Veronica Roth is best known for her revolutionary trilogy: The Divergent Trilogy, starting with her first book, Divergent. In this New York Times Bestselling trilogy Roth is able to develop and utilize a setting like very few authors of this genre ever before. The book is enticing and for those of you reading this, who haven't read this this a must read, so make sure you watch out for Veronica Roth and any and all of her dystopian literatureesque super novels. Now lets get back to the point: setting, its an unavoidable and crucial part of the story, at times in the novel it seems as if the setting itself is another antagonist all in itself. From the cascading falls of the Dauntless Headquarters to the broken windows on multistory skyscrapers, every setting ominously reminds the reader of what once used to be a completely different, inefficient and far less restrictive system of government; the republic of the United States of America.
Many years after a revolution changed destroyed our world as we know it forever, the survivors of our human civilization banded together in the year 2100 in the war torn city of Chicago, Illinois. They formed a seamlessly perfect system of government, composed of 5 separate groups known as factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Euridite and Dauntless, each represents one important aspect of our human civilization: Selflessness, Kindness, Truthfulness, Knowledge and Fearlessness. As each member of each faction turns 16 they take a simulation test which determines which factions they chose and in that the main character, Tris, has qualities present for 3 out of the 5 factions, this makes her a Divergent, she ultimately decides to join the faction Dauntless.
The main setting that Roth develops and centers the novel around is the Dauntless Headquarters where initiates who selected Dauntless as their factions during the Choosing Ceremony. As I previously explained Beatrice Prior chose Dauntless as her faction, and coincidentally the Dauntless Headquarters were portrayed as the most elusive and mysterious faction of them all, to a point where the Headquarters locations were completely unknown to all non-Dauntless faction members. This masterfully played set of details (portraying Dauntless Headquarters as mysterious) make the setting of the novel all the more enticing and anticipated, as the reader yearns to uncover the hidden secrets of the larger than life Dauntless Headquarters.
My favorite paragraph from the entire novel thus far is one that describes the magnificence of the chasm located inside the Dauntless Headquarters, "As we approach the railing, I hear a roar-of water,fasting moving water, crashing against rocks. I look over the side. The floor drops off at a sharp angle, and several stories below us is a river. Gushing water strikes the wall beneath me and sprays upwards. To my left, the water is calmer, but to my right, it is white battling with rock." This paragraph is the essence of the novel's setting. There are multiple major turning points in the novel for Tris including: her friend Christina is forced to hang over the chasm for 5 minutes, her friend Al takes his own life by jumping off into the chasm, she has to fight to avoid being thrown off by her enemy initiates. The setting is used to build tension between characters and used to progress parts/events of the plot to become more dramatic and suspense. All in all the setting is- as I previously stated- almost like another main character in the novel.
This link provides an in-depth analysis of the significance of the time period and setting of the novel Divergent By Veronica Roth
http://www.shmoop.com/divergent/setting.html
Many years after a revolution changed destroyed our world as we know it forever, the survivors of our human civilization banded together in the year 2100 in the war torn city of Chicago, Illinois. They formed a seamlessly perfect system of government, composed of 5 separate groups known as factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Euridite and Dauntless, each represents one important aspect of our human civilization: Selflessness, Kindness, Truthfulness, Knowledge and Fearlessness. As each member of each faction turns 16 they take a simulation test which determines which factions they chose and in that the main character, Tris, has qualities present for 3 out of the 5 factions, this makes her a Divergent, she ultimately decides to join the faction Dauntless.
The main setting that Roth develops and centers the novel around is the Dauntless Headquarters where initiates who selected Dauntless as their factions during the Choosing Ceremony. As I previously explained Beatrice Prior chose Dauntless as her faction, and coincidentally the Dauntless Headquarters were portrayed as the most elusive and mysterious faction of them all, to a point where the Headquarters locations were completely unknown to all non-Dauntless faction members. This masterfully played set of details (portraying Dauntless Headquarters as mysterious) make the setting of the novel all the more enticing and anticipated, as the reader yearns to uncover the hidden secrets of the larger than life Dauntless Headquarters.My favorite paragraph from the entire novel thus far is one that describes the magnificence of the chasm located inside the Dauntless Headquarters, "As we approach the railing, I hear a roar-of water,fasting moving water, crashing against rocks. I look over the side. The floor drops off at a sharp angle, and several stories below us is a river. Gushing water strikes the wall beneath me and sprays upwards. To my left, the water is calmer, but to my right, it is white battling with rock." This paragraph is the essence of the novel's setting. There are multiple major turning points in the novel for Tris including: her friend Christina is forced to hang over the chasm for 5 minutes, her friend Al takes his own life by jumping off into the chasm, she has to fight to avoid being thrown off by her enemy initiates. The setting is used to build tension between characters and used to progress parts/events of the plot to become more dramatic and suspense. All in all the setting is- as I previously stated- almost like another main character in the novel.
This link provides an in-depth analysis of the significance of the time period and setting of the novel Divergent By Veronica Roth
http://www.shmoop.com/divergent/setting.html
This review about this fictional book seems to be also a dystopian novel which really gives an imagery about what society will look like in the future. I agree that setting is a crucial part of the story because how can a reader like myself understand the book without it? This book which I have read before showed that the setting was basically a character.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting post and definitely explains why the setting is important to the book. I liked how you raised so many examples of how the setting is like a main character of the novel.
ReplyDeleteIn this review, I think you adequately described the setting utilized by the author, Veronica Roth, within the novel. It is my firm belief that the setting lens used in Divergent is a crucial feature within the story and enhances the plot events as well as theme. I liked how you used examples from the story to support your stance. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you thoroughly told the setting and the quotes as examples to make envisioning the imagery more easy to understand. I also really liked the background information you said to give us an idea of what this book's general idea and conflict is. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you told the setting, it was very clear. Especially with the use of supporting quotes. Blogs like this make me want to read the book being blogged about. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you summed up the setting and gave a clear analysis as to how the setting provided a great start for the plot and the story. Your quote does a great job giving definite details. Nice work.
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