Civil Disobedience In The Civil Divergent, By Henry David Thoreau

Throughout a series of books, and now movies known as Divergent they hit a lot of points as to what is believed as a “good society”. In the series, Divergent all must conform and fall into a certain category Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, or Amity . If one fails to do so, and falls into all of the categories they are known as “Divergent," and must be killed for failing to conform to traditional society standards and rules. This relates to Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, because he talks about humans not needing a form of structure set by a hierarchy, such as a government. A good society according to Thoreau, is one with little to no government involvement, one that respects laws to a certain extent, and one that follows

It is also a big part of Divergent, because being Divergent is essentially being your own person, you are not able to conform to what the government wants. This to Thoreau would be a great thing, this can be seen when he says, “It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will” (Thoreau 255). So Thoreau believes that a single living man has more vitality and force than the traditional government. This is also true in Divergent, because Beatrice fights her government in every movie, she fights and is independent despite the masses who have become accustom to the tradition of relying on the government. Thoreau also goes on to talk about not saying there shouldn 't be a government at all, but one that should be there and eventually fade off. This can be seen when he says, “I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government” (Thoreau 255). This quote is significant, because Beatrice also wished this was possible. Throughout the movie she tries to explain why being Divergent is okay, but is essentially “shot down” in regard to her claim. It is also significant for Thoreau because he is independent, but not forceful in asking the government to stop all at once. Thoreau and Beatrice would agree that they do not need a government, and can be self-reliant and would come to an agreement on individualism, but they also would not expect the government to go away entirely anytime soon. Thus they both proposed that the government change in some way or