Divergent
Roth, V. (2011). Divergent. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 487 pp. (ISBN: 978-0-06-202403-9)
Summary: This first novel in a trilogy of thrilling books gives us Beatrice (Tris), a 16 year-old teen that lives in a dystopian society divided into factions, each representing a different value in life. Her family lives in Abnegation, the faction that values selflessness, but this is not a natural virtue for her to maintain. The society rules indicate that once a child reaches the age of 16, he/she must submit to an aptitude test to determine the actual skills and strengths of the child, then the child must choose which faction he/she will live in forever based on this knowledge. Tris decides to leave her faction and live in the Dauntless faction, which values bravery and courage. Here she submits to grueling survival training, learning about her inner and outer strength. Her brother Caleb left the family also, to live in Erudite, the faction valuing knowledge. There Caleb finds out that his faction is planning to wage war against the Abnegation faction by using mind control over the Dauntless army. Tris and her friends/family fight for their survival and that of the societies against the Erudite leader Jeanine. Some survive, some don’t, and the city is left in a state of chaos, which takes us to the sequel.
Evaluation: Veronica Roth writes about the human condition, with which all people, especially young adults, can relate. The five factions she created all touch on virtues we try to instill upon our young adults. She takes us through real-life journeys using teens that include struggles with self-identity, loyalty to parents, betrayal of family values, conflicts of friendship, bullying, and survival. Roth writes in simple language, writing from the perspective of the lead 16 year-old character Tris, immediately showing us the common, everyday struggles and worries of a teen. She keeps our attention throughout this first novel by using exciting, nail-biting scenes, and keeps us wanting more with every emotional, heart-wrenching moment.
Recommendation: The Fry Readability Formula places this novel at a 6th grade reading level but I feel students in 8th – 12th grade will appreciate and understand the content better. There are struggles with identity and power, brutal physical confrontations between peers, and much of the novel shows love blossoming between the hero and heroine, which I don’t feel students in 6th grade will be able to realistically relate to, nor will they find interesting.
Teaching: This novel is an ideal resource for teaching the origination of the Utopian society. Each faction in this novel represents different ideals/priorities that drive the living condition. These ideas/priorities lend themselves to lessons about right and wrong, friendship, honesty, education, selflessness, and survival. These are all elements that affect the growth of our young adult students and, as teachers, we are in a prime situation to expose our students to these topics.
Website: PBS. (n.d.). This emotional life: Identity formation. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/adolescence/identity-formation
I liked this site because it contains an overview about the goal of identity formation in adolescence. Ethic and cultural identity is discussed, as is gender identity, and sexual identity. There are sections on adolescent development, common misconceptions, as well as drugs and alcohol. The section dedicated to helping your teen contains information on the sources of stress, managing that stress, and hints on how to help.
Article: Dumas, T. M., Ellis, W. E., & Wolfe, D. A. (2012). Identity development as a buffer of adolescent risk behaviors in the context of peer group pressure and control. Journal of Adolescence, 35(4), 917-927. Retrieved from http://ejournals.ebsco.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/Direct.asp?AccessToken=9III9IJ8XDQ1DXXJ5QZRP1ZUJP9E8Q5MID&Show=Object
This article touches on the subject of identity in teens, which is what Beatrice (Tris) struggles with during this entire novel. The authors discuss peer pressure, which Tris undergoes while competing to secure a spot in her new faction. They also mention risky behaviors, and Tris, while not engaging in drugs or alcohol, does risk her safety often by jumping off of moving trains, climbing tall buildings, and challenging adults.
Song: Offspring. (n.d.). Sweet sacrifice. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/sweet-sacrifice-lyrics-evanescence.html
I chose this song because it talks about how we each have our own fears and how these fears, while only in our minds, seem to take us over, like they take over Tris’ thoughts, and that of her trainer, Four. It also talks about surviving those fears, which is the premise of the Dauntless faction that Tris chose for her future.
"Sweet Sacrifice"
It's true, we're all a little insane.
But it's so clear,
Now that I'm unchained.
Fear is only in our minds,
Taking over all the time.
Fear is only in our minds
but it's taking over all the time.
You poor sweet innocent thing.
Dry your eyes and testify.
You know you live to break me.
Don't deny sweet sacrifice.
One day
I'm gonna forget your name,
And one sweet day,
you're gonna drown in my lost pain.
Fear is only in our minds,
Taking over all the time.
Fear is only in our minds
but it's taking over all the time.
You poor sweet innocent thing.
Dry your eyes and testify.
And oh you love to hate me, don't you, honey?
I'm your sacrifice.
(I dream in darkness
I sleep to die,
Erase the silence,
Erase my life.)
Do you wonder why you hate? (Our burning ashes,
Blacken the day)
Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes? (A world of nothingness,
Blow me away.)
You poor sweet innocent thing.
Dry your eyes and testify.
You know you live to break me.
Don't deny.
Sweet sacrifice.
Summary: This first novel in a trilogy of thrilling books gives us Beatrice (Tris), a 16 year-old teen that lives in a dystopian society divided into factions, each representing a different value in life. Her family lives in Abnegation, the faction that values selflessness, but this is not a natural virtue for her to maintain. The society rules indicate that once a child reaches the age of 16, he/she must submit to an aptitude test to determine the actual skills and strengths of the child, then the child must choose which faction he/she will live in forever based on this knowledge. Tris decides to leave her faction and live in the Dauntless faction, which values bravery and courage. Here she submits to grueling survival training, learning about her inner and outer strength. Her brother Caleb left the family also, to live in Erudite, the faction valuing knowledge. There Caleb finds out that his faction is planning to wage war against the Abnegation faction by using mind control over the Dauntless army. Tris and her friends/family fight for their survival and that of the societies against the Erudite leader Jeanine. Some survive, some don’t, and the city is left in a state of chaos, which takes us to the sequel.
Evaluation: Veronica Roth writes about the human condition, with which all people, especially young adults, can relate. The five factions she created all touch on virtues we try to instill upon our young adults. She takes us through real-life journeys using teens that include struggles with self-identity, loyalty to parents, betrayal of family values, conflicts of friendship, bullying, and survival. Roth writes in simple language, writing from the perspective of the lead 16 year-old character Tris, immediately showing us the common, everyday struggles and worries of a teen. She keeps our attention throughout this first novel by using exciting, nail-biting scenes, and keeps us wanting more with every emotional, heart-wrenching moment.
Recommendation: The Fry Readability Formula places this novel at a 6th grade reading level but I feel students in 8th – 12th grade will appreciate and understand the content better. There are struggles with identity and power, brutal physical confrontations between peers, and much of the novel shows love blossoming between the hero and heroine, which I don’t feel students in 6th grade will be able to realistically relate to, nor will they find interesting.
Teaching: This novel is an ideal resource for teaching the origination of the Utopian society. Each faction in this novel represents different ideals/priorities that drive the living condition. These ideas/priorities lend themselves to lessons about right and wrong, friendship, honesty, education, selflessness, and survival. These are all elements that affect the growth of our young adult students and, as teachers, we are in a prime situation to expose our students to these topics.
Website: PBS. (n.d.). This emotional life: Identity formation. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/adolescence/identity-formation
I liked this site because it contains an overview about the goal of identity formation in adolescence. Ethic and cultural identity is discussed, as is gender identity, and sexual identity. There are sections on adolescent development, common misconceptions, as well as drugs and alcohol. The section dedicated to helping your teen contains information on the sources of stress, managing that stress, and hints on how to help.
Article: Dumas, T. M., Ellis, W. E., & Wolfe, D. A. (2012). Identity development as a buffer of adolescent risk behaviors in the context of peer group pressure and control. Journal of Adolescence, 35(4), 917-927. Retrieved from http://ejournals.ebsco.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/Direct.asp?AccessToken=9III9IJ8XDQ1DXXJ5QZRP1ZUJP9E8Q5MID&Show=Object
This article touches on the subject of identity in teens, which is what Beatrice (Tris) struggles with during this entire novel. The authors discuss peer pressure, which Tris undergoes while competing to secure a spot in her new faction. They also mention risky behaviors, and Tris, while not engaging in drugs or alcohol, does risk her safety often by jumping off of moving trains, climbing tall buildings, and challenging adults.
Song: Offspring. (n.d.). Sweet sacrifice. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/sweet-sacrifice-lyrics-evanescence.html
I chose this song because it talks about how we each have our own fears and how these fears, while only in our minds, seem to take us over, like they take over Tris’ thoughts, and that of her trainer, Four. It also talks about surviving those fears, which is the premise of the Dauntless faction that Tris chose for her future.
"Sweet Sacrifice"
It's true, we're all a little insane.
But it's so clear,
Now that I'm unchained.
Fear is only in our minds,
Taking over all the time.
Fear is only in our minds
but it's taking over all the time.
You poor sweet innocent thing.
Dry your eyes and testify.
You know you live to break me.
Don't deny sweet sacrifice.
One day
I'm gonna forget your name,
And one sweet day,
you're gonna drown in my lost pain.
Fear is only in our minds,
Taking over all the time.
Fear is only in our minds
but it's taking over all the time.
You poor sweet innocent thing.
Dry your eyes and testify.
And oh you love to hate me, don't you, honey?
I'm your sacrifice.
(I dream in darkness
I sleep to die,
Erase the silence,
Erase my life.)
Do you wonder why you hate? (Our burning ashes,
Blacken the day)
Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes? (A world of nothingness,
Blow me away.)
You poor sweet innocent thing.
Dry your eyes and testify.
You know you live to break me.
Don't deny.
Sweet sacrifice.
Insurgent
Roth, V. (2012). Insurgent. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 525 pp. (ISBN: 978-0-06-202404-6)
Summary: This second book in the Divergent trilogy continues seamlessly, following Tris throughout her journey to finding out why the Abnegation faction was attacked and why the factions are falling apart around her. Her character is more deeply developed and we learn more about the importance of the Divergent among the people. We see Four through Tris’ eyes, opening up a new dimension to his character, we meet Four’s mother, and learn why she left, and the mystery surrounding Markus, Four’s father, is solved. Finally, the important secret that Tris’ parents were guarding is revealed.
Evaluation: In this installment, Veronica Roth continues to fascinate us with her fast-paced scenes that keep us on the edge of our seats. While she writes clearly, using common language, she creates suspenseful situations, which keep us captivated throughout the novel. Her themes continue from the first novel, but she adds an element of fear and paranoia that gives a new richness to the plot. The situations she creates are thrilling, exciting, and somewhat mysterious, making it easy to escape into the book. While some of the scenes in this book appear to be very dramatic, violent, and somewhat unrealistic, her heroine still experiences real-life situations with love, friendships, conflict, and family that all teens would typically experience, and we are brought into her mind and heart, laughing, crying, as well as feeling her frustrations and fears.
Recommendation: The Fry Readability Formula places this novel at a 7th grade level, but as with Divergent, I would not recommend this book at this level. I would forgo introducing this novel until at least the 8th grade because the content is very graphic, including bloody confrontations, as well as teens using guns to shoot each other execution style, for example. Also, the implication of sexual intercourse between Four and Tris exists, which I feel isn’t an appropriate subject for grades lower than 8th grade.
Teaching: I find this book to contain many themes that would lend themselves to lessons for our young adult readers. During the teen years our students undergo physical, intellectual, and emotional changes that drive them to yearn to be seen and heard. They begin to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, like Tris does throughout this book, and they struggle with right and wrong, like Tris does. This book would serve my classroom well because I would break it up into different thematic units, using pieces of the whole to show our students that they are not alone with their inner conflicts, that others share many similar feelings and I would try to develop lessons that would offer up options for my students, in hopes of helping them to prepare to make difficult choices in the future.
Website: Top 50 dystopian movies of all time. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/
This site is dedicated to the movie-goer in you. It lists the top 50 dystopian movies of all time, including a brief summary of the film, as well as the iMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings for you to consider before spending valuable cash on a rental. It provides the format availability for each film, the cost of purchasing the film, and a clickable link for purchasing.
Article: Springen, K. (2010). Apocalypse now: Teens turn to dystopian novels (tales of dystopia). Publishers Weekly, 21-24. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=42f852df-4cbf-42e2-9c4a-9a8bb7d2ba4f@sessionmgr15&hid=2
Karen Springen, the author of this article, recognizes that our teens of today have been choosing to read more and more dystopian type novels. She attributes this to the fact that in the most recent years, our teens have been exposed to many wars among different nations and they have become more and more interested in how people are surviving under those tragic circumstances. This directly relates to the type of situations that Tris experiences within her society, where different factions engage in war to gain more power. She experiences fear, hunger, and pain, all issues that Springen says our teens of today worry about. As with Tris, the heroes/heroines in many dystopian novels use their brains and courage in order to survive the elements and their grave situations, regardless of their lack of power, and since our teens of today see that their future could be this serious, they read to learn.
Movie: Hayes, T., & Miller, G. (1985). Mad max beyond thunderdome. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089530/
This movie is set in post-apocalyptic Australia. The lead character Max travels through a city in a dessert that has managed to maintain its viability. He is ambushed, losing all of his possessions, and gets caught in a power struggle with the town’s evil ruler Aunt Entity. Max is banned from the town and is sent to the dessert where he struggles to survive the elements. He meets up with a band of children who think he is someone who has been sent to rescue them. Together, they return to face Aunt Entity, fight to overcome her destructive power, and take over the city. We can compare the struggles Tris and Four encountered as they fought many adversaries in order to save their friends and take over their faction. We can also see the similarities in leadership between Jeanine and Aunt Entity.
Summary: This second book in the Divergent trilogy continues seamlessly, following Tris throughout her journey to finding out why the Abnegation faction was attacked and why the factions are falling apart around her. Her character is more deeply developed and we learn more about the importance of the Divergent among the people. We see Four through Tris’ eyes, opening up a new dimension to his character, we meet Four’s mother, and learn why she left, and the mystery surrounding Markus, Four’s father, is solved. Finally, the important secret that Tris’ parents were guarding is revealed.
Evaluation: In this installment, Veronica Roth continues to fascinate us with her fast-paced scenes that keep us on the edge of our seats. While she writes clearly, using common language, she creates suspenseful situations, which keep us captivated throughout the novel. Her themes continue from the first novel, but she adds an element of fear and paranoia that gives a new richness to the plot. The situations she creates are thrilling, exciting, and somewhat mysterious, making it easy to escape into the book. While some of the scenes in this book appear to be very dramatic, violent, and somewhat unrealistic, her heroine still experiences real-life situations with love, friendships, conflict, and family that all teens would typically experience, and we are brought into her mind and heart, laughing, crying, as well as feeling her frustrations and fears.
Recommendation: The Fry Readability Formula places this novel at a 7th grade level, but as with Divergent, I would not recommend this book at this level. I would forgo introducing this novel until at least the 8th grade because the content is very graphic, including bloody confrontations, as well as teens using guns to shoot each other execution style, for example. Also, the implication of sexual intercourse between Four and Tris exists, which I feel isn’t an appropriate subject for grades lower than 8th grade.
Teaching: I find this book to contain many themes that would lend themselves to lessons for our young adult readers. During the teen years our students undergo physical, intellectual, and emotional changes that drive them to yearn to be seen and heard. They begin to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, like Tris does throughout this book, and they struggle with right and wrong, like Tris does. This book would serve my classroom well because I would break it up into different thematic units, using pieces of the whole to show our students that they are not alone with their inner conflicts, that others share many similar feelings and I would try to develop lessons that would offer up options for my students, in hopes of helping them to prepare to make difficult choices in the future.
Website: Top 50 dystopian movies of all time. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/
This site is dedicated to the movie-goer in you. It lists the top 50 dystopian movies of all time, including a brief summary of the film, as well as the iMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings for you to consider before spending valuable cash on a rental. It provides the format availability for each film, the cost of purchasing the film, and a clickable link for purchasing.
Article: Springen, K. (2010). Apocalypse now: Teens turn to dystopian novels (tales of dystopia). Publishers Weekly, 21-24. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=42f852df-4cbf-42e2-9c4a-9a8bb7d2ba4f@sessionmgr15&hid=2
Karen Springen, the author of this article, recognizes that our teens of today have been choosing to read more and more dystopian type novels. She attributes this to the fact that in the most recent years, our teens have been exposed to many wars among different nations and they have become more and more interested in how people are surviving under those tragic circumstances. This directly relates to the type of situations that Tris experiences within her society, where different factions engage in war to gain more power. She experiences fear, hunger, and pain, all issues that Springen says our teens of today worry about. As with Tris, the heroes/heroines in many dystopian novels use their brains and courage in order to survive the elements and their grave situations, regardless of their lack of power, and since our teens of today see that their future could be this serious, they read to learn.
Movie: Hayes, T., & Miller, G. (1985). Mad max beyond thunderdome. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089530/
This movie is set in post-apocalyptic Australia. The lead character Max travels through a city in a dessert that has managed to maintain its viability. He is ambushed, losing all of his possessions, and gets caught in a power struggle with the town’s evil ruler Aunt Entity. Max is banned from the town and is sent to the dessert where he struggles to survive the elements. He meets up with a band of children who think he is someone who has been sent to rescue them. Together, they return to face Aunt Entity, fight to overcome her destructive power, and take over the city. We can compare the struggles Tris and Four encountered as they fought many adversaries in order to save their friends and take over their faction. We can also see the similarities in leadership between Jeanine and Aunt Entity.
*Film adaptation is currently in production. The film is expected to be completed by 2015.