Maybe
it’s unfair to compare these two just because they’re tough, capable female
leads in popular dystopian series, but it’s kind of unavoidable. As I read the Divergent books, I couldn’t help but think of The Hunger Games, particularly where our central characters are
concerned. (General premise spoilers for
both series.)
Basic
parallels first. Katniss and Tris are
both 16-year-old girls from the lowest totem poles of their societies (District
12 and Abnegation, respectively.) The
lives of both are changed at the major ceremony associated with their society’s
whacked-out principles, the Reaping and the Choosing Ceremony (and, point of
interest, their lives are changed based on their
choices – it isn’t Katniss’s name that gets pulled out of the reaping bowl. Even from the start, they’re not just
victims.) Both obviously know their way
around a fight (despite their small statures and weak-looking appearances,) both
are deeply damaged by their experiences, and both struggle with being a good
person in situations that aren’t known for breeding good people.
When it
comes to fighting, both girls are underestimated, but in different ways. Katniss is quite the competent scrapper
before she enters the Arena, an experienced hunter with mad survival
skills. It’s just her small size that
makes her seem like an easy target, but she sets people straight on that as
soon as they see her with a bow in her hands.
Meanwhile, Tris is genuinely one of the weakest Dauntless
initiates. The others are spot-on when
it comes to assessing her original abilities, but they underestimate her
determination to improve and pull her weight.
Similarly,
though both girls get embroiled in regime-toppling rebellions, they come to it
differently. Katniss doesn’t set out to start
a revolt; yes, some of her actions in the Arena, like her alliance with Rue,
are considered dissident in the Capitol, but her big eff-you to the Gamemakers
is ultimately a last-ditch gambit to survive, not a call to arms. It’s the public who sees her as a symbol of
defiance, and Katniss wrestles between keeping her head down to protect the people
she loves and accepting her role as a rallying point for the resistance. Tris, on the other hand, is a more active
rebel as soon as she gets the opportunity.
It’s partly her Divergence – she can literally do things that most in her
society can’t, and she can’t let her friends get brainwashed when she can do
something to stop it. While Katniss’s
initial butt-kickery is to stay alive and get home (where she’s the chief
provider,) Tris’s is to prevent genocide. Heavy stuff.
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