Divergent Book vs. Movie

           These past couple weeks in English class, we read the book Divergent, by Veronica Roth. After we finished the book, we went to see the movie in theaters. Divergent is about a girl named Beatrice, who lives futuristic version of Chicago. In this world, everyone is divided into groups called factions. There are five factions, each for a different personality type. Everyone fits into a faction, except Beatrice. She is Divergent. To be divergent is to be unable to fit into one faction. They can't be controlled. Beatrice (Tris) threatens the whole set up of her community, and the leaders will get rid of her if they find out. Throughout the book and movie, she tries to keep her Divergence a secret. As the story progresses, her secret gets harder and harder to keep, especially when she falls for her new mentor, Four. In the movie, Tris is played by Shailene Woodley, and Four is played by Theo James. Those are the two main characters. In this paper I will describe the similarities and differences between the book and movie.

         For the most part, the movie and book were pretty similar. The movie had the setting from the book spot on, in my opinion. The city was sort of run down, with the giant fence around it. They also did a really good job with the Abnegation and Dauntless compound. Tris chose Dauntless, and had to jump on the train. Also, all of the training simulations were the same. It was weird, because the movie had all the right information, but the we learned it in a different order than we did in the book.
         There were a lot of similarities between the movie and book, but there were also a lot of differences. One major difference I noticed between them is the part when Eric kicked Tris out of training. In the book, Peter beat up Tris really bad in a fight. Tris had to stay in the infirmary a couple of days, but then she got out and went with the other initiates to play capture the flag. But in the movie, after Peter beat up Tris, Tris's friends came into the infirmary and told her that she was kicked out of training by Eric. But, being Tris, she didn't listen. She let herself out of the infirmary and went to play capture the flag anyway.
        Also, another major difference was the scene in the ending of the movie, with Four and Tris in the computer room. In the book, Four was the only one up in the computer room. So once Tris got in the room, all she had to do was break Four out of his simulation and take the computer's information. But in the movie, there were a lot of other people up in the room working with the computers too, not just Four. So, Tris had to sneak back past a lot of people to get to Four and break him out of the simulation. Tris gets caught, leading to a big action scene where Tris and Four are battling all the bad guys. They beat them all up and destroy all the evidence, instead of taking it.
        In conclusion, I really liked both the book and the movie. The movie directors did a good job of fitting all the main points from the book into the movie. Some details weren't the exact same, but that is ok because then it probably would have been even longer than it already was. Overall, I liked the book better. Don't get me wrong, Theo James is great to look at, but I think the book had more details and developed the story plot better than the movie did.

           

7. Unbridled passion isn't always a good thing

Unbridled passion isn't always a good thing

There is a strong line between what you want to do and what you should do. In the 1920’s, this line was often blurred. Whether is was the right thing to do or not, people did what was convenient for themselves at the time. There are some great examples of this in “The Great Gatsby”. Some great examples of this are the affairs of Tom with Myrtle, and Daisy with Gatsby.

In the Great Gatsby, there are many examples of why you should always think before you act. For example, Tom and Myrtle have an affair. Tom is trying to reach the high he had when he was playing football. Myrtle is dissatisfied with her marriage to a poor man. Neither of them stop to think of the consequences of their decisions, who they could hurt along the way. They only think of themselves. Myrtle’s husband, George, eventually finds out about this affair. George is so hurt and desperate to gain his wife’s love back, he locks Myrtle in the bedroom. Myrtle is so desperate to get away, so caught up in herself, that she runs at the first sight of Tom, hoping for a rescue. This then leads to her death.

Another example of selfish thinking is the affair between Gatsby and Daisy. Jay Gatsby and Daisy fell in love before Gatsby got shipped off to war. After Gatsby leaves for war, Daisy waits for him, but then falls for in love with a new man, Tom Buchannan. After five years, Gatsby and Daisy finally meet again. They fall in love again, and Daisy plans to leave Tom. They never stopped to think of the consequences of their actions, or how this might make Tom feel. Daisy is distraught over her confrontation with Tom, leading to her hitting Myrtle with his car. This then leads to Gatsby’s death.

In the 1920’s everyone assumed there was no consequence for their actions. They disregarded anyone elses feelings, and only did what convenient at the time. These characters are great examples of why you need to think of the consequences before you act.