Divergent Trilogy Revisited: Quotes and Discussion
22October 22, 2013 by Alice in Readerland
Today’s the day: Allegiant has come out, bringing an end to the much-loved Divergent trilogy. So, once fellow Divergent initiates, let’s celebrate this much-loved trilogy with Dauntless cake by taking a look back on Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. In this post, you’ll find my favorite quotes from the trilogy, as well as a few of my thoughts on the series ending, and a discussion question I’m really curious to hear all of your answers to!
See? Even my cat, Figment, was excited when I brought Insurgent home from the library!
I couldn’t find the original source for this gif, if this is yours, let me know and I’ll credit you.
This post will contain some quotes and thoughts that may contain spoilers on the Divergent trilogy. Each section is divided up by book and announced by a white banner so you can skip that section if you so choose. For instance, you can skip Allegiant‘s section if you haven’t read it yet.
Favorite Divergent Quotes
“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”
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“I have a theory that selflessness and bravery aren’t all that different.”
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“My natural tendency toward sarcasm is still not appreciated.”
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“It must require bravery to be honest all the time. I wouldn’t know.”
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“I never thought I would need bravery in the small moments of my life. I do.”
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“And I’m the kind of person who does not let inconsequential things like boys and near death experiences stop her.”
Favorite Insurgent Quotes
“[Tris talking about Tobias, after being given an overdose of peace serum] I don’t really know why he likes me so much. I’m not very nice, am I?”
“Not most of the time, no,” the man says, “But I think you could be, if you tried.”
“Thank you,” I say. “That’s nice of you to say.”
[Later, when the still peace-serum-happy Tris finds Tobias]
I pout my lower lip for a second, but then I grin as the pieces come together.
“That’s why you like me!” I exclaim. “Because you’re not very nice either! It makes so much more sense now.”
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“People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.”
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“Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.”
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[When Peter helps Tris and Tobias escape] I look around. We are inside an [disabled] incinerator…Everything smells like rotting garbage or fire.
“Don’t say I never took you anywhere nice,” Peter says.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I say
Favorite Allegiant Quotes
I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me–they, and the love and loyalty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could.
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If they are persistent enough, even tiny drops of water, over time, can change the rock forever. And it will never change back.
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I need to deny them [my fears] the power to control me. I need to know that I am stronger than they are.
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There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.
But sometimes it doesn’t.
Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life.
That is the sort of bravery I must have now.
My Thoughts on Allegiant
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed about how Allegiant was handled, since as soon as I heard that the last book was being told in 2 POVs, breaking from the previous two with only Tris’ POV, I knew there had to be a good reason why the author was breaking from her established format. So I knew what was going to happen at the end. I mean, hello, spoiler alert!
Discussion Question
Vs.
Since Divergent has come out, I’ve always seen the trilogy either compared to The Hunger Games trilogy or called “the next Hunger Games,” and I think it can be agreed that both YA trilogies are hugely popular. Now I know that the ending to Mockingjay was considered quite “controversial” and that there were quite a few who were very upset with how it ended, and I feel that it will be the same with Allegiant. So what I really want to know is: Do you like the ending for Mockingjay or Allegiant better and why?
Alice in Readerland 
Well I haven’t Read Allegiant yet, but I hated the ending of MockingJay. It was way too dark, and there was no ending that ended with any inspiration whatsoever. I am beginning to read this trilogy and might recomment on if I like it better or worse. Books that don’t have hope or inspiration at the end just shoot down the human idea that “love conquers all”. Hope other people can tell me that the ending of this newer trilogy is better, or I may not read it.
To be honest, the end of Allegiant is pretty dark, although I think it does have a hopeful last sentence and a “love conquers all” moral.
Sentences like this are why I love this trilogy: “Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.” I haven’t read Allegiant yet, I’m just hoping both Tris and Four make it through – they better! Erg! The Hunger Games never really grabbed me in the same way that this series have, so its ending didn’t bug me really… Cool post, thanks for sharing these! I’m a quote-a-holic!
That’s such a great line! I hope you enjoy Allegiant! (I’m a quote-a-holic too, I recently discovered how you can like quotes on goodreads, and I’ve been going through and liking a lot!)
Lol. I actually keep a book of quotes by my bedside which gets added to over time. :-) But sometimes I just underline them in the book because I am a book vandal at heart! Lol.
I love the idea of a book of quotes! :) I had a hard time picking out which quotes to use–I had a bunch of highlights. :)
Well I think you did a stellar job! :-)
Thank you! :) :) :)
My heart is seriously pounding. First, I have to say that I love the quotes you posted! Second, I haven’t read Insurgent yet (I stopped when I realized that I didn’t remember Divergent) but I was told the spoiler/ending for Allegiant and OH MY GOSH. Makes me want to read it even more.
Thank you! :) Ironically, Tris and Tobias annoyed me in Insurgent, but Insurgent was actually my favorite of the 3. I hope you enjoy Allegiant! :)
I’m listening to the Allegiant audiobook right now,and I’m feeling so much dread based on the ratings so far :( I liked Mockingjay, but I think you’re right that the reaction to Allegiant is similar.
I liked Mockingjay too, but I know a lot of my friends didn’t. I’m curious to hear your thoughts when you’ve finished!
Your cat is so cute! And I love the name! I’m totally skipping over the Allegiant quotes. I haven’t got my copy yet. But your post has got me all excited about! :D
Thank you! =^..^= I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it when you’re finished! :)
I really want to read the entire series! They all sound amazing, so I think I will ask for them for Christmas :)
I hope you enjoy them! :)
I’ve think a lot about the ending of the series, and I can’t think of a better way to end it, even though this is fiction and pretty much sci-fi, I don’t think I’ve ever read such a realistic ending.
I can’t believe the amount of negative reviews there are, and I think the main reason for them is that during the first books we forget that Katniss is just a girl, she’s a 17 year old girl in the middle of a war, she’s been traumatized by everything that’s going on around her, she’s seen people die in front of her, and she has blood in her hands, how can we expect her to have a happy-ever-after kind of life after everything she’s seen?
I’m not gona spoil anything, but I think the way she reacted was the way a normal person would react, it’s the way men that have been in war react, why can’t she? is it because we think of her like some kind of a superhero? like a new wonder women? I mean she already has the costume, right? Well, I don’t think so, at the end of the day she’s just a girl.
So I think the ending was perfect, it’s a bittersweet ending, in a way you are happy she has the love of her life, but at the same time you realize that war scared her, and even though she’s happy (she says so herself), she’ll never forget what she went through, and the people she lost, so at the end of the book, there’s no smile in your face, it’s just another reminder that life is not perfect, there are ups and downs, and both define the way you live. So for the first time in my life, I enjoyed an epilogue, not only I enjoyed it, it was perfect.
A perfect ending for a great series.
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First, the big one: Yes, like everyone else, I hated the decision to kill Tris. But for me, it’s not just because Tris died. It’s more how and WHY the decision was to kill her. I feel like Veronica Roth felt that the only way she could show that Tris was selfless was to kill her off – which isn’t true. To me, it felt like The Matrix where they tried to fit Neo as the modern day Jesus Christ. Tris is so special that the death serum doesn’t work on her! The only person in the world who is like that. Then she is murdered by David because he wants the system on the way that it was. And she sacrificed herself to save the world! How selfless! (Except was it really, when it was because she didn’t want her brother to die because she felt he was doing it for the wrong reasons so she would feel guilty. Doesn’t her feelings – not wanting to feel guilty – make it selfish?) It was just too contrived. I know that Roth is a Christian, but I never felt that it dictated her writing until this book.
Second, let’s talk character continuity. EVELYN spent years neglecting her son, proved to be power hungry after creating her factionless army to strike back against the faction system, but choose to give all that up after being emotionally blackmailed by Tobias? That seemed super contrived and not at all in character. She never showed any humanity in Insurgent or Allegiant before the end. Her choice simply was not believable for the character. MARCUS is another power hungry character who, when presented with an option to give up his power, said, “no, I’m the leader” and Joanna said, “no, you’re not and I’m going to tell everyone” and then he just folded and went off into the sunset? The man who was built up as a power hungry monster for three books would not have done that without more resistance. Or force. Or violence. PETER has shown no remorse for anything he’s done for 3 books (which includes attaching people while sleeping, trying to kill Tris, turning on his Faction, etc.) but at the end he’s so full of remorse that he chooses to take the memory serum and forget, in the hope that he would change? Not *once* had we seen even glimpses of remorse from him, so the total 180 degree remorse is totally out of character. No one changes 180 degrees in a matter of pages. You’d expect to see glimpses prior, so that the big change isn’t completely out in left field. And even TRIS turns from someone with a strong sense of right and wrong to someone for whom the ends justify the means? Tris in Divergent would have said that wiping anyone’s memory is morally wrong. Tris in Alligiant says wiping memories of those in her world are wrong, but in the government world is ok? And that’s not character growth, because it’s the opposite direction; it’s lack of continuity.
Third, if you are going to have dual points-of-view, you have to make sure that the storytellers sound different. Tris and Tobias have too similar a voice. Their voices were almost identical. It’s frustrating to not realize who is talking because they have the same voice. Several times, I had to keep going back to see whose viewpoint I was on. (Something you never had to do for Jodi Picoult, who employs that tactic.) I get why you had to have Tobias’ storytelling (since she was killing off Tris, someone had to finish the book) but you need distinct voice if you do that. Fail on Veronica Roth’s part.
Fourth, I felt this book (more than the others) had significant storyline flaws. The biggest to me is that they had already established that the Chicago Bureau was just ONE of several in the United States. Which means that just modifying the memories of the Chicago Bureau would do NOTHING because the experiment is still going on in other cities. And let’s be honest, all the Government would do is send new people – with their memories – to Chicago to restore order and continue the experiment. When leaders are assassinated, the government goes on with new leaders. And the little offhand comment about Peter at the end – wiping his memory didn’t really change who he was and what he thought b/c the rougher parts came out again – would be true of the Chicago Bureau anyway. And as a total aside, people at the Bureau watching everyone’s lives play out on TV – isn’t that a little Hunger Games ripoff? And the ending, everyone is friends with Caleb? I don’t see it. They hated him since he worked with Jeanne. People wanted him to sacrifice himself, he let Tris do it (no matter how it played out), Tris does, and they are ok with Calab? That makes no sense whatsoever. And this book takes place at least 200 years in the future (I calculated 8 generations by 25 years). The U.S. is apparently in shambles. The west is wild. And yet, no other country has conquered the U.S.? Unlikely. She appears to be going for realism with Tris’s death, but disregards it with other issues. We’d have been better with a no-name government. And we know that Tobias is not Divergent, and we know that he got Abnegation. Meaning that Tobias was Abnegation and selfless. Yet to prove that he wasn’t genetically damaged, he is willing to hook up with people he doesn’t even know for revenge, against Tris’s comments? That’s incredibly selfish. When he did it in Insurgent, the idea was that it was because it was his mother. Yet this time there is no reasonable explanation why he would be do something like that – which goes against his Abnegation selflessness that he was meant to be.
Finally, Tris’s mother. First, she just gets dropped off in Dauntless at age 15, and NO ONE notices? They re-did *everyone’s* memory? (And apparently not that well, since in Insurgent, Tris was identified as second generation by the simulation). Second, even at the end of Divergent, when her mother knew that she was going to sacrifice herself for Tris, she is *still* telling lies to Tris? Who she knows is Divergent so possibly in danger going forward? NO MOTHER WOULD SO THAT. That may bother e more than anything else in the book. If her mother was trying to save the Divergent, the minute you know (or even suspect) that your daughter is Divergent, you save your child. (And similarly, why didn’t Amar ever try to save Tobias if he knew Tobias was Divergent – even if he was wrong about that). And did her mother know about Divergents b/c she was one (as she told Tris), or because she was from outside and was saving them (so yet another lie she told Tris at the end of her life)?
Thanks so much for your comment, I enjoyed reading it! The epilogue of Mockingjay is actually one of my favorite endings ever. I thought it was so poignant and bittersweet. Katniss is also one of my favorite leads too, but I didn’t love her because she was feisty and could fight, I loved her because of how her character developed (like how she grew to understand her mother in Catching Fire and be kinder to her prep team), for her wry thoughts, how much fight she had IN her to keep on going, and for everything she would do for the people she loved.
*
Exactly! Yes, I was obviously not happy with Tris dying (I mean, I did not read 3 books and go “Yes! She died! How perfect! I love it when the MC dies!”) but I was mainly upset about the way and how too. (Plus, and this’ll get me in trouble, I thought the scene could’ve been WAY more poignantly, vividly, and emotionally written.)
“Except was it really, when it was because she didn’t want her brother to die because she felt he was doing it for the wrong reasons so she would feel guilty. Doesn’t her feelings – not wanting to feel guilty – make it selfish?” I felt the same way! She’s said she was the “last Prior”, stopped speaking to him, physically beat him up, and she basically volunteered him for the mission. But when she learned that he was going because he wanted to be redeemed/felt guilty instead of loving her, it sounded a bit to me (to put it VERY, VERY bluntly): ‘You don’t get to do this to get redeemed. You’re doing it because you’re guilty and not solely because you love me? Well, live with your guilt forever while I go to die.” It felt a teeny bit cliched that she died how her mother died too.
The character continuity had me shaking my head too. Evelyn and Marcus felt way too easy, like a build-up that fizzled out. I also got irritated at the pacing and inconsistencies. I wish Tobias’ voice was more distinct, or that he just had an epilogue.
“Isn’t that a little Hunger Games ripoff?” That is exactly what I was thinking! In Mockingjay, there’s also a chapter where Katniss is training and it mentions the “door to all your fears” that sounds an awful lot like the simulations in Divergent. So add that, plus people watching them like a TV show, plus Tris not liking that she’s now “famous,” and some scenes with Tobias in Divergent that seems mimicy, this book really made me think of the Hunger Games at times.
The whole thing with Tris’ mother just felt like a big plot hole in itself, to be honest.
I hated the epilogue of Mockingjay. I felt like Katniss just kind of gave up and it didn’t seem like Katniss would just choose to get married and have kids. It felt off from everything we already knew about her character.
So I did not see the ending of Allegiant coming at all. It took me completely by surprise. But I thought it was a good ending. I thought it was fitting and honestly, after reading it, I sit here wondering if Mockingjay would have been better if Katniss had died. Personally, I think it would have. Both Katniss and Tris go through some major struggles. And they go through all these struggles to do what’s right and to protect the people they love.
Obviously Katniss volunteers to protect Prim. In Insurgent, Tris goes to Erudite headquarters to protect her friends (even if it’s for the wrong reasons), in Allegiant she faces the death serum to spare Caleb. Both characters are very similar although they also have huge differences.
I think that the ending of Allegiant was fitting. As hard as it was to read. I cried so hard. I think I went through a whole box of tissues. Seriously.
But as a whole, the book disappointed me. I didn’t like the multiple POVs. I didn’t think Four had a distinct enough voice and I kept forgetting that I was reading from his POV. And I thought that what they found outside the city was kind of lame. I wanted it to be bigger. I wanted it to be cooler. And it was kind of a let down.
Those are my thoughts. Allegiant ending > Mockingjay ending
I’m glad you enjoyed Allegiant! I actually liked how the epilogue had Katniss keep going on in the aftermath, but I can see where you’re coming from, since her character definitely did change. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)
I’ve scrolled through your post (far too scared for any spoiler) but I love the quotes you’ve picked from Divergent :)
Mel@thedailyprophecy.
Thank you! :)