Alex Lambrose

ANTH-1020-013-SP15
Professor Campbell
March 20, 2015
Breaking Society Into Factions

I have chosen to do my reflective writing on Divergent, a movie based off of a novel. It is about a
futuristic society that is broken up into five factions. The factions divide the people based on specific
personality traits that are designed to prevent war and keep peace among the people. Amity are the peace
makers and like to live a positive happy life. Erudite are the intelligent members of society, the doctors,
the business men and women. Candor are the honest members of society the lawyers and judges.
Abnegation are the selfless members, they give to others and help the homeless. This is the faction the
main character Tris is born into. The Dauntless faction is the brave faction, they are the police of society.
At the age of sixteen members of their society take the aptitude test which tells them what faction
they are fit for. They then must attend a ceremony where they are called up and must choose their faction.
The main character Triss aptitude test revealed that she is what they call divergent. Being divergent
means they fit into all factions, they are independent. The divergent members of society are being killed
because they are seen as a threat to the government.
During the ceremony Tris chooses the Dauntless faction. After joining Dauntless she is then put
through difficult physical and mental training. During one of mental tests Four, one of the trainers
discovers her secret and aids her in passing the tests. But once all of dauntless was injected with a
brainwashing serum all divergents in that faction were exposed because they werent affected by it. Most
were killed while others rebelled as feared by the government.
Divergent is related to biological anthropology because it is a society that has evolved over time.
The governments idea to divide there society into factions is a behavioral aspect unlike any other we see

in todays societies. Each faction is broken up into groups based on their personal beliefs and thoughts
and there behavioral traits. The way this society has evolved and changed over time after the war was
very drastic. Each faction raises their children to have the same beliefs and then when it is time for them
to decide they can. This rearing of children in that way has changed there society over time. This movie
ties into biological anthropology because there society has evolved over time because they are recovering
from war and have changed the way there society is structured.
The hypothesis made by the government in the movie is that being separated into factions will
provide peace to their society and prevent war from occurring. The factions will each follow their own
human virtue and live a lifes that is best fit for them. My hypothesis behind why they feel society needs
to be broken into factions is based off of an article I read. It says These explanations originate from work
on the sociometer model, terror management theory, and uncertainty-identity theory. The sociometer
model argues that people have a need to be belong, and that self-esteem acts as a meter of successful
group belonging. Greater feelings of inclusion within groups should equate to higher levels of self-esteem
according to this model. (Hogg, Hohman, and Rivera (2008)).
I believe they came up with the idea to separate into factions because they thought it would make
the members of society happier by placing them into groups with others that are similar to them. This
would also eliminate wars and fights because they all have the same opinion on how things should work
and should be done. It will also surround them with freedom and happiness to express how they feel and
lets them do what makes them happy. To bring peace into society the members of it must be happy. To be
happy you should have freedom and the most essential freedom is the freedom to choose. No matter how
bad a situation is, you can always choose how you respond to it. People can annoy you, but its up to you
whether or not you will resent. (Donald Latumahina,Being Happy: 17 Timeless Secrets of Happy
People). Giving the people of their society the option to choose what faction they want to be a part of
gives them freedom and from freedom comes happiness. It gives them the option to surround themselves
with others who are similar to them and that will make them feel the most at peace.
Freedom to choose you path in life is crucial to being happy. When the teens are given the

opportunity to choose their path in life they reach a sense of happiness and freedom. People who said
that they felt completely or very free were twice as likely to say that they were very happy about their
lives as those who felt only a moderate degree of freedom, not much, or none at all. (Arthur C. Brooks,
Free People Are Happy People). When members of society are allowed to join a group that share the
same feelings and beliefs with in life they often become happier. When society is happy there is a lesser
chance at war and more productivity happening because they feel good about life and what they have to
do. It is the same thing for people and jobs. If we didnt have the freedom to choose our career we most
likely would not be happy with the job we have to perform. This would then make you less productive
because it is not something we are passionate about. But if we have the choice to choose a career we are
passionate about and surround ourselves with people who share the same passion as we do, we will have a
positive outlook. That will bring productivity in society.

Works Cited

Brooks, Arthur. "Free People Are Happy People." <i>City Journal</i>. Arthur C. Brooks, 21
Apr. 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. &lt; http://www.citationmachine.net/mla/cite-a-website/manual&gt;
Hogg, Michael, Zachary Hohman, and Jason Rivera. "Why Do We Join Groups?" <i>Social
Psychology Eye</i>. Kevin Betts, 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. &lt;
https://socialpsychologyeye.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/why-do-we-join-groups/&gt;
Latumahina, Donald. "Being Happy: 17 Timeless Secrets Of Happy People." <i>Life
Optimizer</i>. Donald Latumahina, 1 July 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. &lt;
http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/07/23/being-happy-secrets-of-happy-people/&gt;