disasters, etc., it's nice to take a break from looking at the negatives and focus on the positives. 

Insurgent

         

             I have finally finished Insurgent, and although I really liked the book, I am excited to read something new.

            From where I left off, here's a quick summary of how the book ended. After Peter saved Tris and Tobias, and they all fled from Erudite, they go to the Abnegation faction, more specifically to Tobias's home. There, they meet up with the factionless and their old friends. Tris later runs into Marcus, who tells her that Abnegation has some secrets they were going to reveal, and those secrets are the reason Tris's parents died. Tris doesn't know who to trust--Tobias or his abusive father? She decides to side with Marcus.  Christina comes along with Tris and Marcus, pretending to be Abnegation and Amity members. They arrive at the Amity faction and ask Johanna (Amity's faction leader) if they can speak to any Erudite that are in the Amity compound. Johanna holds a meeting to inform the Amity members about what is happening between the faction systems, and how she is on Tris's side. At Amity, Tris meets loyal Erudite members-- one named Cara (who is Will's sister). While they're on the way to the city, Tris asks one of the Erudite members if he knew Caleb. He tells her that he did and that Tris should not judge him harshly about what he did. They break into Jeanine's control room but while they're in them, Caleb comes in, trying to stop Tris. Marcus smacks Caleb, knocking him out. They figure out that the information is not in the control room, so they head to the laboratory. They run into Edward on the stairs, who is furious because they're now basically traitors of the factionless and Dauntless. Edward shoots Christina in the leg and she shoots him in the side. Marcus and Tris need to keep moving so they leave Christina there. Tris and Marcus split up. Tris goes into a door, and there she has to fight a simulation against herself. She fires the gun and defeats her simulation self. Tris races into the lab but finds Tori there, screaming at Jeanine and beating her. Tori wanted revenge on Jeanine because her brother was killed under Jeanine's command. Tris stops her, saying that they'll never get the information if Jeanine is dead. Tori calls her a traitor. Uriah and Tobias come, and Tori tells them that Tris is a traitor. Tobias tells Tris to tell the truth, and since her truth included helping Marcus, he doesn't believe her. Uriah and Tobias take Tris away. Christina is fine but Lynn dies. Before she dies, Lynn say she loves Marlene (who is also dead). After everything happens, Tori sets some rules. Amity will not be apart of the faction system but will still have to produce food for them. As she is talking about how the new system will be, Evelyn (Tobias's mom)  speaks up and says how there will be no more factions. While this is going on, Tobias, Marcus, and Caleb, had managed to hack into Jeanine's computer system. It was a video with a woman speaking, who ended up being one of the city's founders. She speaks about how Divergents make the world a better place. But the most shocking part was that her name was Edith Prior, meaning she is related to Tris.

            While reading the book, I also watched the movie. I have to say that I definitely liked the book better. First of all, they are very different from each other. The movie was mainly centered around this box, that had something very important in it, which ended up being the video. Also the movie didn't make me curious about what was going to happen next. It didn't end with any cliff hangers or anything to make you want to see the next movie. Overall they both were pretty good, but like I said before, I need a break from Sci-fi and I want to read something new.

                                                                                  

The Maze Runner

         I know that in my last blog post, I said that I wanted to take a break from Sci-fi, but then I remembered that I had bought The Maze Runner, a couple months ago, which I have been wanting to read for some time now. So I started reading it, which I hope I won't get bored of though. I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but I had watched the movie when it was coming out and I liked it, so I wanted to get into the series. Anyways in the movie, (which was a long time ago, so I don't remember much), a guy named Thomas, is basically put into a labyrinth, with no memory of the past. He becomes part of a group called the "Runners" and their job is to find an escape route out of the always-changing maze. With a girl named Teresa, the only girl in the whole setting, Thomas tries to convince everyone that he knows a way out. Here is a link to the trailer:

Insurgent

           Since we were reading Fahrenheit 451 for our class novel, I didn't have too much time to read Insurgent, which I was hoping to have finished by now. But here's a quick summary of what I have read from my last blog post up until now:

            While still in the Candor faction, a secret meeting is held with only Dauntless members. They hold this meeting to elect new leaders. Tris is nominated but she refuses. At the end of the meeting, Tobias, Tori, and a member named Harrison are declared new Dauntless leaders. Then, while at the meeting, they have a trial for Eric, and in the end, they all agree that he is guilty. Tobias kills him, not feeling any guilt of grief at all. After the meeting gets over, Tris and Tobias go to visit Evelyn (Tobias's mom) and Edward. Both are leaders of the factionless. They make a plan to gather the loyal Dauntless, factionless and and the willing Abnegation, to fight and take down Erudite and form a new government without factions. But Tris doesn't trust Evelyn, because she abandoned Tobias and left him with an abusive father. Anyways, later that night, Tris and Christina discover a simulation that kills at least one of the Dauntless every two days until a Divergent has been delivered to the Erudite compounds. Tris and Christina see 3 people who are standing at the edge of a roof top: a young girl, Lynn's brother Hector, and their own friend Marlene. They save the girl and Hector, but Marlene falls and dies, because she was under the simulation. They both feel guilty because they weren't able to save Marlene, and after seeing what Tris has been going through, Christina forgives Tris for killing Will. Tris later finds Tobias, and wants to turn herself in to Erudite. Tobias makes Tris promise not to turn herself in. She promises but soon breaks it by going to Erudite. Tris goes to Erudite, fearful because she knows that death awaits her there. But she accepts and agrees to Jeanine's testing as long as the results are explained to her. She goes under an MRI, and several simulations. She finds out that Caleb, her brother, is working for Jeanine and is surprised at his betrayal. One evening, Tris passes Tobias in the hallway, and figures out that he tried to save her. They are both taken to a room, where Jeanine keeps trying new simulations on Tris in order to find one that will control the Divergent. Jeanine also is trying to figure out the location of the factionless safe houses. Jeanine gets frustrated because nothing works on Tris. Tris jumps on Jeanine, scratching and punching her, screaming how she can't be controlled. Soon after, Tris finds out that she will be executed and Jeanine will just continue testing on Tobias. The next day, Tris was supposed to be executed. But Peter, who was supposed to be her executioner, and who was also a Dauntless traitor, helped Tris and Tobias to escape. The three of them flee to Abnegation.

Dover Beach

             The two women left Montag's house in a hurry. Mrs. Phelps, tears drying on her face, struggled to keep up with Mrs. Bowles, her shoes furiously stomping on the ground. "I am going to turn that fool in! What a load of nonsense! Oh, where ignorant armies clash by night-- what does that even mean? And will you hurry up?" She looked back at Mrs. Phelps, who to her surprise was sitting on the sidewalk, her hands covering her face. She was crying, but she didn't know why. "Clara,"said Mrs. Bowles, "Clara, why are you crying? It's a stupid poem that has no meaning." "How do you know that?" Mrs. Phelps snapped, " It's just words to us, but we both will never know what it truly means. And that's why I am crying." "Oh, Clara, cheer up! Come to my home and we'll have a Parlor marathon!" "No!" Mrs. Phelps shouted. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry," she whispered, " But maybe I'll just walk here alone for a little bit. For a little fresh air." "Ok," said Mrs. Bowles reluctantly," You be careful now. I''ll see you in the morning" And Mrs. Bowles left.

           Mrs. Phelps walked slowly, hands in her pockets. She wasn't crying now but it was pain that she felt. She thought of the poem that Montag had read, called Dover Beach. "Begin and cease, and then begin again, With tremendous cadence slow, and bring the eternal sadness in," she spoke again and again to herself. What does that mean? She was furious. The words don't make sense. Why do these simple words seem so complicated? Eternal Sadness. Eternal. Sadness. She looked at her own life and saw eternal sadness. No job,  no kids, a husband who wasn't even with her. The Parlor on every day, every minute of her life. She slumped back onto the sidewalk and started bawling. She wept and wept until she didn't have any more tears to cry out. She got up and found herself walking to Montag and Mildred's house. She rang the doorbell fast, three, four, five times. Montag answered the door, looking shocked, "Hello Clara, what are you doing here?" "Could I take a book?" she asked. He looked stunned. He hesitated but went back into the house and returned with the small book of poetry that he had read Dover Beach out of. "Thank you," she said as she smiled and walked in the direction of her house, slipping the book into her purse. When she walked into her house, The Family was going on. She took a long look at the characters and turned the walls off. She had never seen it off, the spaces completely black. She sat down on the couch and got the poetry book out. She flipped to Dover Beach and began reading.

Insurgent

            From my last blog post, I haven't read as far as I would have liked to, but I did read some more interesting stuff about Jeanine/Erudite's motives and the society. From the reading, I found out that along with Tris, Tobias, and Uriah, Marcus (Tobias's abusive father) is also divergent. Also Jack Kang (leader of Candor) wants to negotiate with one of Jeanine's representatives. Tris, Tobias, and a few of their friends think it would be a good idea to follow and spy on them. But before the meeting, a fight between Tobias and Marcus breaks out. People had been making fun of Tobias and calling him a coward since he was trying to run away from his father, and that he didn't stand up to his father, Marcus. So in front of everybody in the cafeteria, Tobias beats up his father and whips him with his belt. Tris wonders why Tobias did what he did and she remembers that Tobias's mom, Evelyn, told him to prove himself to Dauntless and become a leader, so that Dauntless will join forces with the factionless and rebel against Erudite. Afterward everyone gets in their position to spy on the meeting. Max, another leader from Dauntless was Jeanine's representative. He told Jack that Erudite will keep him and his faction unharmed if: 1) They return Eric, unharmed. 2)Let them search the compounds for Divergents and 3) Tell them everyone who wasn't injected with the simulation serum. Lynn, one of Tris's friends, shoots Max. Tris realizes that Jeanine must be close by because she knows that Jeanine was telling Max what to say through an earpiece. Tris runs toward a glass building and she was right. She sees Jeanine and Peter, who is a Dauntless traitor, fleeing. Tris is about to chase after them but hears a scream. She runs to see what happens and sees that Shauna, Lynn's sister had been shot. They went back to Candor headquarters and while Shauna was getting treated, Tobias was angry with Tris because she is always putting herself in dangerous situations. He tells her that if she does it again, they can not stay together. Angry and shocked, she goes and talks to Tori. She asks Tori if she found anything interesting while being a spy. Tori admits that she was trying to get close to Jeanine so that she could kill her. (She wants to do that because her brother was killed for being a divergent). 

           Insurgent has been reminding me about our current novel that we are reading in class, Fahrenheit 451. They are both about future societies where the government is trying to control the peoples' minds and lives. It makes me really fearful about what might happen in our future society if the government gets too greedy with power. From Fahrenheit 451, people were basically given an opinion, just so that they wouldn't form their own. The government brainwashed them with forbidding books and other laws, while in Insurgent, Erudite is almost brainwashing people too with all their simulations and serums. 

Insurgent

Insurgent

              Soon after reading Divergent, I started  the second book in the trilogy, Insurgent. I am about half way through with the book.

              This book picks up right where Divergent left off. It begins with Tris, Tobias, Caleb (Tris's brother), Marcus (Tobias's dad) and Peter (one of the Dauntless initiates, whom Tris hates), running away to the Amity headquarters. There, Tris sees a lot of Abnegation members, and old neighbors, like her friend Susan. Since Amity is all about peace, the leaders decide that if Tris and the others want to stay in their faction, there can be no violence between anyone. But they weren't able to keep peace for long, because Peter tried to steal the hard drive that had information about the attack simulation that happened in Divergent. Tris and Peter get into a fight, which violated the agreement between them and Amity. Tris is taken away and given some sort of peace serum which puts her in a better mood. Soon after, Tris sees Erudite cars with Dauntless traitors coming to Amity to find Tris, Tobias, and the others. All the Abnegation disguise themselves as Amity but Tobias gets caught. Tris, Tobias, Susan, and Caleb escape through the cornfields, but they don't know what happened to Peter, Marcus or the rest of Abnegation. They get on a train, but find out they aren't the only passengers. The train is filled with the factionless. The factionless are about to kill them until Tobias tells him that his name is Tobias Eaton. They take them to a woman named Evelyn, who turns out to be Tobias's mother. Tobias is not on good terms with his mother because she left him with his father, Marcus, who abused him in his childhood. Evelyn is the leader of the factionless and we find out that the factionless are twice the size of Dauntless. Evelyn wants to create a government without factions. 

           The morning after, Evelyn reveals to Tris that her father (who died in the attack simulation and so did her mother) used to be an Erudite and used to be good friends with Jeanine Matthews (creator of the attack serum and leader of Erudite). Then, Tris and Tobias go to the Candor Headquarters to see what's going on there. As soon as they come, they are arrested. They will only be interrogated after going under the truth serum ( Candor are the ones who value honesty). Tris meets her old friend, Christina from Dauntless initiation and she tells her how there are Dauntless living safe in Candor. Christina was also dating Will, who Tris killed during the attack on Abnegation. But neither Christina nor Tobias knows that Tris was responsible for his death. Under the truth serum, Tobias spills all his family secrets and admits that he wanted to leave Dauntless and become factionless but stayed after he met Tris. He also reveals to everyone that he is Divergent.After Tris is injected with the serum, she admits that she is also Divergent and that she killed Will in front of everyone, including Christina and Tobias. Afterward, Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene (who were  Dauntless born initiates) make a plan with Tris to go to the Hancock Building to spy on Erudite. But when they arrive, Dauntless traitors and some Erudite came and stormed the whole building, filling the air with some sort of gas and shooting people with a disc (we later find out that it is a new simulation that Jeanine created). They did this because they were looking for more Divergents. Since Tris is divergent she was immune to the simulation and so was her friend Uriah, because he is also divergent. They split up-Tris disguises herself to look like a Dauntless traitor so that she can find the Divergents and help them leave. But as she was helping one of the Divergents escape, she is caught by her ruthless, trainor who was a leader in Dauntless initiation, Eric. Eric gathers all the divergents (there is about 4 or 5 of them) and reveals that he can only take back 2. The rest of them will be killed. Right then, Tris stabs Eric and he is severely hurt. Loyal Dauntless members fight the Dauntless traitors and the traitors run away. Afterward, Jack Kang (leader of Candor) and the rest of the faction debate on what should be done. Tris wants Candor to join with them to fight the traitors and Erudite but Jack wants to set up a meeting with Jeanine Matthews to negotiate. Later, Tris sees Tori, the woman who did her aptitude test, and Zeke, Uriah's brother. They thought that Zeke and Tori were traitors but they were actually spies. And that's about all I've read so far.

              

Divergent

Divergent

             Over the past two weeks, I have finished the book Divergent, by Veronica Roth, which had a really interesting and cool plot. The book is about a girl named Beatrice, who lives in a future society. The society is split into five factions: Erudite, who are known for their knowledge, Amity, who represent peace, Candor, who are always honest, Abnegation, who are always selfless, and Dauntless, who are brave. But recently, two factions, Erudite and Abnegation, are starting to have conflict between eachother. The reason is that Abnegation has always run the government but now Erudite wants to have control of it. So Erudite started attacking Abnegation by making false rumors and claims to make Abnegation look bad to all the other factions. However, everyone knows where they belong and what they are going to do, except for Beatrice. She was born in Abnegation but she never felt that she really belonged there. Since she is 16, her, her brother and all other teenagers who are 16 get to take the aptitude test, which tells them what faction they best fit into. No matter what the results say, they will get the chance to choose the faction they want to live in on Choosing Day.

            Beatrice had really strange results though. The aptitude test showed that she doesn't fit into just one faction; she fits into several. This means that she is divergent. The problem with this is that divergents, in this society, are extremely dangerous, because their minds work in different ways, and once the leaders find out, they are usually killed. From the test, Beatrice found out that she fits into Erudite, Abnegation and Dauntless. So she's really not sure what to pick in the Choosing Ceremony. While they're at the ceremony, she sees every 16 year old choose what faction they want to live in. Some leave their families behind and some stay with them. Her brother chooses Erudite, which shocks her and her parents, and Beatrice eventually chooses Dauntless. Right after the ceremony, she feels how the Dauntless are truly brave and sometimes crazy, when she and the new initiates had to jump on and off of a moving train and jump from a high story building onto a net to get into the dauntless compounds. In the compounds, she meets Four, who will be the trainer for her and the other initiates. She also makes some close friends and some enemies. Soon after joining Dauntless, Beatrice finds herself changing a lot. She changes her name to Tris, gets several tattoos, and becomes a lot more confident and impulsive. Throughout initiation, Tris and the other new members have to train to fight and face their worst fears. Because Tris is divergent, she is able to manipulate the simulation when facing her fears, making her a lot faster at getting through it then everyone else. Four discovers that Tris is divergent and she finds out that he is also divergent, but he hasn’t been caught by anyone. After initiation is over, the new members see their rankings and Tris is happy to find out that she got ranked first, meaning that she will get a good job in the future. But on that same day, every dauntless member was injected with a serum (made by Erudite) which made them basically like sleepwalkers. The serum controlled them and made them go to the Abnegation faction to kill the citizens. This was Erudite’s plan to overthrow Abnegation so they could run the government. But both Four (Tobias is his real name) and Tris are both immune to the serum because they are divergents. They shut down the program and the Dauntless members wake up. Now they are factionless. They don’t have any home, faction, or family.

             I really liked this book because of its action, suspense and romance. I saw the movie and I think I like the book better because it had more detail and a lot of parts were cut out in the movie. I like Roth’s style of writing because she doesn’t use too much of a high vocabulary and it is an easy read. I am very excited to read the second book, Insurgent.