Divergent: Book vs. Movie

Reviewer: Vraj Patel
SPOILER WARNING

I always wanted to read Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth, but I never got around to actually reading it. So, I decided to check it out a couple weeks ago. I read the book, but when I thought about what I could do for the blog (just a book review is pretty boring, ya know), an idea suddenly came to me. What if I watched the movie version and then compared the two? So, this past spring break, I watched the movie Divergent (2014). Here are my thoughts:

Summary first, though (once again, there are spoilers):
Beatrice Prior lives in a futuristic Chicago, where the people are split into 5 factions: Amity, the peaceful, Erudite, the smart ones, Candor, the truth-tellers, Dauntless, the brave, and Abnegation, the selfless. However, not all of these factions live in harmony. For example, there is growing tension between the Erudite and Abnegation factions. When children turn 16, they take an aptitude test that tells them what faction they belong in. The results clearly state that a specific person is best suited for a specific faction, but one does not have to choose the faction they receive in the test. Beatrice is born in Abnegation. She lives a simple life with her family. However, when it is time for her aptitude test, her results come in inconclusive. She is Divergent (there isn't just one faction she fits into). Divergents are dangerous to society, so she must hide this from everyone. Beatrice ends up choosing Dauntless as her new faction.

Dauntless training is tough. The initiates learn to fight, shoot guns, jump out of trains, and more. Beatrice (who now goes by Tris), struggles to keep up with the rest of the initiates. She makes some new friends but also some enemies. She also starts to catch feelings for one of her trainers, Four. She slowly gets better in her training, but her secret still exists deep in her mind. The training calls for a few simulations in which the initiate experiences their fears and has to overcome them. Tris actually broke out of her simulation, which is not usual. Four, who was watching this all happen, realizes Tris is Divergent (only they can break out of simulations and things like that). Four keeps her secret safe. Tris eventually passes initiation. The next day, however, everybody is acting weird, in a mechanical fashion. All except for Tris and Four. They both pretend to act like everyone else. Tris realizes she isn't acting like the others because she's Divergent, and Four is as well. All of the Dauntless are taken to the Abnegation residences and begin killing innocent people. Eventually, the leaders of Dauntless (who are not acting weird) catch Tris and Four being like normal people and take them to the Erudite leader, Jeanine. She is the one who created the aptitude test and hates Divergents. She had been conspiring with the Dauntless leaders to destroy the Abnegation faction (remember, the two factions had some growing tension). Tris and Four get separated. Four receives this serum that causes him to turn on Tris, and Tris is taken to be killed. However, Tris is saved by her mother, who she learns was also a Divergent (born in Dauntless). Tris goes to save Four from the Erudite. She succeeds, and they ride off on a train far from everyone.

I found a few differences between the book and the movie. For one, the way the movie portrays the Dauntless compound was different. While reading the book, I imagined the compound to be a dark and gloomy place with no natural sunlight. However, the movie displays it to be more like a place built into a ravine in Minecraft (I don't know a better way to describe it). It also looks kind of boring. This difference was more of my imagination, but I think in this scenario, the book has a better portrayal of the compound, as it allows the reader to imagine the place however they want.

While reading the book, I also forgot that the story took place in the future where there are more technological advancements. I only realized this when watching the movie, as it shows futuristic computers and train systems. This is a plus of the movie in my opinion.

Another difference was in the scene after Tris and Four are taken to Jeanine. In the book, once Four gets injected with the serum, Tris is taken to a tank full of water where she is expected to drown. Tris' mother saves her from the tank. However, in the movie, Tris is surrounded by Dauntless soldiers holding guns up to her face out in the open, and her mother saves her from being shot. I think this scene was better in the book, as it allowed Tris' mother to show off her skills more (she had to kill all of the tank guards, and then open the tank somehow, that takes a lot of work).

The final difference was in the endings, which were not the same. The book ends with Tris going to save Four, who was taken to the Dauntless control room. Tris helps Four get over the serum, and he shuts down the attack on Abnegation. The movie, however, ends with Tris making Jeanine shut everything down. This was a big change, but it is one that I do understand, as the movie version makes the scene seem much bigger and gives a final confrontation between the protagonist and antagonist.

So that was my review/comparison. In my opinion, the book version of Divergent was better, but the movie is not too far behind. What do you guys think?