Colleen O'Rourke Blog Post 2

"I sprint to catch up to Christina. The flag hangs from a tree branch, high above my head. I reach for it, and so does Christina. 'Come on Tris,' she says. 'You're already the hero of the day. And you know you can't reach it anyway.'" (pg.153)

In this passage, everyone is playing capture the flag and Tris and Christina are about to win for their team. Tris had just climbed the Ferris wheel to see where the other team was and then lead her own team to find and "capture" the flag, making her the hero for the day. 

Why does it matter if Tris is the hero for the day?

Christina is mad at Tris for wanting to grab the flag after she had already proven herself for the day. Christina is a faster runner and is stronger, yet Tris is getting all of the credit for winning the game. 

What is important about this?

Though Tris is the underdog, she is still the hero of the story. This makes many people, including Christina, uneasy. They feel that if they are built better then they should be the ones to receive praise. This happens several times throughout the entire book and Tris is sometimes bullied because of it. 

 Where does this bring us?

This concept can be compared to the fact that Tris is divergent. She is much stronger internally than she appears to be, making her a threat. This idea ironic because Tris is the hero, yet she is frowned upon by the rest of society.