Divergent

My daughter is an avid reader.  She went through a stretch where it seemed she was reading three or four books at the same time.  For a stretch, it was mostly dystopian fiction.  (I never pronounce that word correctly.) Each of those stories told some story about how earth or another earth-like planet had morphed into some kind of utopian world gone wrong.

One of these books was entitled, Divergent. (I see that the story is now a major motion picture coming to a theatre near you.)  Divergent tells the story of a futuristic society that is essentially divided up into five groups of people, each focused and dedicated to one of five specific virtues or areas of expertise.  Here is the Wiki summary: This story takes place in the city of Chicago in the near future. The city is divided into 5 factions: Abnegation, meant for the selfless; Amity, meant for the peaceful; Candor, meant for the honest; Dauntless, meant for the brave; and Erudite, meant for the knowledgeable. On a given day each year, all sixteen-year-olds take an aptitude test that will tell them for which faction they are best suited. After receiving the results of their test, they must decide whether to remain with their family or transfer to a new faction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_(novel)

You might notice that the term, "Divergent," is not one of the five factions or virtues.  And, indeed, that is precisely what happens.  The main character has strong indicators in more than one area.  An interesting development, yes?  In a world so meticulously divided, what happens if a some one does not really fit cleanly into one specific category?

Divergent raises other questions as well.  For example, which is preferable? To be supremely adept in a single virtue or to be solid or above average across several?  And, more subtly, what might be the purpose of even having a society like that, a society that makes it a point to categorize people like that?  One might argue that this is simply "natural." That this is what is happening all the time anyway.  Humans historically setting up their camps and fencing off their neighbors, and often for much less civilized reasons. So why not streamline the process and simply tighten up the focus, and allow these natural tendencies to take hold according to some kind of science?

As you might have gathered, I am a little cool on overly managed worlds.  I am not a big fan of fences.  And even though there are some folks that I might just as soon leave to some mono-thematic rigor, I just can't bring myself to like the idea of perfection through labeling and division.  (Ironically, my daughter's most recent reading was Romeo and Juliet.)  I just like lots of different things?

In a world of excellence through division, I think I'll take divergent. Granted, it might take a little longer to cover the coursework and mastering more than one virtue is certainly a tall (and maybe even vane) order.  I just don't want to have to choose between things like knowledge and peace?  

Besides, don't we need at least a few renaissance folks, to serve as translators or something?