Amity decides they don’t want to be caught in the middle of this feud between Abnegation and Erudite. Amity is like that really shitty person that claims to not want to get in the middle of a friend’s fight when it’s pretty clear who is in the right and who is in the wrong. You know, Amity, it’s okay to choose sides when one person is literally murdering the others in the street. Lesson: If your friend threatens to murder your other friend (or goes through with it), it’s actually fine to choose sides, people.
[Matthew says: In the book’s defense, as you’ll see, Four does get very critical of Amity for the same reasons we are, so it’s not like the book isn’t aware of how stupid they’re being. Okay, fairness over! Let’s go back to banging our heads against the table over how dumb Amity is.]
Chapter 3
Nighttime, Tris’ room in the Amity kibbutz. Tris feels sad because there is a lot to feel sad about. Luckily, it’s time for a distraction!
I see a flicker of movement in my periphery, and look out the window that faces the apple orchard. Johanna Reyes and Marcus Eaton walk side by side, pausing at the herb garden to pluck mint leaves from their stems. I am out of my room before I can evaluate why I want to follow them.
I think we can all agree Tris just wanted to go pick some mint leaves with them. Also, I am genuinely shocked Tris didn’t add something about the way Marcus as plucking mint leaves maliciously or with forced sincerity.
Tris goes into Super Secret Stealth mode [Matthew says: We could make a Bad Books Good Times drinking game out of every time we’ve seen a main character go into Super Secret Stealth Mode] and sneaks around a greenhouse to eavesdrop on Johanna and Marcus and bide her time before she too can pluck all the mint leaves her Divergent heart desires.
Johanna kindly confronts Marcus about the fact that he knows why Erudite chose now to attack Abnegation. Seriously, it’s the friendliest confrontation ever. I don’t know if anyone will remember Making Fiends but she is basically the happy little girl from Making Fiends (Charlotte) and Marcus is the cranky little girl who is always up to no good (Vendetta – Yeah with that name she could have been part of Aphrodite’s crew in House of Night). Charlotte is always killing Vendetta with kindness and totally oblivious to her bitchiness. I still love that web series so much. It’s so old-school, I can’t even figure out how to embed it from there. Go watch it.
Anywho, Marcus is very cryptic (but still no word of him being fake) [Matthew says: Or basic.]:
“There is a reason you don’t know all the things I know. A long time ago, the Abnegation were entrusted with some sensitive information,” says Marcus. “Jeanine attacked us to steal it. And if I am not careful, she will destroy it, so that is all I can tell you.”
It’s hope this big piece of information is just Abnegation’s recipe to their amazing muffins. How dare they just give those away to the Factionless when we can’t even figure out how to bake such delicious delicacies without Pinterest!
Marcus says he can’t trust anyone anymore because it’s gotten his friends killed (aw. Marcus, you big softie.)
“In order to have peace, we must first have trust,” says Johanna. “So I hope you change your mind. Remember that I have always been your friend, Marcus, even when you did not have many to speak of.”
She leans in and kisses his cheek, then walks to the end of the orchard.
[Matthew says: And thus ends the… most romantic confrontation ever? I have no idea what’s going on with the tone in this book.]
Tris goes to find Four and Caleb, and they’re having a grand old time together in Four’s room. Four is regaling Caleb with his ability to hurl a knife into a hunk of cheese. Shoutout to the knife vs cheese dilemma? #ThrowbackThursday.
Caleb quickly excuses himself to, I kid you not, go read a book on “water-filtration systems” which I would also choose over watching Tris and Four making out. [Matthew says: If only we had the foresight to call ourselves “Bad Water-Filtration System Books, Good Times”. This could all have been avoided.]
Tobias is convinced Marcus was exaggerating to Johanna to make himself seem really important. Tris isn’t convinced because he seemed sincere this time, and she made such a big point those other times to tell us how insincere he was being, so he is defo telling the truth.
Four thinks they should just find out after they resolve everything that’s going on, which is a really stupid plan, but Tris is like, “He’s hot, so I’ll go with it.”
Chapter 4
The next day, Caleb does his best impression of Hermione Granger and starts reminding everyone about the infamous book Faction History, which I hope Veronica Roth never writes to flesh out the Divergent world.
Caleb also starts asking Tris questions about her simulation results and going on about how odd it is that she could have been put in three factions. I bet that’s one of those mysteries the book will just never solve. [Matthew says: There are a lot of gems of batshit book logic in this scene. We have Caleb’s explanation that “It’s really difficult for a person to get two results – the program doesn’t allow it”, which contradicts itself, as well as, you know, everything. And we also get my old favorite, “What does this mean about your brain chemistry? Or anatomy?” because the main premise of this book IS SOMEHOW SIMULTANEOUSLY A CHOICE AND YOUR ACTUAL, LITERAL ANATOMY. Tris responds to this last one by laughing and saying “I don’t know”, which is great, because that’s exactly how the novel answers this question too.]
They discuss this for awhile, and Caleb is fascinated, but we don’t learn anything new. After this, Four shows off really pissed off about something, but won’t say what. Marcus shows up, and says that Abnegation has decided it’s too selfish of them to stay at Amity, so they want Tris and Four to escort them…back to Abnegation headquarters?
“The other Abnegation and myself have discussed it and decided that we should not stay here. We believe that, given the inevitability of further conflict in our city, it would be selfish of us to stay here while what remains of our faction is inside that fence. We would like to request that you escort us.”
See? Pretty vague. [Matthew says: I don’t think their plan is to go back to Abnegation headquarters, since the rest of the Abnegation fled to seek refuge with other Hufflepuff, Candor, because we’re really trying to give the two Hufflepuffs something to do in this book.] Anyway, the chapter ends with Tris and Four agreeing and Tris deciding this is how she’s going to get information from Marcus.
What do you think this super secret information is?