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Inquiry Question: To what extent does the character “Tris” from Veronica Roth's “Divergent”
English B
Category: 3
Introduction……………………………………………………………….3-5
Chapter 2: Tris…………………………………………………………….10-15
Conclusions……………………………………………………………….16-17
References………………………………………………………………...18-20
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Introduction
The world we live in is currently suffering all type of changes. A world in which technological
advances have caused a lot of consumerism due to the easiness that they bring to life. A world in
which power struggles between different countries have provoked death, wars and intolerance
among cultures. Ban Ki Moon said “We are using resources as if we had two planets, not one.
There can be no plan B, because there is no planet B” referring to the environmental crisis all
around the world, which can lead to Earth's end. This and many other issues, have caused the
belief of a utopian world, as proposed by literature, to become blurred, opening a golden age to
According to April Spisak (2012, p.55) “dystopias are characterized as a society that is a counter-
utopia, a repressed, controlled, restricted system with multiple social controls put into place via
government, military, or a powerful authority figure”. With the concept of “dystopia” arose the
genre of dystopian literature. In the book “Female Rebellion in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction”
(Day et al, ed. 2016, p.8). Keith Booker was cited when he defined dystopian literature as a
“critique of existing social conditions or political systems, either through the critical examination
of the utopian premises upon which those conditions and systems are based or through the
imaginative extension of those conditions and systems into different contexts that more clearly
Consequently, it can be said that the purpose of the dystopian literature is to expose social
criticism towards the idea of a utopian world. Although it is unclear which were the first
dystopian novels, 1984 by George Orwell was the first one to be highly recognized. By this,
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according to Philip Stoner, since then, dystopian genre conventions began to appear, such as: the
presence of an oppressive government, regulation of the arts and original thought, self-
exploration, female instigators and bleak endings. The genre has evolved as time has passed and a
new generation of young adult dystopian literature has given more importance to self identity
than to the expression of political messages. This has opened the genre to different audiences and
not only a political or academic one. Nonetheless, the contemporary generation of dystopian
writers still uses most of these conventions, which continue to allow for genre recognition.
In addition, a recent change in this genre is the participation of women which has become more
current and this has become notable as they are showing that women have the same abilities to
face conflict as men. In the 21st century, female empowerment became frequent in dystopian
novels, such as in “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent,” as a way to criticize the female
representation in the world. Divergent is the debut novel of the American Writer Veronica Roth
and is the first of a trilogy. The novel is developed in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago and
its main character is “Tris”, a girl who is trying to find her identity in a society and will fight to
defeat the oppressive government of her city that will try to destroy her. Tris will be the main
focus of this investigation by answering the question: To what extent does the character “Tris”
from Veronica Roth's “Divergent” novel represent a 21st Century female dystopian heroine? The
objective of this investigation is to analyze how female characters have evolved in this genre and
how they create an impact during the last century. In order to answer this question, I will do a
literary analysis of the “Tris” taking into account her actions, motivations, interactions with
another characters, among other characteristics. Is important to take into account that this analysis
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will be based in the nature of the dystopian genre and the most important traits of a contemporary
heroine.
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Chapter 1: Dystopian Heroines
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a heroine is “a woman admired and emulated for
her achievements and qualities”. Heroes and heroines were created since ancient times to teach
people lessons such as caring, respect, among others. Although, contemporary heroes are based
on the classic ones and their roles, some traits to recognize contemporary heroes have been
established. As the interest of this research is female heroines, it is important to highlight their
traits, which as stated by the bestselling author Molly Mccord are: does everything by and for
herself, moves outside of a comfort zone, she tests her limits, it is emotional, transformational,
According to Tracy Wesler “feminist utopian literature, like politically conscious music, art, and
because it facilitates much-needed visions of a more equitable future for all citizens.” (2005) This
thinking was seen in the past by women writers that began to create feminist utopian novels in
which the world was perfect for the female gender. A clear example is the novel Herland, written
by feminist Charlotte Perkins in which she describes a society composed only by women who
reproduce asexually, and a society that is free of conflict including domination and war. Through
the publication of similar novels, feminist utopists were stating that the solution for problems in
society was to give women power. Effectively, the idea of women as remarkable characters or
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On the contrary, feminist dystopian literature shows an exaggerated version of society and its
problems and shows women as an example of strength to fight those problems or conflicts,
instead of eliminating them. In Future Girl: Young Women in the Twenty- First Century, Anita
In a time of dramatic social, cultural, and political transition, young women are
clues about the best way to cope with these changes. Power, opportunities, and
success are all modeled by the “future girl” – a kind of young woman celebrated
for her “desire, determination, and confidence” to take charge of her life, seize
At present, feminist writers are using dystopian literature to send a message of female
empowerment, to show the power women have when facing a conflicted society. When Veronica
Roth was asked what characteristics she kept in mind when she was coming up with the main
character from Divergent, “Beatrice”, she answered: “Beatrice is always the agent. That is, she’s
always choosing, always acting, always moving the plot by her behavior.” This behavior cannot
be only seen as a trait in Beatrice; it is a characteristic from all female dystopian heroines, such as
“Offred” in The Handmaid's Tale or “Katniss” in The Hunger Games, previously expected that
only in men. Additionally, when talking about utopian worlds, Roth expresses, “if you actually
succeed in creating a utopia, you’ve created a world without conflict, in which everything is
perfect. And if there’s no conflict, there are no stories worth telling- or reading!” This is
consistent with the fact that feminist dystopian heroines have become popular female characters,
because their writers have transitioned from a utopian world where problems were deleted to one
where women fight each obstacle, situation and problem, thus presenting a story worth telling.
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When exploring dystopian literature, it becomes evident that heroines are recognizable for their
kindness or amiability. This is noticeable in novels such as the ones mentioned before. Inevitably,
it is logical to think that kindness is a characteristic present in almost all heroes, but is not always
amiability is a strong weapon that helps the heroine obtain support: it helps her understand
victims’ situations and fight the government or the authority she is opposing. In a society that is
terribly corrupted, kindness from the heroine is a type of light among all the darkness.
Furthermore, by using kindness as a weapon or threat towards evil, dystopian heroines generate
an important feminist thought. Sometimes, the physical strength or rudeness of men does not
prevail over the delicacy of a woman, which can also turn her into a heroine. Consequently,
women have inverted the roles, and have shown that the female protagonist can be more than a
type of “princess,” who needs help from men to survive. This has attracted much more audience
Moreover, contemporary dystopian novels such as Divergent and The Hunger Games, have used
as main characters adolescent dystopian heroines. Education scholar Nancy Lesko said
“adolescence became a social space in which to talk about the characteristics of people in
modernity, to worry about the possibilities of (…) social changes, and to establish policies and
programs that would help create the modern social order and citizenry” (2012, p.144). Therefore,
contemporary dystopian heroines confirmed the focus on self-identity that this genre is giving the
novels, since adolescence is the stage in which humans are defining who they are and what they
want to do in their future and, by looking into the social changes and the modern society, what
they want to do to help the world. In addition, it can be said that dystopian heroines, besides
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trying to save themselves and the society from the oppressive government to which they are
subjected, are also searching for their own identity, the identity of an empowered woman, which
is a strong feminist message. Until this point, it can be said that dystopian heroines are used
recently to implicitly express feminist thoughts and influence how people think about the position
of women in society. This is done by putting them in situations in which their attributes can be
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Chapter 2: Tris
Divergent is the first novel of a trilogy written by Veronica Roth. It describes a futuristic society
which divides people in five factions according to their personality: Abnegation (selfless), Amity
(peaceful), Candor (honest), Erudite (intelligent) and Dauntless (brave). Yearly, adolescents take
a test to define to what faction they belong and they choose by spilling their own blood in the
bowl of the faction they want. However, there is a possibility to fit in more than one faction.
These people are designated as “Divergent” and Tris belongs to this group. Being a divergent was
not considered a positive thing in this society, because as they do not conform to one faction,
they are hard to control. Consequently, the government is presented as a dictatorship, in which if
you have qualities for more than one faction, you will be captured and probably killed. This
oppresses divergent humans and corresponds to a dystopian leadership. Despite the fear of what
the government can do to her, Tris chooses Dauntless: “They are pierced, tattooed, and black-
clothed. Their primary purpose is to guard the fence that surrounds our city” (Roth, 2011 p. 7), as
her faction, where she finds love with “Four” (divergent teen), but in time, the truth comes out.
Tris is a sixteen-year-old girl who has a “narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose”
(Roth, 2011 p. 2) and she still looks as a little girl, which reinforces the argument of using a
female adolescent as a tool of empowerment in society. Her story starts by being a member of
Abnegation, a faction in which all of its members are more concerned with the wellbeing,
happiness and health of others than themselves. Although, she does not want to leave her family,
she wants to leave Abnegation, which exposes one of the main traits of a female dystopian
heroine, leaving her comfort zone. This is the beginning of Tris’ transformation. Nevertheless,
she mentions “I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave them” (p. 3) and that shows that her character is
emotional and that she is still thinking of taking ethically correct decisions, not based on her
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desires or impulsiveness. Likewise, besides her family, Tris also relates with people from other
factions in school, which contribute to her discomfort. This can be evidenced when she says
“…the unassuming demeanor of my faction [Abnegation] are supposed to make it easier for me
to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too. But now they make me a target”
(p.6). This shows that she was unprepared to have an active interaction with society, as she wants
to be “invisible”. Therefore, these pressures help Tris test her limits. She realizes that she has to
do everything for herself when she comments “I am not sure I can live this life of obligation any
longer” (p.35).
Additionally, the ceremony in which teenagers choose their new factions is an important scenario
to understand this character and her transformation. In this event, Marcus Eaton, a leader of
Abnegation, uses a speech to remember why it is important to divide into factions as he states this
division “eradicate(s) those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray” (Roth,
2011 p. 42). The qualities that Marcus mentions refer to the ones divergents possess which, to the
government, are synonymous of rebellion and evil. Roth uses this to indirectly present Tris’s goal
in the novel. She has to show that “those qualities” which are supposedly negative, as truly
positive capacities that make up a complete citizen and can help the leadership of the city and that
the government is trying to impose a wrong idea. Also, there is a drastic change in Tris since her
thoughts of doing things by herself become actions when she decides to join Dauntless: “I can't
contain, I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals. I am selfish. I am brave”
(p.47). Apart from this, she also begins to recognize the inner changes that she is suffering by
Inside Dauntless, Tris meets Four, her new instructor, who asks her name and she answers
“Beatrice” (original name) and Four responds that she needs to change it. Immediately, Tris
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thinks “A new place, a new name. I can be remade here” (Roth, 2011 p. 60). Thus, since the
beginning she starts to build a new identity leaving behind Beatrice from Abnegation. Moreover,
Four introduces Tris to Eric (leader of Dauntless) and he affirms “Ooh, a Stiff… We'll see how
long you last” (p.67). “Stiff” in the novel means being from Abnegation. On this particular point,
feminism is reflected in Tris, because Dauntless and feminism hold the same ideals. Eric never
mentions anything particular to the condition of being female,: to him, she was just an individual
The idea of Tris fighting stereotypes that are created against women is portrayed when she start
to live in the faction. An illustration of this is when she thought “I have never slept in the same
room as a boy before, but here I have no other option” (Roth, 2011 p. 73) which shows the
equality in conditions of both genders. Besides, for being in Dauntless the primary stage focuses
in physical capacities and Tris had to fight with men and she ended up with real injures, to the
Due to the above, Tris said “My rank is terrible. And I might be factionless by the end of stage
one” (p.125). Four becomes a key character for the development of Tris because he offers to help
her become a better fighter as her ranks were very low and he really saw an effort from her trying
to become better but he thought she needed some help. By this, the author shows the desire of
Tris to empower herself and accomplish her goals in Dauntless, but at the same time, as a man is
helping her, it can be deduced that the author strays from the feminist values to show “teen love”,
with the purpose of catching the attention of a young audience. As the time passes she develops a
sentimental relationship with Four, which lets her experience new feelings: “Every time I push
the smile from my face, it fights its way back” (p.339). She starts to recognize the importance of
people as Four in her life and she increases the capacity to interact with the others. In addition,
she discovers that the name “Four” corresponds to four fears and that his real name is Tobias. By
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exposing the four fears of this male character, the author reinforces the idea of equality between
women and men, implying that women are not supposed to be seen as weak because of their fears
and actions as men also suffer from them, as can be seen in Four. As Tris and Four are both
divergent, Four became not only a partner for her life in Dauntless but also a partner to achieve
her main goal, survive as a divergent and prove they are not faulty.
On the date of the final evaluation, which consists in submitting to a fear simulation to confront
all of their fears in order to prove that they are mental prepared, Tris passes the test and she
expresses: “I have never felt relief like this before. Every muscle in my body relaxes at once and I
breath freely again.” (Roth, 2011 p. 397). The author, besides showing the feelings of the
character when she succeeds, also starts to portray her as a heroine, when she knocks out the
obstacles, and obtained success although the main goal had not been achieved at that moment.
Additionally, she is presented as a heroine who is mentally stronger, and with a defined identity.
Almost at the end of the novel, Tris is in a situation in which she has to put in practice all the
things she has learned. At this point, the author uses an argument of cause and effect since the
majority of the novel is focused on the causes that transformed Tris and at the end she is proving
the effect of such transformation. She discovers that the government has plotted to kill the
members from Abnegation, where her parents are. People in Abnegation have information that
does not suit Jeanine (leader in the government) to come to public light. By using a serum created
by Erudite (the intelligent faction, enemies of Abnegation) all members of Dauntless become
sleepwalkers and are controlled as soldiers. This is a key element of the dystopian literature.
Tris realizes that as divergents, she and Four are the only ones that can do something when she
expresses “I must be awake because I am Divergent. And if I am awake, that means Tobias is too,
unless I am wrong about him. I have to find him” (p.419). Furthermore, since this moment the
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author shows that Tris is a heroine because she is already planning how to defeat the plans of the
corrupt government, not only for herself but also for the good of the society.
The climax of this novel is when Tris faces Jeanine because it is when the role of dystopian
heroine in the novel is seen in every way. In first place, when Jeanine captures Tris and Four,
they share some words and Tris starts to do an analysis of her and thinks “She is more machine
than maniac. She sees problems and forms solutions based on the data she collects.” (Roth, 2011
p. 432) which indirectly means that Tris was not only good fighting, also strategic and intelligent.
In second place, Jeanine tries to kill her and she survives. Last but most importantly, Jeanine
creates a new serum that can function on Four and she makes him a sleepwalker. Jeanine uses
Tris 'only weakness, her love towards Four. Nevertheless, Tris fights Four but at the end the love
is more powerful than the serum and he comes back to reality. The author fortifies the feminist
ideas in this case, by expressing that sometimes women can also save men, and that the idea that
“men have to save the women” is only a stereotype. Also, there is a big relevance on the
emotional side of the character and this can be seen when she cannot save her parents and they
die in hands of the soldiers and she feels destroyed. At the same time, the author exposed the
feminism when she continues fighting and trying to find a solution putting at risk her life which
Finally, the author shows an important trait of dystopian literature, the bleak endings, when Tris
said: “I am no longer Tris, the selfless, or Tris, the brave. I suppose that now, I must become
more than either” (p.487) and the reader ends up thinking: “I want this to continue”. This literary
method is used by the author not only because it belongs to dystopian novels but also to make
clear that, although Tris has achieved many things, the important objective of this character has
not been accomplished in this novel since she still is considered a criminal for being divergent.
However, by using the word “now” it implies the existence of another novel, in which Tris will
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continue fighting and by saying “I must become more than either” it indirectly states that Tris
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Conclusion
In conclusion, Tris represents a 21th century dystopian heroine to the extent that she possesses all
the qualities of a contemporary heroine and are adapted to fight in the dystopian society she is in.
Since the beginning of the novel, the author constantly presents traits such as being emotional, a
the author illustrated the character in different scopes including her family life, love relationships,
self-identity, among others, a complete analysis of the character could be reached. The dystopian
scenarios were of great of importance for analyzing Tris, since they determined the
transformation and the constant changes in her. It can be said, that dystopia works together with
the female character to build up a heroine. Also, feminism is present in the development of Tris
throughout the novel, although her relationship with Four generates that women empowerment
was not complete in every moment as a man giving more strength to a woman is not a feminist
value.
Carrying out this research is of important value since it not only reaches the idea of analyzing a
character from a novel, but also gives an account of the creation of this type of characters toward
contemporary society. By choosing “Divergent” which was published in 2011, the investigation
touched important issues of modern times which allows the reader to learn about contemporary
literature. However, it is also relevant to consider that the analysis was done based on the
feminism and female empowerment that is present in the character, so a large part the
investigation is connected to this way of thinking. Other possible methods of analysis such as
“The Hero's journey” and “Archetypal theory” that were ignored for this investigation. If
someone wants to continue this investigation, they could compare this character to other
dystopian heroines, or explore the character in other aspects other than female empowerment. At
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the same time, “Divergent” is only one novel of the trilogy, and therefore, the information has
been limited to only one book. Using the remaining books, “Insurgent” or “Allegiant,” can be
Finally, dystopian heroines are a tool used in literature to create an impact in the world we live in,
a voice that represents women and their desire and capacities to have a bigger role in society to
make it better with the purpose to switch the traditional thinking and the social representation that
women have and give a new identity to this gender which can imply to change the perspectives of
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