Recently, I read the book Divergent by Veronica Roth. This book is about a girl named Tris Prior who is living in the futuristic version of Chicago.Their city is divided into 5 factions, and each values a different quality. The factions are Amity which is kind, Abnegation which is selfless, Dauntless which is brave, Candor which is honest, and Erudite which is intelligent. Tris is born as Abnegation but then when she is 16, transfers to Dauntless. Tris and her other faction members have to go through an initiation process where they learn how to be a part of their faction. Tris is Divergent, which means she does not belong to one particular faction, she has qualities from all of them. Being Divergent is extremely dangerous because if anybody found out, it would mean certain death. This conflict gradually becomes more problematic for Tris as the book progresses, which is not good because everyone is supposed to belong to one faction so they can be controlled by the government.
As the story progresses, the leader of the Erudites, Jeanine, finds out that Tris is Divergent and wants her killed. Jeanine is always watching, and will do whatever it takes to make sure there are no Divergents threatening her system.
In History, we have recently learned about Absolutism in France, England, and Spain. One king in particular who was not afraid to show off his Absolute Power was king Charles I of England. SInce he wanted complete control over his people, he ignored the parliament for 11 years and ruled by himself. On top of that, he tried to create an all Anglican community which made the Puritans very upset. This treatment shows that he would do whatever it took to have complete control over everyone, and would not make an effort to work with peoples differences.
The Absolutism in England, France, and Europe connects back to Jeanine wanting complete control over the people in her community. Both 17th century Kings and futuristic characters both show signs of wanting “absolute control” over the people they are in charge of. Both of these leaders want everything their way and do not try to accommodate for other people who think and act differently from them.
Right when I started to read this book, I automatically made the connection to Absolutism. Divergent is just one example of how people are still controlling just like they were centuries ago. Though the two topics seem very far apart, they are very closely related.
Divergent movie trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWjz10sM
Image Citation:
Divergent Movie Cover. Graphic. The Movie Mash. http://themoviemash.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/divergent_poster_hq.jpg
Charles I of England. Graphic. Wikipedia. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Charles_I_by_Daniel_Mytens.jpg
Great job Jacquelyn! Your connection of absolutism to Divergent is really interesting. When I read the book I never would have thought to make the connection between the two. But now since I've read your post I realize that you're absolutely right! Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI also read this book and I thought that it was very good. I had never thought of the connection to absolutism, but I realize now how closely related they are. I really like the way you connected history to a futuristic, modern world. The pictures also helped to show what you were talking about. Overall I thought you made a really nice connection to history.
ReplyDeleteI also read the book and really liked it! Like Makena and Julia, I wouldn't have made the connection to absolutism, but after reading your post, I realized how similar the book is to absolute monarchy. I thought you have a really good summary of the book, and a really good summary of how Charles I wanted all the power. It's really interesting how you made a connection between history and something in the future. Overall, I really liked your post and the connection you made. Great job!!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Jacquelyn! I found this to be a very interesting blog because I want to read Divergent and I have seen the trailers for it. I think you can definitely see the similarities between this book and absolutism because they both want complete power, and I also think that this book is similar to heresies. We have talked in class about how heresies go against and question authority, and authority doesn’t like this because it “threatens their system” or it threatens their power. So just like heresies threatened the power of kings or the church, Divergents threaten the government. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteGood job! I think it was a great idea to compare Divergent to Absolutism, especially because so many people our age (I being one of them!) are really into the Divergent series. I also really liked how you summarized Divergent at the beginning of your post, allowing people who haven't read it to understand what you were talking about. I never thought of absolutism when I was reading Divergent, but after reading your post, I don't know how I didn't. Great connection, nicely done!
ReplyDeleteGreat job Jacquelyn! It is really cool that you connected Divergent to absolutism. I would have never thought about that. This was a great connection to make because the movie is coming out soon so now when i watch it i will be able to connect back to history class. Overall nice blog!
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