#volturiqueen1993

[kathrynmjaneway]

volturiqueen1993 answered your question “I am desperate”

Just google 'Double-Edged Knife', it's one of my Tris/Eric fics

Ahhhh yes, I already read it twice *-* I love it so much!

[coeurvrai]

This is a tumblr hug. Pass this to at least 10 of your favorite tumblr followers to show how much you love them as best buddies. Make sure you don't break the CHAIN. Happy tumblr hug!

Thank you! :)

[snarktheater]

Just as an reminder: We never even learn how Jeanine even got to Caleb. That's always bugged me, basically because I like things nice and tight at the end. Did Jeanine blackmail him? Did she use information to blackmail him? These questions have plagued me. Divergent is up there with Twilight when it comes to protagonist-centered morality, and this is coming from someone who loves these two series.

The way Caleb phrases it makes it sound like she was really convincing, but blackmail is entirely possible. However, if anything, I really think it’s more emotional manipulation (abuse?) revolving on all the secrets Caleb’s parents kept from him and that Jeanine shared. Learning that things were kept from him all this time must have hurt him.

Think Ursula in The Little Mermaid, convincing Ariel to make a deal with her to join the humans, and replace “join the humans” with “find out the truth about the city”. But it is just my headcanon.

And yes, the books do revolve on protagonist-centered morality. Which is part of why they suck so much.

[snarktheater]

I feel like the series would have been better had Tris chose Erudite with her brother, had the war occurred a full year later. The series could have been about abandoning your prejudices. Not to mention that I doubt Jeanine was her father's only friend. Another old friend of her father would have been one of the things to prove her wrong about the Erudite. But that's just me.

Tris didn’t necessarily have to choose Erudite, actually. Just the fact that Caleb transferred should have been enough to make her think “Hey, maybe if my brother whom I’ve always looked up to has chosen this faction, it’s not all that bad!” Instead, she vilified her brother as soon as he joined them (even in book one), and never really gave up on it.

Though to be fair, having her choose Erudite would have been much better than having to suffer the Dauntless’ suicide-cult initiation. And if anyone wants to argue that “learning is boring”, I’ll kindly point them to Harry Potter. In fact, it might have helped the first book waste much less time on the initiation as it did.

It would also have been nice to see her father’s old friends, yes. Or just Erudite people in general. Will doesn’t count, because, in spite of the book’s tendency (even in the recent chapters of Allegiant I reviewed) to treat him like an Erudite, he had transferred to Dauntless. Aside from him, we have Fernando, who existed for the sole purpose of title drop, and Cara. She’s the only somewhat sympathetic Erudite character I can think of, and the book still pretends she’s a cold, emotionless machine. Even in the context of genetic damage, this feels forced (and considering what the next chapter does to that concept, I don’t even know what to think anymore).

The real problem is that, ultimately, the book itself is prejudiced, not just Tris. Even if Allegiant attempts to make it better against the Erudite specifically (and doesn’t quite succeed, as far as I’m concerned), it looks like the Bureau are going to be our main villains, and they’re also scientists. This is no longer a coincidence right there.

[asirensrage]

If something happened to Eric's significant other (his girlfriend is in a coma, she's ignoring him, etc.), I can't see him react like how Tobias did when Tris gave him the silent treatment after the GD rebel attack. In my Eric/OC story 'Convergent', when my OC was in a coma, he didn't mope about it all the time. But that wouldn't mean he doesn't care.

Oh don’t worry, Eric will react. Mostly like a child who wants a toy someone else is playing with. That sounds awful, lol, but I hope you get what I mean. It’ll be a fun interaction and there will be hints as to what he’s doing when she’s not around. 

[snarktheater]

I love that your icon is Caleb Prior. He's my second favorite character in Divergent.

Thanks ^-^ My icons are usually the few characters I do like in the books I’m reviewing, whenever I can. Caleb felt like a natural choice. I could have gone for Peter, too, but I’m not a fan of what they did to him in the movie.

(Shameless plug-in: if you want to look at my past icons, they’re on the Facebook page)

[snarktheater]

I think Veronica meant 'Interstate 90'. Doing some research, I see it goes through Chicago.

Possibly. In which case, it’s just another of the numerous references to the city which will forever be lost on me.

I’ll add a note on it in the post, though. Thanks ^^

[snarktheater]

Tris most likely exaggerated her brother's role with the Erudite because she was furious with him for betraying her. Jeanine was most likely used Caleb with the history she had with Caleb's and Tris's father. Caleb was more likely a pawn to trick Tris in my opinion.

That would be my guess, as well.

The problem, again (which is a problem many books using first-person narration face, as well as many other books not using it), is that the book never even hints that Tris may be wrong in her exaggeration. It’s something I’ve probably said before, and that I know I’ll say it again—I have a The Fault In Our Stars movie review queued where I bring it up.

I don’t agree with the principle of “death of the author” 100%—there is a lot to be learned about a book when you place it in context. However, I do think that the text should speak for itself. This is why I’m not too fond of Word of Gay (authors outing their queer characters outside of the books, with no indication in them that they were in fact not straight), and why I will not take “well, it’s intentional” or “well, she’s meant to be wrong” as an excuse. Technically, it's part of the good old "show, don't tell" rule.

If Tris is meant to be wrong, there should be something in the book itself that at least allows room for a debate. At least. And I mean that in text; not subtext. If Tobias was the somewhat decent love interest of book one, he could have challenged her (but judging by how he draws a parallel with him and Marcus, it’s unlikely to happen); or, you know, she could just talk it out with Caleb at some point.

Now, of course, keep in mind I haven’t finished the book yet, so it may still happen. But I doubt it, because Tris told us “Caleb was Jeanine’s right-hand man”, and presented it as fact when discussing his trial. I think the book wants us to believe she’s right. And that just doesn’t work.