Politics and Culture Essay: Divergent

In the film, Divergent, sixteen year olds are required to take a psychological exam in

which the results will show the faction they belong in. Shortly after, a ceremony is held for these

teenagers to choose the faction which they will belong to forever. The people in these factions

are what make this society, a futuristic Chicago, supposedly perfect, but where is the individual-

ity? People in ‘Divergent’ are forced into a faction they may or may not belong in, and the au-

thority figures in this film abuse the power they have in order to maintain the perfect society. In

today’s societies, we tend to place people in groups based off religion, politics, race, sexual ori-

entation, and even personality. This film reflects the values that we, as a society, believe others

should act a certain way and authority figures believe their vision of a perfect society is the only

option. A small amount of extra power can turn into abuse of power.

In Divergent, people are divided into five factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the

peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent), Dauntless (the brave), and Candor (the honest). Each of these

five factions have their own beliefs, specific clothing and color, position in the government.

First, Abnegation thrives on being selfless. They believe that being selfish is the root of all evil

and they reject curiosity, creativity, and even self reflection as these are individualistic and self

centered. This group also wears simple, gray clothing to keep the focus off of themselves and

will be the first to self-sacrifice. “…gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and the unassuming de-

meanor of my [Tris'] faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier

for everyone else to forget me too” ( Roth, 2011). Second, the people in Amity value peace and

harmony and refuse to be aggressive towards others. They are often free-spirits that tend to be

trusting and artistic, and deal with conflict through peaceful dialogue. People of Amity must only
dress in red and yellow to symbolize joy. Third, Erudite place intelligence, innovation, and curi-

osity above all else. They enjoy learning as much as they enjoy sharing their knowledge with

others. Erudite dresses in blue because of the scientific fact that blue provides a sense of calm-

ness, and calm minds are more open to absorbing knowledge. Fourth, members of Dauntless

value courage and bravery above everything, even safety. They thrive off the freedom that comes

with being brave. This faction wears all black, fitting clothing. Dauntless is considered the chief

role as they are the security throughout this dystopia. The last faction, Candor believes honesty is

the best policy and authenticity. They consider the truth is like the glue that holds their faction

together. Candor dresses in black and white because truth and dishonesty are considered these

colors. There are factionless people in this society as well. These individuals have failed their in-

itiation in to their chosen faction or have left the faction for any given reason. These people live

without support from the factions.

All of these factions are defined by their personality traits and live by them religiously.

“Faction customs dictate even idle behaviour and supersede individual preference,” Tris says in

Divergent. This society has taught them that there are even colors to define their traits as well as

jobs that best suit them. Amity people are farmers, caretakers, counselors, and mediators. Erudite

people are educators, scientists, technology developers, and medical workers. Dauntless are the

security of the city and surveillance. Candor individuals are judges, leaders, and religious lead-

ers. Abnegation fills positions where they are needed, while the factionless are placed in jobs like

delivery, construction, and bus operation. This seems like the perfect balance of control between

factions, but if one faction is given more power than the others that is when the abuse kicks in. In

this film, Dauntless officials are given a task to essentially get rid of the ‘Divergent’ population.
This group of Divergents are the people who have the personality of multiple factions and iden-

tify with all five. To this futuristic government, the Divergent are a threat to the society as whole.

This group is considered to be all the things each factions are not or maybe are. By identifying as

a part of every faction, Dauntless is detrimental to the control the government has over all the

factions. While the Dauntless are under this mind control, they nearly wipe out the entire Abne-

gation population which did not phase the government at all. The government having all this

power and this mindset of how society should be, completely ignores the fact that all people can-

not fit into one of five categories. Individualism is completely ridiculous to the people in control

and even most members of these factions. Divergent people have chosen to live in certain fac-

tions and then have had their own people turn against them beneath the government’s control.

Dystopia is defined as, “an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, de-

humanized, fearful lives.” Typically dystopias are totalitarian, capitalist, bureaucratic systems

that are defined by different technologies, abusive powers, and post apocalyptic worlds. In Di-

vergent, futuristic Chicago is cut off from the rest of the world for experimentation. However,

the people living here think they are the only people left and are required to live inside a massive

fence. Many people are interested in what is beyond the fence, but are closely monitored by the

government and other factions to make sure they follow the laws and rules. In our society today,

different parts of the government monitor others and the population as a whole to ensure safety

and fairness, but the extent is of that monitoring is not as great as the one in Divergent. Key ele-

ments of a dystopia is that the futuristic society is undesirable and miserable and substantially

worse than any society we live in today. Veronica Roth, the author of Divergent, imagined a dys-

topia which ideally would be a total utopia if power was distributed equally among the factions.

Divergent people like Tris, the main character, are terrified to release their secret. Even “normal”
people are terrified as to what will come of the government and ruling powers. Many members

of this society fear the Dauntless and their thirst for control and balance. Tris plans on using this

fear against the government to prove that this society is essentially falling apart and being con-

trolled for the worst.

The factions in Divergent, are a mirrored interpretation of the “Big Five” personality

traits: opens to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion-introversion, agreeableness, and neu-

roticism. Each person is believed to hold these personalities at certain degrees in an infinite

amount of ways. In the film, Divergent, these five characteristics are essentially pulled apart in-

stead of being allowed to manifest together. The ‘Divergents’ have been found to carry all as-

pects of the Big Five or the factions and are found to be dangerous. However, further into the se-

ries more people identify with more than one faction, proving that the Big Five is not a far reach.

Every person does have these traits, but one trait can outshine another and eventually assigning

them to a faction.

In order to have a perfect utopia, people must be individuals in every aspect of life and be

relieved of control to certain point. When powerful people abuse their rights to govern, a society

will succumb to complete disaster or complete war. Divergent is an excellent film to depict the

rise of power in confined societies with no escape. The idea of this futuristic society of Chicago

is proposed as a good idea, but certain people could not face the idea of having no governing

bodies or power in the world. The factions may define essential personalities needed in the

world, but there is no way every single person could fit into one faction alone or even any of the

factions depicted in this film.

Sources

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https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/big-5-personality-traits