Lauren Eads - Blog Post 2

1. Passage and Summary

Passage:
"Faction transfers are not really supposed to discuss their old faction once they become members. It's supposed to make it easier for them to change there allegiance from family to faction—to embrace the principle 'faction before blood.'"(Roth, 201)

Summary
In the passage, Tris, the protagonist, is reflecting about her mother. She wishes to discuss her mother with the other Dauntless members, yet is apprehensive to do so due to the phrase "faction before blood," in which the chosen faction and its members take priority over past factions and the family members left behind in those factions.

2. "So What's"

So What Step 1:

Question
Why the phrase "faction before blood"?

Answer
The idea of the factions is to split up and define the members of society to a specific ideology that consists of a defining characteristic/trait. For example, the Dauntless believe in the upmost importance of bravery, whereas Candor believes in the upmost importance of honesty. If faction transfers still hold their family members in priority over their new factions, the faction transfers are not fully loyal or devoted to the ideology of their new factions.

So What Step 2:

Question
Why is this quote significant?

Answer
This quote conveys the restrictiveness and power of the dystopian society. The society is able to define each person to a specific faction with a specific ideology, forcing faction transfers to give up contact with their family members from other factions. A person that possesses multiple traits from different factions is seen as dangerous, a threat to the structure, and labeled a "Divergent." By defining a person to a single faction, that person is expected to be loyal to and follow only that single ideology by giving up and forgetting any past allegiances.

So What Step 3:

Question
What does this quote tell you about dystopia?

Answer
This quote explains how the ideology of those who hold power is forced upon those who hold less power. Each faction operates on the belief that you should act upon a single defining characteristic or value. This limits and restricts citizens by only allowing them to chose a single faction with a specific, restrictive ideology. Divergents, or those who test for multiple characteristics are seen as a threat to the structure of society. Therefore, dystopias are very restrictive and oppressive.