Stella Resta Blog Post #2

Quote:
"I do not know what life will be like, separated from a faction- it feels disengaged, like a leaf divided from the tree that gives it sustenance... I have no home, no path, and no certainty." (487)

Summary:
The novel closes with this quote, as Tris enters a world of new found freedom. For the first time, she cannot be defined by her faction. Though this is positive in many ways, there's also risk and fear associated with suddenly becoming disassociated with everything she has ever known.

So What? Step 1:
Why close the novel with Tris feeling lost despite gaining freedom and breaking free of her dystopian world?

ANSWER:
Tris has never lived in a world where people must be self-sufficient and multi-faceted. She has only ever known a world where individuals focus on one specific skill. The quote further proves what a dystopian world she has been living in by proving that she missed out on opportunities to truly define herself away from her faction and know how to function without a set of rules and regulations to guide her.

So What? Step 2:
What is the significance of Tris comparing herself to a leaf and the tree that "gives it sustenance"?

ANSWER:
The comparison proves what a hold Tris' society had on people by making them nearly unable to function without being programmed to do and say only exactly what they are told.

So What? Step 3:
What does this quote tell us about government rules and regulations in our own society?

ANSWER:
The quote leaves us thinking about how much government regulation is too much and wondering at what point do regulations become a sort of brainwashing tactic. Are rules and regulations put in place for our own safety, or does the government use them to make us more easily manipulated? At what point should we start to reexamine what we are told to do and say and should we blindly listen to authority just because they hold a higher position of power?