Four coaches Tris and her peers through combat exercises.

The new recruits begin their training, competing for a small number of spots reserved for the most highly-ranked trainees. Beatrice renames herself “Tris,” and quickly makes friends with Dauntless recruits from other factions, such as Christina, Will, and Al. There, she meets the Dauntless leader, Max, as well as Eric, a young, frightening government official, and Four, a charismatic young man who trains new recruits. Although she’s excited and curious about Dauntless, she’s also worried that her parents will be devastated by the loss of their two children: after 16-year-olds choose their faction, they’re almost never allowed to visit other factions.īeatrice is taken to her new community in Dauntless. Tori makes Beatrice promise never to tell anyone about her Divergence-she warns that the government wants to kill off all Divergent people.Īt the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice sees her brother Caleb choose Erudite, instead of the usual Abnegation. At the end of the test, Beatrice’s examiner, a woman named Tori, tells Beatrice that she’s Divergent: a forbidden mental state that allows Beatrice to move between different factions. She sees a series of visions: a dog attacking a child, a man who interrogates her about her knowledge of a ”brutal murderer,” etc. Beatrice is especially scared of disappointing her father, Andrew, an important government official, and Andrew’s friend Marcus, another influential government leader.ĭuring her aptitude test, Beatrice is given a hallucinogenic serum. Beatrice worries that she’ll find out that she’s better suited for a faction other than Abnegation, thus disappointing her brother, Caleb Prior, and her parents, Andrew Prior and Natalie Prior. Afterwards, the 16-year-olds attend a Choosing Ceremony, where they choose the faction to which they’ll belong for the rest of their lives. At the age of 16, everyone in the city is made to take an aptitude test that determines what kind of person they are i.e., which faction they belong to. Abnegation people are plain and modest, and go into governance Amity people are kind and nurturing, and go into welfare Candor people are honest, and make good lawyers the Dauntless are brave, and work as soldiers and guards the Erudite are intelligent, and study science and technology.Īs the novel begins, Beatrice Prior-a 16-year-old girl living in Abnegation-is preparing for her Choosing Ceremony.

Each faction has a different “persona” and a different role in the city. The novel takes places in a futuristic version of Chicago, Illinois, in which the population has been split into five factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite.

Free Four by Veronica Roth