Divergent Literary Analysis Social classes are organized by factions in Divergent, by Veronica Roth. Practically everything about an individual is based on what faction they belong to: their personality, how they dress, where they reside, what they consume, what they do for enjoyment, and what occupation they hold. The book takes place in a dystopian society of Chicago where everyone takes an aptitude test at the age of 16 to decide what faction they belong to and what their future will be. The factions are Abnegation, Amity, Dauntless, Erudite, and Candor. Beatrice Prior, the main character, takes this test and the results are inconclusive because she is divergent. Due to the fact that Beatrice, or Tris, is divergent, she can be placed into …show more content…
People of Abnegation live in gray cement houses that are all the same shape and size (Roth 27). Individuals from Amity live in the forest outside the wall that surrounds Chicago (Roth 123-124). The Dauntless live in an underground cavern called the pit, under a glass building (Roth 63). The Erudite live in large stone buildings that overlook the marsh (Roth 348). The people of Candor live in tall buildings with some windowless rooms (Roth 4). All factions eat different meals that respectively portray their personalities. For example, when Beatrice was in Abnegation, she ate plain food. After joining the Dauntless, she was introduced to hamburgers and other types of food (Roth 66). “In the center of the table is a platter of food I don’t recognize: circular pieces of meat wedges between round bread slices. I pinch one between my fingers, unsure what to make of it.” (Roth 65). Also, these groups do different activities for fun. For example, “ The Dauntless prove their bravery by jumping from a moving train.” (Roth 7). They also enjoy jumping off buildings (Roth 57). “When the main character, Beatrice Prior, or “Tris,” forsakes her Abnegation family to become Dauntless, she must confront her deepest fears, guard an ominous secret, and, incidentally, leap off a few buildings” (Fry, Erin. “Veronica Roth”). Each faction resides in a place that brings forth their personality and beliefs. The activities they do for fun and the food they eat also reflect their personalities. We can see this by analyzing Tris’ experiences while she was in Abnegation and now since she transferred to
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in the depths of the Great Depression. A lawyer named Atticus Finch is called to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. The story is told from one of Atticus’s children, the mature Scout’s point of view. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch Family faces many struggles and difficulties. In To Kill a Mockingbird, theme plays an important role during the course of the novel. Theme is a central idea in a work of literature that contains more than one word. It is usually based off an author’s opinion about a subject. The theme innocence should be protected is found in conflicts, characters, and symbols.
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
Thomas Paine once said “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Conflict is an obstacle that many characters in books go through. It is what drives the reader to continue reading and make the book enjoyable. Additionally, authors use symbolism to connect their novels to real life, personal experience, or even a life lesson. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, both take place during a time where colored people were being looked down upon and not treated with the same rights as white people. However, both novels portray the conflict and symbolism many ways that are similar and different. Additionally, both of these novels have many similarities and differences that connect as well as differentiate them to one
The Divergent Series is a novel by Veronica Roth that is set in a sort of dystopian future society that in actuality is Chicago that is being used like a type of experiment. You basically get sorted into these groups called factions where you will live out the rest of your days. But if you choose to leave you will become factionless which is the equivalent of homeless presently. You take a test to decide which faction you are best suited for. Once you have chosen you go through an initiation process. If you choose the faction you weren’t born into you can’t contact anyone from your old faction.
“Often fear of one evil leads us into a worse”(Despreaux). Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux is saying that fear consumes oneself and often times results in a worse fate. William Golding shares a similar viewpoint in his novel Lord of the Flies. A group of boys devastatingly land on a deserted island. Ralph and his friend Piggy form a group. Slowly, they become increasingly fearful. Then a boy named Jack rebels and forms his own tribe with a few boys such as Roger and Bill. Many things such as their environment, personalities and their own minds contribute to their change. Eventually, many of the boys revert to their inherently evil nature and become savage and only two boys remain civilized. The boys deal with many trials, including each other, and true colors show. In the end they are being rescued, but too much is lost. Their innocence is forever lost along with the lives Simon, a peaceful boy, and an intelligent boy, Piggy. Throughout the novel, Golding uses symbolism and characterization to show that savagery and evil are a direct effect of fear.
Both passages concern the same topic, the Okefenokee Swamp. Yet, through the use of various techniques, the depictions of the swamp are entirely different. While Passage 1 relies on simplicity and admiration to publicize the swamp, Passage 2 uses explicitness and disgust to emphasize the discomfort the swamp brings to visitors.
History is rich with culture and tradition. Culture and traditions greatly influence people’s behaviors, the way they perceive others, and the way they are perceived by others. Environment also plays into the development of culture and the decisions people make. Although each person has an individualized idea of what culture is and practices their own unique traditions, the fact remains true that every human being is subject to the effects of culture and tradition. Three classic authors accurately portray culture through setting and tradition in order to affect the reader’s view toward the characters and the authors themselves in Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable.
I will explore how social classes frankly appear and build up the story of the book by comparing and contrast with a modern social hierarchy. Today, we’re living in a society with social classes existing. We can be classified in different classes and so do I. I wish I could designate my social status, but unfortunately, our social classes are usually determined by wealth (income), occupation, education and prestige. Social class can be shown in a pyramid structure and it usually comprises with upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, working class and lower class.
The Midwest: land of TV news anchors, housewives, and dreary, never-ending fields. In her memoir “The Horizontal World”, Debra Marquart uses interesting rhetorical techniques to detail this vast, distinctly uninteresting plain. By using unusual figurative language, outside examples to solidify her points, and a geometric extended metaphor, she paints a picture of perhaps the most boring place on Earth.
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954 about a group of young British boys who have been stranded alone together on an island with no adults. During the novel the diverse group of boys struggle to create structure within a society that they constructed by themselves. Golding uses many unique literary devices including characterization, imagery, symbolism and many more. The three main characters, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are each representative of the three main literary devices, ethos, logos, and pathos. Beyond the characterization the novel stands out because of Golding’s dramatic use of objective symbolism, throughout the novel he uses symbols like the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses to represent how power has evolved and to show how civilized or uncivilized the boys are acting. It is almost inarguable that the entire novel is one big allegory in itself, the way that Golding portrays the development of savagery among the boys is a clear representation of how society was changing during the time the novel was published. Golding is writing during
In Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Fall of the House of Usher, the character Roderick Usher exhibits severe mental illness. Most of Poe’s writings are psychological in nature. The Fall of the House of Usher is a great example of this. Poe’s life was filled with many tragic events. The unpleasant outcome of his early years resulted in a great Gothic Romantic writer. He is a master of writing psychological thrillers, adding suspense and mystery in his stories. The topics of his writings are a concoction of unpleasant, austere, and grotesque things, thus the reader can be left feeling squeamish and susceptible. We are drawn into Poe’s stories by our intrinsic human nature of curiosity and intrigue. This paper gives examples of Poe’s literary style as we examine Roderick’s metal state through his words and appearance.
Poverty and homelessness are often, intertwined with the idea of gross mentality. illness and innate evil. In urban areas all across the United States, just like that of Seattle. in Sherman Alexie’s New Yorker piece, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, the downtrodden. are stereotyped as vicious addicts who would rob a child of its last penny if it meant a bottle of whiskey.
Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
Deviance is a title that insinuates the violation of social norms in society. This can be described as adjacent to criminal and improper behaviour imposed by the people who break the social norms of a society. Thus, becoming subjective to a label of 'deviant'. Deviants often have punishment bestowed upon them by authoritive figures such as the enforcers of law. There are many universal types of deviance throughout societys over the world such as alcoholism, addiction, mental illness and homosexuality. All of these may be a result of biological and social constructionist theories of deviance, this essay will define the opposing differences and the relation of the two in this essay. Both hold contributing factors to the construction of deviance in society, but are both highly conflicting theories.
Social class is an underlying factor to which all characters run their lives. It is always a priority and influenced most, if not every part of their lives. Most of the characters in the novel respect the rules of class and are always trying to climb the social ladder. Or if they are atop this ladder, they make it a mission that they remain there. Mrs. Bennet tried very hard to have her daughters marry the most socially advanced men and in the end the daughters chose socially respectable men.