Divergent

     THERE IS ONE mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair. I sit on the stool and my mother stands behind m e with the scissors, trimming. The strands fall on the floor in a dull, blond ring. When she finishes, she pulls my hair away from my face and twists it into a knot. I note how calm she looks and how focused she is. She is well-practiced in the art of losing herself. I can’t say the same of myself. I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn’t paying attention—not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity. A lot can happen to a person’s appearance in three months. In my reflection, I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose—I still look like a little girl, though sometime in the last few months I turned sixteen. The other factions celebrate birthdays, but we don’t. It would be self-indulgent. “There,” she says when she pins the knot in place. Her eyes catch mine in the mirror. It is too late to look away, but instead of scolding me, she smiles at our reflection.

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Veronica Roth's Divergent, Chapter 1, page 1

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     Beatrice has a discourse with her mother about what is about to happen to her. When she turns sixteen, she will have to commit herself to a faction, and that is always a very stressful decision. She feels some agitation in the matter, because her heart tells her to go to a different faction, but she was raised to be in the faction Abnegation. She is suppose to be selfless, and she greatly struggles with that. She does not want to disgrace her parents in any way, yet she does not feel free. Her garments are dull; she life his dull. She wants something better. She finally decides to go to a faction called Dauntless. There she struggles to find her identity and purpose in life. Thus is the beginning summary of Veronica Roth's book Divergent.