Small Choices In Insurgent, By Veronica Roth

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Sometimes, choices may have a greater effect than one might have initially thought it would. In Insurgent, by Veronica Roth, the main character, Tris, is forced to make many tough decisions that could potentially decide the fate of her entire city. She has to decide which of her boyfriend, Tobias’s, parents to support. Tris' final decision of who to support and how it impacts the city illustrates two of Roth's themes—how small choices can have a large-scale effect and division of community—and how they relate to the central conflict.
In the beginning, Tris has to decide to trust Evelyn, the leader of the factionless, and her goal of establishing a factionless society. Tris has a hard time understanding why Evelyn would want to destroy the faction …show more content…

In a book review/summary of Insurgent by Plugged In, they summarize that “Tobias believes that his father is exaggerating the importance of the information in order to seem more powerful than he really is. Tobias suggests that he and Tris return to the inner city of Chicago and find a way to bring down the Erudite faction.” Tris, though, starts to lean towards supporting Marcus because his way of dealing with the Erudite is much less violent and destructive. Tobias argues against this by saying that Tris does not really know Marcus. “He is right—I don’t know Marcus, and certainly not as well as he does. But my instinct was to believe Marcus, and I usually trust my instincts” (Roth 31). Tris thinks this after Tobias sides with Evelyn and, as she said she customarily does, she trusted her instincts. Although she trusts Tobias, Tris decides to go against his judgement and support his father. “Tobias said that dealing with Erudite was more important than finding out the truth. And if he had not promised the factionless control over all of Erudite’s data, he might have been right. But he left me no choice. I have to help Marcus, if there is even a chance that he is telling the truth. I have to work against the people I love best” (Roth 424). It is hard for Tris to come to this decision. She does trust Tobias but she trusts her …show more content…

She wonders how each choice will affect the city and how it will affect her. The tagline of Insurgent is “one choice can destroy you” (Roth). Tris’ decision can destroy her, not literally, but emotionally. Deciding against Evelyn means deciding against Tobias, whom she trusts and loves. But deciding to go against Marcus and to help Evelyn’s plan succeed, means destroying an entire faction and killing more people. “How strange that something so simple could have been instrumental in my decision to ruin one of my most important relationships and friendships, and damage another” (Roth 155). Tris ultimately decides against Evelyn and Tobias is not happy with her. Not only does Tris have endless amounts of guilt swimming through her head, she has to decide the fate of her city. Actress Shailene Woodley, who plays Tris in the Divergent Trilogy movies, shared in an interview with Los Angeles Times, “it was fun to explore this Tris because she was going through so much more of an internal emotional battle than in the first movie. In the last film she lost her parents, she lost her best friend, so in this movie she’s dealing with a lot of guilt while also trying to figure out how to continue to aid the community that exists around her.” Tris’ final decision may define the final outcome for the community. When talking about if Tris will kill the main antagonist,

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