Allegiant Chapter 20: Fourbias

The chapter opens with Nita telling Fourbias she wasn’t sure if he’d come. Well, Nita, there is really nothing going on in the plot at this point, so you were kind of the only option. To further demonstrate her very important role as Nothing Better to Do, Nita shares some personal information about her tattoo

“Some people do,” she says. “The one on my back is of broken glass.” She pauses, the kind of pause you take when you’re deciding whether or not to share something personal. “I got it because it suggests damage. It’s . . . sort of a joke.”

That is actually the most boring tattoo idea anyone has ever had, unless there is someone out there who has a tattoo of an episode of CSI: CYBER. Seriously, wouldn’t a tattoo of broken glass just look like a jagged shape?

Nita wants to take Fourbias to meet the “Support Staff”:

 “Support staff is more than just a job. Almost all of us are GDs—genetically damaged, leftovers from the failed city experiments or the descendants of other leftovers or people pulled in from the outside, like Tris’s mother, except without her genetic advantage. And all of the scientists and leaders are GPs—genetically pure, descendants of people who resisted the genetic engineering movement in the first place. There are some exceptions, of course, but so few I could list them all for you if I wanted to.”

Fourbias then explains why this strict seperation exists (genetically pure people grew up around experiments, so they’re totally amazing at them, while the genetically damaged were IN the experiments, so they’re like, “WHAAAAA”) He also explains why this might not be the best thing for society, in case we couldn’t figure this out for ourselves.

“The division is based on knowledge, based on qualifications—but as I learned from the factionless, a system that relies on a group of uneducated people to do its dirty work without giving them a way to rise is hardly fair.”

So deep. So informative.

Nita then tells Fourbias she thinks Tris is right in that nothing is changed, but now he knows he has limits…like everyone else. HOW IS THIS A “BUT” KIND OF STATEMENT? Tobias is really angry about this whole situation, and I’m really not sure why. Because now he’s arguing that he doesn’t want people telling the genetically damaged people they have limits. Even though we all fucking have limits. Specifically, I’m not sure what these limits are meant to be, and neither is Fourbias:

“So there’s an upward limit to . . . what? My compassion? My conscience?” I say. “That’s the reassurance you have for me?”

Nita’s eyes study me, carefully, and she doesn’t respond.

“This is ridiculous,” I say. “Why do you, or they, or anyone get to determine my limits?”

“It’s just the way things are, Tobias,” Nita says. “It’s just genetic, nothing more.”

“That’s a lie,” I say. “It’s about more than genes, here, and you know it.”

BUT REALLY WHAT SPECIFICALLY DO YOU MEAN BY LIMITS?

Anyway, they’re distracted when some rando comes running by, shouting about how “the verdict is in.” It’s Marcus’ verdict of course. In case you weren’t able to see this twist coming from a thousand miles away, Marcus is being banished to outside the fence. The gang just cannot escape this guy.

The one really weird thing we learn, though, is that Abnegation only allows divorce if there was spousal abuse…which raises the question: if Abnegation folk abuse each other, does that make them Divergent as fuck?

Allegiant Chapter 21: Tris

Tris tells us an attack drill is going to be taking place soon. She tells us Fourbias is really mopey and that everyone slept in today.

When we left the city, we lost our factions, our sense of purpose. Here there is nothing to do but wait for something to happen, and far from making me feel relaxed, it makes me feel jittery and tense.

What was the sense of purpose the factions gave? It never really seemed like they had any higher purpose or goals except to live each day, much like Tris is doing now. Except now I’d think there was even more of a purpose because they’re meant to be making everyone ~genetically pure~ again. In Dauntless, all they did was go to Hot Topic and get tattoos.

Tris tries to tell Fourbias how awesome flying in the plane was, but he is less than enthused:

He nods. “I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Heights, and all.”

Deflated, Tris has the most obnoxious reaction ever:

I want him to say that he wishes he had been there with me, to experience it with me. Or at least to ask me what I mean when I say that it was amazing. But all he can say is that he wouldn’t have liked it?

You might think that somehow she missed what happened with Marcus, but no, she’s just being insensitive as hell.

I feel raw and frustrated. Of course I knew about Marcus. It was buzzing around the room when I woke up. But for some reason I didn’t think it would upset him to know his father wasn’t going to be executed. Apparently I was wrong.

You think?

The alarm goes off because of course we need another plot device to come along and prevent them from having a conversation to clear the air.

More interesting, though, is that Tris starts telling us about her mother’s diary. Here’s what we learn so far:

• Natalie is going to be put into Dauntless because she has tattoos.
• During her choosing ceremony she needs to pick Erudite “because that’s where the killer is.”
• “I don’t know what killer she’s referring to—Jeanine Matthews’s predecessor, maybe?—but more confusing even than that is that she didn’t join Erudite.”

Tris pauses this actually interesting moment to make out with Tobias. UG STOP. She returns to the diary and finds out that Andrew (Tris’ father) and Natalie decided to join Abnegation together instead of Erudite. We still don’t find out why exactly they make this switch, but for once I’m actually kind of interested in finding out what they’re talking about here.