A Textual Analysis of Allegiant from the perspective of a Peter/Caleb Shipper.
Ok, re-reading Allegiant as a Peter and Caleb shipper is potentially the best thing ever.
There are literally so many hints that that they are banging.
They do everything together. They’re always listed next to each other when Tris summarises the group. ‘Peter and Caleb were sat on the grass’ ‘Peter did this, Caleb was doing that’. They’re an automatic duo.
Then the adorable plane bit where everyone is all nervous and excited to be in a plane, and they sit next to each other to look out of the window together and its adorable. And even oblivious Tris is like ‘woah. suspicious. my brother who I’ve been ignoring and Peter who I’ve been ignoring are suddenly all buddy buddy...oh well, never mind, I hate them anyway so they don’t count as real people’.
But there are tiny textual details as well that, out of context, don’t make any sense at all. But when put in the context of ‘Peter and Caleb are secretly banging’ make SO MUCH SENSE.
I.e. pg 192. ‘Caleb walks into the dormitory. There’s a stain on his shirt that looks like sauce, but he doesn't seem to notice it’. Banging. They had sex after the adorable plane ride. Peter is missing, and Caleb was missing, and then all of a sudden Caleb appears with a mysterious stain on his shirt?
And he has a ‘look in his eye, and I wonder what he’s been reading or watching to make him look like that’. Peter. He saw Peter naked, ok. And it made him want to make it up to Tris, as he now knows what true love is.
Then a few chapters on, there’s a whole section on Caleb and his books. How he collects them and stores them away and always likes books to computers. ‘His fingers built for turning pages’. He even admits ‘I’ve been spending a lot of time here’ to Tris when he talks about the library.
Then at the very start of Chapter 24 ‘Peter is across the room, gathering a stack of books into a pile and shoving them into a bag’. Peter’s all of a sudden a book worm? He from Candor born and Dauntless-transfer? With nothing but disdain for Erudite? Suddenly likes reading? And spending time in the library? Yeah, sure, ok because that’s not suspiciously out of character.
And then he reveals his secret project to Four, being all casual like ‘some of the Bureau people have been helping me figure it out’. Yeah sure. Because you’ve really been sat in the same reading room as Caleb for the past few weeks, and it hasn't been him whose been helping you out, right?
And then then ‘Everybody Hates Us Club’. ‘It’s just me and Caleb for now’. Yeah it is. Peter. and Caleb. Sitting around discussing how everybody hates them. Peter suddenly spending lots of time in the same place as Caleb, but finding a way to deal with his demons through books? Caleb’s favourite things in the world? Coincidence? Really? Peter suddenly being friendly to Four, after spending more time with Caleb.
The two of them mysteriously vanishing during the attack of David. Everyone else is accounted for, but Peter and Caleb? Nope. No where to be found. What a surprise.
And then. My fave part. The George/Amar parallel. Tris literally spells it out for the readers exactly why George and Amar were drawn together; ‘outsiders in an unfamiliar world’. Both had to ‘fake their own deaths’ to survive, they had to hurt people for their own selfish survival instincts.
Remind you of anyone? Peter and Caleb both hurt people to survive. In the dystopian survival of the fittest world of Divergent, hurting people can range from letting your own sister be murdered by your boss, or stabbing someone in the eye with a butterknife. And survival can be anything, from surviving Dauntless initiation, or surviving an Erudite take over.
And thus they became ‘outsiders’. Everyone in their group, from Four to Christina, is thrust into this unfamiliar world in Allegiant, when they cross the wall, but they’re all still part of this group. They’re friends, and lovers, and families, and they’re a unit that works to protect each other. Peter and Caleb just aren’t a part of that, so naturally they’re drawn to each other. It’s a parallel.
Pg368. Tris goes into the dormitory ‘Only Peter and Caleb are there.’ And thus follows a cute little scene of nerdy boyfriends studying together, college au style. And then there’s a nice moment where Caleb, super super casually goes ‘Can I get a piece of paper?’ from Peter. Which, yes, sounds like the lamest moment in the history of shipping. But context, people, all about the context. So this is Peter. Peter who stabbed a guy in the eye, who sexually attacked Tris, who joins forces with the bad guys nearly every other chapter. No one else will go near him, no one wants him in their truck, no one wants him on their team, most of the group are either scared of him or despise him. Except Caleb. Who is apparently so comfortable with Peter that he can use him as his stationary boy. And Peter? He just submits. He’s a submissive puppy who is perfectly happy to let Caleb demand things from him, to help out a girl that Peter hates, and has tried to kill on multiple occasions. But because Caleb asks? The job is done.
Also did I mention...they’re studying together!! Like, this can’t have been an accidental ‘whoops we casually decided to both study in the dorm today, rather than in the reading room...at the same time...on the same day...whilst everyone else was out...’ This was a planned study date. This was a ‘omg everyone’s out of the dorm, lets go make out in it, but have books set up everywhere so if anyone comes in, it’ll look like we’ve been nerding out’.
But then, how it ends is interesting too. Because the timings of Caleb deciding to die, and Peter deciding to erase his memory seem pretty much identical. I mean, it is literally on the same day - Peter goes to visit Uriah, and then chooses to come with Four into the city to memory wipe everyone, without inoculating himself. In the same chapter, and potentially, only a few minutes or hours later, Caleb volunteers himself to be the one to die getting the memory serum. And as the chapter goes on, and narrative days pass, more people know about Caleb, e.g. Peter would definitely have heard, and Four notices he becomes more determined than ever to come with them to the city. It’s left ambiguous who decided to go first, but it kind of seems like Peter decided on a whim to wipe his own memory, Caleb knew, subsequently volunteered to die, and in a Romeo and Romeo twist, Peter became even more determined to forget about it. Which is exactly what he does. However. There’s a still a twist at the end. Because Caleb doesn’t die. He survives. And there’s a scene, after Tris’ death, where Cara is telling Peter to go back to the dormitory because someone will be there to help him. The same dormitory where Caleb will have been living since Tris died. Their story has changed, but technically, they are still orbiting around each other. Even if one is driven mad with grief, and the other one lost to a serum, they are still Peter and Caleb.
It’s quite tragic really, but, as any shipper knows, a tragic love story is better than no love story at all.
In the past 24 hours I have developed a full unbridled obsession with shipping Peter and Caleb.
It’s unhealthy.
I’ve read all their fics.
I’ve been in their tag.
I’ve watched the fan videos.
I’m literally just about to rewatch Insurgent, just to see them evil boyfriend-ing it up against Tris, and being all cute and colourful together in Amity.
I can’t seem to shake them off, they would be just be the ultimate Divergent ship and also I really really like Miles Teller. In everything he’s in. Even in Fantastic Four, you just forget how terrible the plot is, and look at his face and it’s all ok.
IV: Caleb tries to keep his promise of fixing everything up.
V: Caleb and Pogue finally have their talk. Caleb admits some things and Pogue pushes for others.
Well, this was by far the best episode their has been in a while... I don't think anyone can denying that. So let's start from the top.
First scene, I'm like 'Aria, hun, why the hell are you still drinkin that tea... it's probably poisoned... girl' ... can't believe no one ever even thought of that.
The A lair scene with Toby and Mona was great. "She" is in charge. I think I'll be writing a theory about all of the girls that could be "she" ... like this post if you want me to do that! I will say after the end of last weeks episode where Mona called someone outside of Byron's office and said "he's gone" ... I think it's possible Meredith could be the ruler of the A team. I will put that out there. Strong possibility, and she was in the first episode right? She's been around this WHOLE time. And it's clear that she wanted to hurt all the girls tonight.
Let me talk about how much I like Veronica Hastings now, she's a better mom now that Melissa isn't around causing trouble. But based of the Ali and Byron flashback, I'm thinking she won't be gone for long. Because if Byron's story told us anything it's that we now have a new top suspect in the Ali's murder trail.
Hanna's A attack ... well it was obviously Toby right? We saw Mona at school minutes before it happened. And let's be honest Toby is the worst member of the A team there has ever been. I really think he was the one that Hanna hit with her car in season 2. I mean he is just really terrible at escapes he needs to work at that.
Now let's talk about Meredith... aka the psycho bitch. First I was like, why are you visiting Aria in the middle of the day... you are not her mom and she hates you. Then I was like, you seriously stole her phone and aren't letting her talking to her mother? Then I probably (definitely) peed my pants when Aria woke up to her fucking standing over her like a creep with that glass in her hand. WHAT THE HELL. I jumped, I was scared. I don't even know. She is crazy. She didn't care that her hand was bleeding. She is seriously really insane. Even Byron figured that out when he walked into his house and she was staring into space like she just killed a bunch of teenage girls WHICH SHE TRIED TO DO. I can't. When she hit Aria, I was just like..... ummmm? And then I screamed again when she popped up behind Emily and Hanna. She is insane. And I don't get why she was freaking out over those diary entries when none of it involved her. It was all about Byron so why was she going insane. There is more we don't know about this. When she was talking to Byron, she made it seem like THEY had been caught. Like Aria found out what THEY did to Ali. But Meredith wasn't mentioned at all in that diary. And if she was it's just a mention of an affair... which she won't go to jail for. There is a lot more we don't know about her, and that's exactly why she ran away.
Now... the big reveal. My reaction was not what I expected. I really actually expected that scene where she found him to be a lot more dramatic but I actually laughed a little bit honestly. When Toby turned around ... his face ... I just couldn't, I laughed. He got caught and he just looked so pathetic and his face was emotionless I found it funny. And when Spencer slapped him, I cheered a little bit and laughed again. However, Spencer said one word ... "mommy" and I was done ... just crying. I'm so happy she found out. And I wish she slapped him a few more times. Toby is to blame for everything regarding Spencer in my eyes. I love Spencer and I'm just really happy she now knows. But her crying at the end "will you just tell me what I saw tonight wasn't real?" ... done. Bawling. I can't.
I saved that Ali visit for last because, I found it really interesting. Just something she did this time made it seem like (to me) she actually dead. And some people are definitely going to disagree. But I found it interesting that the diary pages were still the doll. In the "dream" Ali took the pages. We never saw her put them back at least, they were unfolded and in her hand and then she set the doll down and left. It really could have been a dream. Obviously the line "do I look dead to you" was a huge hint that maybe she's not dead. So that whole flashback left me confused. And I really don't understand what the line "you know why I chose you right?" means... did she mean... Why I picked to blackmail YOUR dad, or why I got involved in your life. She can't mean why I chose to visit you because she has visited everyone. And was she talking about Toby when she said that she is surprised Spencer hasn't figured out who A is yet? Or... herself maybe? These Ali dreams usually leave me more confused than anything else. I'm trying to make sense of it, and when I do I'll write up a theory for you all.
