Divergent by Veronica Roth was a novel our sophomore English class read together. We also watched the movie Divergent in theaters. The story takes place in a futuristic dystopic society in the city of Chicago. The city is sort of run down and the people haven't really fixed it up but yet they have advanced technology. The city is closed off from the rest of the world with a large fence. The people are divided into five factions-Abnegation, Candor, Amity, Erudite, and Dauntless based on what each person is like. The main characters in Divergent are Beatrice Prior(Tris)-Shailene Woodley, Four-Theo James, Eric-Jai Courtney, Christina-Zoe Kravitz, Peter-Miles Teller, Jeanine Mathews-Kate Winslet, Tori-Maggie Q, Caleb Prior- Ansel Elgort and Marcus- Ray Stevenson. The basic plot is about Tris trying to fit into her new faction of Dauntless. She Most of the story takes place during Tris' initiation as she is has the struggle of other initiates, her Dauntless instructors, and hiding the fact that she is divergent which is a bad thing to be in this world.
Whenever someone makes a move based off a book there are going to be many similarities. Some of the similarities between the book and movie I liked was in both the book and movie was when Tris stood in front of a target as Four threw knifes at her to show her bravery as she defended Al during their training. I also liked how the movie added the when the initiates played Capture the Flag and went zip lining from the top of the building just like in the book. When Peter read the Erudite article about rumors of Tris' family and the Abnegation faction, it helped show in the movie that Peter was a jerk to Tris.
There were also some big differences that were not showed in the movie from the book. One big difference was when Tris and Four went into Four's fear landscape. In the book as they went through Tris was the one helping four get through his fears like telling him to calm down or just get it over with. In the movie Four was telling Tris to think like a Dauntless to find a way to get out of the situation. I liked the way the book did that scene because they didn't make the girl vulnerable, it was guy. she was comforting him.
Another difference between the movie and the book was that in the movie when Tris and Molly fought during training for the first time the movie had the result of Molly beating Tris. But in the book Tris pretty much kicks the crap out of Molly because of Tris' rage toward Molly. I think for the story as a whole it was better for Tris to beat Molly to show that she is learning to be Dauntless and show her strength.
Personally I liked the overall story and plot of Divergent, but if I were to chosen either the book or movie I would have to chose the book. The book contains so many more details of the story and describes the emotions of the characters rather than using their facial expressions like in movies. I do have to say though I might have to go see the movie again because yeah...uhhh Shailene Woodley is a real hottie!
