Divergent Discussion 5: Fearless or In Control of your Fears? #INSURGENTUK #CANDORUK

This post is part of the Team #CANDORUK campaign for #INSURGENTUK. Click on the picture above for more information.

As part of the Insurgent release week madness I thought it would be fun to have some discussion posts about Divergent. I got the ideas for these topics from the HarperCollins Divergent Discussion Guide that can be found online here. These posts will contain spoilers for Divergent but I'd like to keep them spoiler free for Insurgent so please keep that in mind when you're commenting. I'll be welcoming members of Team #CANDORUK here every day to answer a different question so please give them all a warm welcome!

Taking part in today's discussion we have:

Carly - Writing from the Tub

Keren - Gothic Angel

Jo - Once Upon A Bookcase

M & Little M - We Sat Down

Iffath - Painting With Words

Lesley - Big Book Little Book

Today's topic:

Dauntless value bravery over everything else but is bravery about being fearless or learning to control your fear? What is the difference? Can anyone ever be truly fearless? Is it braver to face your fears or not to be afraid in the first place? What are your greatest fears and do you think you could overcome them?

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My Thoughts:

I don't think anyone is truly fearless, no matter how much they might wish (or even pretend) that they are. In fact I don't think it is possible to be brave unless you were frightened of something in the first place. There are lots of different kinds of bravery but most of them involve learning to control your fears. I'd be much more impressed by someone who was absolutely terrified but went ahead and did something anyway than I would be by someone who wasn't afraid in the first place.

As far as my fears go I have way too many to list them all here but I'll tell you the main ones. I'm terrified of wasps (I stood on a wasps nest when I was younger and ended up being stung more than 50 times!), I also run a mile when I see a spider (although I think that is more because my mum always screamed the house down whenever she saw one than because I've had a bad experience with them), I'm not very good with heights (although I did do a bungee jump on my 21st birthday - never again though because it scared me half to death and my dad had to push me off of the crane lol) and I panic in crowded places.

All of those fears may worry me but I usually find ways to deal with them. My biggest and most irrational fear is my blood and needle phobia. I'm one of those people who will faint at the sight of blood or if I have to have an injection, I'll even pass out at the thought of operations or what I could possibly see in a hospital ward. I know it is ridiculous but no matter what I do I can't seem to control it, I've fainted in the dentists chair, I've had fillings where they drilled right down to the nerve without painkillers because I'm so frightened of the needle - that was beyond stupid because it was a million times more painful than an injection would have been but I'd do the same again lol. I have to be physically held down for blood tests and I've fainted numerous times visiting friends and family who are in hospital. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to black out in the middle of a hospital ward when there is nothing wrong with you? Can you think of a more ridiculous person to choose as a first aider? Yup, I was that person who fainted in the middle of their first aid course because we'd got to the part where they were talking about blood loss! Well, at least the rest of the class had a live dummy to practise the recovery position on lol.

The really weird thing about blood / needle phobia is that it is the only phobia that causes your blood pressure to actually drop which is why I have such an extreme physical reaction and pass out. Most of the time if something scares you it will trigger either your fight or flight reflex which causes an increase of adrenaline and makes your blood pressure increase, Trypanophobia (blood / needle phobia) starts off the same but is quickly followed by an extreme drop in heart rate and blood pressure. I have had a fear of blood and needles since I was a child but I wasn't diagnosed with the phobia until I was in my 20's. Will I ever get over my phobia? I hope so but in reality I think it's extremely unlikely.

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Carly's Thoughts:

True bravery is learning to control your fear. Accepting that you have a fear and challenging it, facing it and beating it is the embodiment of true bravery. Acknowledging that you have fears is one of the bravest things a person can do, in my opinion.

Being fearless is often linked with bravery in our society but I don’t agree. People who are obsessed with showing that they are fearless are often more afraid that those who own up to their fears. Those who are ‘fearless’ are often afraid to fail, afraid to look weak and these fears can be some of the most dangerous. They can force you to make reckless decisions to prove that you aren’t afraid; that’s not something to be admired. However, admitting that you have a fear and then beating it? To me, that takes real bravery.

In terms of my greatest fears, I have a terrible fear of failure. I worry about it to the point that I will often not try something in case I fail, which I’m well aware is a failure in itself. I worry every day that I’m never going to get published, never going to find an agent, never going to see my books on the shelf – if I’m honest I know that’s why I’m still tweaking Reckless to get it perfect, why I’m always wondering whether I should start a new project. I think one of the bravest things I’ll ever do it is send a book out to an agent for the first time. I’m getting closer to being in that position and it scares me. A whole lot.

This one always surprises people as I know I appear pretty confident as a person but I’m actually scared of a ridiculous amount of things. I seem calm on the surface most of the time but under that I’m pretty much a nervous wreck. If I see someone slightly sinister in a hoodie walking towards me – I’m dead. If I hear a noise in the house after the sun has gone down – dead. The phone rings after midnight – someone I love is dead. I’m meeting a friend or my boyfriend for dinner and they’re more than five minutes late – they’re dead. Seriously! If you arrange to meet me and you’re a second late, I’ve already written you off as dead and grieved for you.

And you don’t want to be anywhere near me on a plane, for real. If there’s any kind of noise – we’re about to plummet to our death. If I see anybody so much as twitch when the seatbelt signs are on – IMMINENT TERRORIST ATTACK. If the cabin door swings open and I catch a glimpse of the pilot – omgwtf he’s like twelve, we’re doomed. DOOMED. If I see an air hostess without a massive grin on her face – she knows we’re about to run out of fuel, the pilot told her, he told her we’re not going to make it. SHE KNOWS SOMETHING.

I am aware this is not normal behaviour.

Also, spiders. Laugh it up, folks, I think spiders are actually the one I’m most scared about. Because it’s the only one I can’t control. My constant fear of dying – I can tell myself that’s just silly and I get on with my day. My fear of failure – I just make sure I’m good enough at things I care about that I won’t fail. Spiders – I have no mind powers great enough to defeat them.

Oh, and can I just say, don’t ever think it’s amusing to play a spider-related prank of me – I have punched people square in the face for pretending I have a spider on me. I’m not joking. It’s not even me being violent; it’s literally an instinctive reaction. Someone says spider and my fists of fury come into play.

I actually saw a hypnotherapist about my spider fear. They were apparently famous in their field for helping people cure their fears. Did it help? NO. If I’m faced with a spider do you know what I do? I freeze, then cry, back slowly away (never breaking eye contact with said spider) and then, when I’m at a safe distance, scream repeatedly until somebody else can remove the spider. And so it will continue until the end of time.

So, basically, this was a really long winded way of me saying that, no, I don’t think I will ever overcome my spider fear. The others? Yeah, with a little work.

I wouldn’t last a day in Dauntless, would I? Imagine how chaotic my simulation would be. GIANT SPIDERS RAMPAGING THROUGH THE WRECKAGE OF A PLANE CRASH.

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Keren's Thoughts:

I think bravery comes from becoming the master of your fears. I don't think anyone is completely fearless, no matter what they would have you believe. I think it is far braver to face your fears head on and try to overcome them than to try to pretend you fear nothing, only to be proved wrong.

My biggest fear is water.
My step-dad tried to teach me to swim when I was younger. But he thought it was clever to hold my head under the water and to drop me in the deep end with no arm bands - assuming I would either sink or swim. The outcome was always the same, I sunk.

I am morbidly afraid of water if it comes above my chin. I fear that I can't breathe and will die if I stay too long under the water. Irrational? Maybe it is. But I have tried to overcome it. I went snorkelling in the middle of the Mediterranean - I absolutely hated it. I was panicky and could not calm down.

So I will certainly never be fearless. I admit that. I try my best to confront anything else head on, but water scares the bejesus out of me.

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Jo's Thoughts:

In the examples you give, I think bravery is more about learning to control, and therefore face, your fear/s. I don’t think facing something you’re not scared of could be considered brave, even if it is risky. I think that’s more reckless than anything. I’m not sure anyone can be truly fearless, but I don’t think all fears are things you can force yourself to face, like spiders or the dark. There are also the fears of things which might come to pass. For example, you often hear of parents fearing for their child – that’s not necessarily a specific situation their child could end up in, it could be any number of situations, it’s just the idea of something bad happening at some point, in whatever form. You can’t face all those possibilities at once.

My greatest fear is linked to my biggest dream. More than anything else, at some point I want to become a mother, so my biggest fear is that I will be told that I can’t be one. I have no reason to fear being told I’m infertile and can’t have children, it’s just an irrational fear. I think anyone who wants something badly enough can relate to the fear of being told they can’t have it. If I was ever told I can’t have children, I would be crushed. But there are other options, so I would hope that time would help me heal and accept, and move in a different direction. I can’t say for certain if that would be the case, though.

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M's Thoughts:

Hypodermic needles, spiders, and bungee jumping. I control the first two with varying success. The third, no way – but then, I’d never be Dauntless!

Little M's Thoughts:

Heights, the sea/lakes, spiders as well. I control heights and seas by closing my eyes. Spiders, get my dad or put a cup over them then get dad to sort them out. I think I still could be Dauntless?????

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Iffath's Thoughts:

I don’t think there is a single person in this world that is truly fearless. Sure, people claim they are, but I don’t think it’s true. In an ideal world, nobody would be afraid of anything, but then where would that leave us? Facing your fears to me is more brave than not having any fears in the first place. It shows that you can overcome that fear, and if you never had any, how do you know if you could overcome it, be bigger than it?

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Lesley's Thoughts:

I'm not sure that bravery is about being fearless. I think it's healthy to have a bit of fear in daily life - it stops us from being too reckless and getting into danger. I think of my 22 month old who is at that 'no fear' stage and who would happily climb up to the top of the couch and leap off if I would let him. To me he is pretty fearless at the moment, but if I let him just launch himself off the furniture I know he would injure himself and there would be a lot of tears! He is only fearless because he lacks understanding and can't process yet the consequences of his actions. As adults, I think that life requires us to be pretty brave in many circumstances - not just the physical, but emotionally and mentally too and I do believe that includes being able to control our fear at times. It's not possible (for me anyway) to be completely fearless. It's part of human nature to have fears and I would imagine that to meet a person who was completely fearless (other than mine, and any other toddler around!) would be a rare thing. It's a very brave thing to confront your fears and unrealistic to expect people just to not be afraid in the first place. Life is too unexpected and for myself, having people that I care about means that I can become fearful if they are sick or in danger. My own greatest fears are usually the thought of the loss of any family member or close friend. I don't worry or become fearful regarding my financial or social status but the thought of anyone I loved suffering in anyway does scare me. I can only overcome it by being as faithful and loving a parent/wife/friend as I can be and to know that I do my utmost to ensure their safety and happiness. Fear for me sometimes is knowing that I can't always control the outcome of a situation and bravery is stepping up to the plate to handle it no matter how painful.

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Thank you to everyone for taking part, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers!

I'd love to know what you all think too so please join the discussion in the comments. A lot of the Candor team will be checking back throughout the week to see if you agree with them or not!

Divergent Discussion 4: Did Tris pick the right faction? #INSURGENTUK #CANDORUK

This post is part of the Team #CANDORUK campaign for #INSURGENTUK. Click on the picture above for more information.

As part of the Insurgent release week madness I thought it would be fun to have some discussion posts about Divergent. I got the ideas for these topics from the HarperCollins Divergent Discussion Guide that can be found online here. These posts will contain spoilers for Divergent but I'd like to keep them spoiler free for Insurgent so please keep that in mind when you're commenting. I'll be welcoming members of Team #CANDORUK here every day to answer a different question so please give them all a warm welcome!

Taking part in today's discussion we have:

Carly - Writing from the Tub

Keren - Gothic Angel

Jo - Once Upon A Bookcase

M - We Sat Down

Iffath - Painting With Words

Today's topic:

At her aptitude test Tris discovers that she is Divergent and has qualities that would allow her to fit into three different factions – Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. She chooses Dauntless but was that the right decision for her? How does she change throughout the Dauntless initiation process? How different would things have been if she had picked a different faction? Do you think she would have found it easier if she had chosen a different faction?

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My Thoughts:

Although Tris is Divergent I don't actually think she would have been happy in any faction other than Dauntless. Yes, she might have found life easier - the initiation tests for Abnegation and Erudite would have been less painful for sure! - but I don't believe that easier is necessarily better. She already knew that she wasn't happy living in Abnegation, although I think she actually gets more selfless throughout the Dauntless initiation which is quite ironic! I'm sure Tris is intelligent enough to fit in quite well at Erudite but after listening to her father's opinions of that faction all of her life I don't think she could ever have chosen to go there.

Really Dauntless is the ideal faction for her, she isn't fearless but she is brave enough to face her fears. She proves that from the very first day when she jumps off the building first when they arrive at the Dauntless compound and she continues to prove it again and again throughout the book. I love that we get to watch Tris go from being a girl who is unsure of herself and doesn't trust her own judgement to a strong and confident young woman as the story progresses. I'm not sure that she would have grown as much as she did if she'd been living in any other faction. Also, if she'd chosen anywhere else then she'd never have met Four and I'm sure that most people would agree with me when I say that would have been a travesty!!

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Carly's Thoughts:

I do think Dauntless was the right decision for Tris. We don’t see her as a member of Abnegation for very long but it’s clear that she’s not happy, that she doesn’t feel as though she fits in. I think she stands out as Dauntless from the beginning of the book and rereading the first couple of chapters of Divergent shows how much Tris has changed throughout her time as a member of Dauntless.

The Tris before initiation and the Tris after are two very different people. We see a more reckless side to her, a side that is physically and mentally strong, who isn’t afraid, who is brave at all times. She seems happier and freer, even though initiation wasn’t particularly kind to her. You can tell that she feels more at home after a couple of weeks in Dauntless than she did after years living as Abnegation.

I think things could have been much easier for Tris if she’d chosen a different faction and I think this is something she is probably aware of herself. Staying as Abnegation would have been the easy choice, the simple choice. Her life would have carried on on the same path as it had for her whole life (well, to her knowledge, at least). I think the very act of leaving her faction, her family and starting a new life as Dauntless shows such bravery that Dauntless is, really, the only faction Tris truly belongs in. Of course, she is Divergent so does have an aptitude for Erudite and Abnegation but I think Dauntless is her true home, where she really belongs.

I feel like Tris might have ended up even more involved if she had chosen to become a member of Erudite. I don’t want to discuss this in too much detail so I don’t spoil anything for those of you who haven’t read Insurgent but if Tris had chosen Erudite I’m pretty sure Divergent would have been a standalone novel.

However, which faction she chose there’s no denying that Tris is Dauntless through and through. Every decision she makes is brave, every chance she gets she shows her courage and I think the Dauntless parts of her personality are only enhanced by the little shreds of Abnegation that still remain. The cruel side of Dauntless that may be seen a flaw in other members of the faction doesn’t seem to be present in Tris because of her Abnegation past, which links back to what I said in my answer to the first set of questions Sarah posted on Tuesday; if everybody in the Divergent world worked to embody more than one of the faction morals the society would be a much healthier place.

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Keren's Thoughts:

I think that with the fact that she had the traits of 3 Factions, she would never be content to stay in just one. I think there comes a point where you just can't be the person they want you to be. If I was Tris, I would not be happy to settle and be the person they all expected me to be. I would want to be me, my own person. I don't think she can do that living life in one Faction doing everything the way they tell her to.

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Jo's Thoughts:

I don’t think Tris could have chosen a different faction. Abnegation didn’t suit the type of person she was, and she wasn’t a fan of Erudite as they were badmouthing her original faction. Dauntless is the faction she was born for! Ok, so her Divergence helped her out a bit when it came to simulations, but by the end of the book, there is no doubt in my mind that Dauntless is where she belongs. It takes a tough cookie to do some of the things she had to do and had to go through. Someone from Abnegation would break from not being used to stressful, scary situations, but also from not knowing how to defend themselves. Also, if she had never been in Dauntless, she would never have been in a position to do the good she does.

Even if the situation that arose in Divergent didn’t happen, Dauntless would still be where Tris belongs. She wouldn’t have been happy anywhere else, and although it wasn’t easy in her initiation process, she does find some happiness there, in various forms; friendship, love, self-belief, self-respect, the ability to stand up for herself and fight back. From being the quiet Abnegation girl who allows herself to be knocked over by Erudite students, Tris becomes someone to respect and be wary of. She becomes kick-ass!

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M's Thoughts:

Who would ever know what the right decision is? And what feels right at one point in your life won’t always seem right at other times.

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Iffath's Thoughts:

I think Dauntless was the perfect faction for Tris. It’s hard to get why when she firsts transfers—I was reading the book like “Oh no, what has she done?!” but she really fits in there, and the bravery she has inside of her is breath-taking. In my opinion, Tris was born for Dauntless! Having said that, it would’ve been interesting to see what would’ve happened to her if she chose to stay in Abnegation or perhaps even failed the Dauntless initiation and was factionless!

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Thank you to everyone for taking part, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers! 

I'd love to know what you all think too so please join the discussion in the comments. A lot of the Candor team will be checking back throughout the week to see if you agree with them or not!

Divergent Discussion 3: Candor - Is honesty the best policy? #INSURGENTUK #CANDORUK

This post is part of the Team #CANDORUK campaign for #INSURGENTUK. Click on the picture above for more information.

As part of the Insurgent release week madness I thought it would be fun to have some discussion posts about Divergent. I got the ideas for these topics from the HarperCollins Divergent Discussion Guide that can be found online here. These posts will contain spoilers for Divergent but I'd like to keep them spoiler free for Insurgent so please keep that in mind when you're commenting. I'll be welcoming members of Team #CANDORUK here every day to answer a different question so please give them all a warm welcome!

Taking part in today's discussion we have:

Carly - Writing from the Tub

Keren - Gothic Angel

Jo - Once Upon A Bookcase

M - We Sat Down

Iffath - Painting With Words

Helen - Big Book Little Book

Today's topic:

Since we are team Candor it seems only fair that we have a discussion about what that means. Tris says that “It must require bravery to be honest all the time” do you agree with her? Members of Candor are always honest – sometimes brutally so – do you think that honesty is always the best policy? Are there times when it is better to keep your opinions to yourself? How different would society be if everyone always told the truth? Would it be a nice place to live?

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My Thoughts:

I do think that Tris is right that you have to be brave to be honest ALL of the time. There are times when it is easier to tell a lie rather than hurt someone with the truth. In general I believe that honesty is the best policy, particularly when it comes to the important things. However, I don't think any of us ALWAYS tell the truth. There are times when everyone tells little white lies - even if it's only to tell a friend that their new top looks lovely or of course their new jeans don't make their bum look big! Sometimes you have to bite the bullet though and tell the truth even if you know it will upset someone - there are times when I've wished people had been more honest with me in the past even if it would have been hard to hear what they had to say.

I don't think I can picture a world where nobody ever lies though, I think it could be quite an uncomfortable place unless people lied by omission which would kind of defeat the object! I don't think I'd want to know what some people really think of me and sometimes those little white lies can make the difference between having a really good day and a really crappy one. 

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Carly's Thoughts:

I definitely think it requires bravery to be honest all the time. I don’t think anyone can truly say they are honest 100% of the time. Who doesn’t tell white lies every so often? I’m happy to hold my hands up and say I do! It must be difficult to tell the truth even when you know it’s going to hurt someone, or cause drama, or upset people. Maybe it makes you a coward to lie to save hurting someone’s feelings but I don’t think so.

Sure, if it’s a big deal then obviously it’s best to tell the truth but what’s wrong with telling someone the cake they spent hours baking is yummy, even if it’s a little dry? As far as I’m concerned it leaves them feeling good about themselves and I’d rather take a big gulp of water and swallow their boulder cake with a smile on my face than turn around and say, ‘actually, you want the truth? Yeah, it’s crap. Bake better, bitch.’ I don’t condone lying compulsively or about big issues but I can’t imagine behind honest all the time. ALL the time.

I think society could be a nicer place to live if everybody told the truth, in time. It would certainly take a lot of getting used to and I think it would cause problems initially. However, after a period of time it might be somewhat freeing to never have any secrets and just be honest all the time. I’m sure at first it would suck and I’d run for the hills weeping the first time somebody told me they didn’t like me to my face. Eventually, though, I think it could lead to a more peaceful society. If everybody’s honest all the time nobody has anything to hide, nobody needs to suspect anybody else, you’d never need to worry about anybody’s motives. It would be difficult to get used to and would depend on everybody being committed to it but it is something I think could work, though it’s not a society I think I would particularly enjoy living in.

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Keren's Thoughts:

In my honest opinion, there's such a thing as too much honesty. Sometimes there are things better left unsaid. You should always try to be as honest as possible, I mean I hardly ever lie. The only lies I will tell, I guess, are lies by omission. I would rather not tell someone something that is likely to hurt them and have a negative effect on them. I would rather be honest where possible, but sometimes, the situation calls for a little more tact.

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Jo's Thoughts:

I both agree and disagree with Tris. To be born into Candor is to not know any different; you’re brought up being told that you must be absolutely honest about everything. As much as they may sometimes dislike to, I think those born into Candor are so used to it, it couldn’t really be called bravery. However, if someone is choosing to transfer to Candor, then they must be brave. This is not about just telling the truth about what you think of other people, or telling people the truth when they believe a lie, it’s also telling the truth about you; private things, things you’re ashamed of, or telling the truth about how you feel all the time. That’s not really something I would find comfortable.

I think honesty is the best policy when it comes to things that are important, such as relationships, your health, etc. I don’t think it’s really great to tell your best mate you hate her haircut, though. And if you’re always honest about things, how can you ever plan a surprise? There are times when being honest is absolutely necessary. I think there are also times when, for your own sense of… privacy, for want of a better word, when you don’t have to tell the world the truth.

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M's Thoughts:

I’m very honest and it gets me into trouble all the time. But too many people keep their mouths shut about terrible things that go on in our world and I just can’t do that.

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Iffath's Thoughts:

I definitely agree with Tris. It is incredibly hard to be honest all the time, and sometimes I wonder how people do it. I like to think that when I lie, it’s not intentional, it just happens, but sometimes it’s more than that. Sometimes you have to think about how a lie can affect people/events and the consequences it will have. I do think that honesty is the best policy in a lot of cases, but I also don’t, which is pretty confusing. But it’s quite simple: sometimes lying is the best option. The option with the least negative consequences, and therefore the option that you must choose. Ahem. Don’t show my mother this! (Mum, I don’t lie. Honest! I’M CANDOR, I CAN’T LIE!!!!)

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Helen's Thoughts:

“Bravery to be honest all the time”? … Or maybe stupidity?! Honesty can indeed require huge bravery and courage; standing up for truth can be very difficult. When there is a lot at stake or the issues are important I take my hat off to those who have the guts to put their necks on the line. But the odd little white lie? Isn’t this a bit of the oil that helps society to run smoothly? “Does my bum look big in this?” it may be kinder to boost the confidence of the questioner rather than be honest! Of course it is true to say that if we knew we would only get a brutally honest reply it might stop us asking in the first place…

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Thank you to everyone for taking part, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers!

I'd love to know what you all think too so please join the discussion in the comments. A lot of the Candor team will be checking back throughout the week to see if you agree with them or not!

Divergent Discussion 2: Which Faction would you choose? #INSURGENTUK #CANDORUK

This post is part of the Team #CANDORUK campaign for #INSURGENTUK. Click on the picture above for more information.

As part of the Insurgent release week madness I thought it would be fun to have some discussion posts about Divergent. I got the ideas for these topics from the HarperCollins Divergent Discussion Guide that can be found online here. These posts will contain spoilers for Divergent but I'd like to keep them spoiler free for Insurgent so please keep that in mind when you're commenting. I'll be welcoming members of Team #CANDORUK here every day to answer a different question so please give them all a warm welcome!

Taking part in today's discussion we have:

Carly - Writing from the Tub

Keren - Gothic Angel

Jo - Once Upon A Bookcase

M & Little M - We Sat Down

Caroline - Big Book Little Book

Today's topic:

Yesterday we talked about the values that the five different factions stand for (Abnegation = selflessness, Amity = kindness, Candor = honesty, Dauntless = bravery and Erudite = knowledge) and which ones we feel are most important. Today I’d like to ask you about which faction you think you think your family would be in. Which faction fits best with your family values? Is it the same faction that you would pick at your choosing ceremony? Do you think 16 is the right age to be making such important decisions that will effect your entire future?

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My Thoughts:

To be honest I don't think my family would fit 100% into any of the factions, but probably Amity or Erudite would be the best fit. I'm definitely close with my family and we all look out for each other. I'd say we're all reasonably intelligent and like to discover new things about the world. I know I wouldn't last 5 minutes without my books lol.

I like to think I'd be a good Dauntless candidate but I know for sure I'd fail the initiation test! I've always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie - I love roller coasters, I did a bungee jump on my 21st birthday and I love tattoos and piercings so you'd think Dauntless would be a logical choice. My problem is that I don't think I'm brave enough, I'm pretty sure I could face some of my fears but I doubt I'd make it through my fear landscape in one piece. I'm also not ruthless enough for the earlier tests.

In reality I'd probably be Divergent but if I had to pick one faction then I'd probably be happiest in Amity. If I'd been forced to choose factions at 16 I have no doubt I'd have picked Dauntless though and ultimately ended up factionless after failing initiation. I think that's the problem with having to make such a massive decision at such a young age - I was a very different person then to the one I am now. In fact I think my answer to this question would have been different at 16 to at 20, and then different again at 25 or 30 - I'd probably have chosen several different factions over the years depending on when you asked me the question!

I'm not sure that there is a good age for people to make a decision like this. Some people would be able to make a choice at 16 and be happy with the faction they chose forever but I'd imagine many more would regret their decision at some point in the future. I think you'd have the same problem if the age was 18 or even 21 though and I don't know how you can get around that.

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Carly's Thoughts:

Amity, I think. My family very, very rarely argue and never publicly. I've never been in that situation at a family reunion where some part of the family can't be invited because of an old grudge. When I get married I would have to think twice about the seating plan for my family, in case somebody is sat with somebody they don't like. We all get on and that's something I love. Of course, I do argue with my mum from time to time - with is very un-Amity like! What can I say? We're too similar. Generally, though, we are a peaceful family so I definitely think Amity would be our faction.

In terms of what I'd choose? I wouldn't pick Amity, I don't think. I'm not the most peaceful person in the world, although I have concealed things about myself to keep the peace, especially when I was younger. Of course I'm not hungover, don't be so silly! No, no, he's just a friend, he totally just slept on the floor! Etc etc. You get the picture. Sex and alcohol, folks, sex and alcohol.

But I digress.

Amity has been ruled out, I definitely couldn't be Candor - I tell farrr too many little lies, as you can see from the paragraphs above. I think anybody who's spent more than five minutes talking to me would laugh if I suggested I might be a good fit for Abnegation - selfless I am not! So that leaves Dauntless and Erudite. I think I could fit into either faction. I am brave and I value bravery. I might not be physically kick ass but I feel like it's something I would embrace. I do take risks. But... I can't help thinking of those times I've used little white lies to get myself out of trouble rather than owning up to something. I'm not talking big ass lies here, I'm talking pretending I got confused about my timetable if I skipped a class at uni because I was hungover (only when I was a fresher, of course!).

So that leaves me with Erudite. I love to learn. I always have. I've been out of education for three years now and it drives me crazy. I try to teach myself something new every day and if I don’t know how to do something, I figure it out. I don’t ever buy anything I can make myself and I can’t imagine a time when I’m not teaching myself some sort of new skill. So, yes, I think I would choose Erudite.

However, looking at the last question for today I’m not sure that Erudite is the choice I would have made at sixteen. At sixteen I was much more into being tough and bad ass, I’ve just come out of my goth phase and was at that awkward phase between childhood and adulthood where I wanted to prove I could manage on my own because I was sooo mature. At sixteen I think I would have picked Dauntless, if I’d had the choice.

I think at sixteen a lot of us would make more reckless choices than we would later on in life. This could be a bad thing; it’s easy to make impulsive decisions that you regret at a later date. But then again, I’m much more cautious as an adult and much more aware of what others think of me, much more aware of what the ‘right’ decision is. Maybe the passion of being younger can help. I’m not sure. It’s a tricky one!

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Keren's Thoughts:

In all honesty, I think my family is probably a mixture of them all. I don't think any of us would be happy being limited to only one of these values. I think if anything, I personally would rather be Divergent. As for the age thing, I honestly think that maybe 18 would've been a better age. At 16, I could never have made the kind of life-changing decision with the level of maturity needed. I'm not sure I could've made it at 18 either, but I would've stood a better chance.

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Jo's Thoughts:

To be perfectly honest, my family could fit in to any one of these factions. Being honest is very important to my family, as is treating others with respect and compassion. There are times when my family has had to be brave – I don’t think brave necessarily has to be limited to taking risks or being selfless, as said in Divergent, but also by being strong and facing things that aren’t so easy to face. As for knowledge, my brother and I getting a good education was always very important to my parents, and they made us knuckle down. We didn’t do too badly either.

If I was to pick a faction, from what I’ve read in Divergent, as risky as it all is, I think I’d probably pick Dauntless, simply because I feel I’d get bored in the others.

I know we aren’t considered adults until we are 18, when we can legally vote and drink alcohol. However, at 16, we are legally allowed to have sex. That means we are considered by law old enough to make decisions about having children – so we’re already “allowed” to make important decisions that will affect our entire lives then. The situations are different, but it’s already happening, whether I think it’s the right age or not.

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Little M's Thoughts:

I think we’d be in Erudite because we love reading. But I would choose either Dauntless or Amity because Amity is kindness and Dauntless is bravery.

M's Thoughts:

I think we’d be in Amity because we like playing games, I love red, we wear jeans, and we do a lot of sharing and helping. We also laught a lot. But at a choosing ceremony, I’d probably pick Candor and then admit I was Divergent and so end up factionless and start an uprising.

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Caroline's Thoughts:

Which faction do you think your family would be in?

I’ve had to think really hard about this. The faction’s ideals are impossibly hard to live up to not to mention that my family and I are all so different! The one thing that is clear to me is that my sister is totally Dauntless. Not that she is covered in tattoos and piercings(that would be my youngest brother), she certainly won’t be jumping out of a moving train anytime soon; in fact she has been known to faint at the sight of blood. But she has more courage than anyone else I know. She has had to fight long and hard; physically, mentally and legally to achieve the life she has and to become the gorgeous young woman she is today. Like most sisters, I suspect, we don’t always see eye-to-eye, but in this area at least, she has my total admiration.

Do you think 16 is the right age to be making such important decisions that will affect your entire future?

While our society isn’t as extreme as Roth’s Chicago, it does requests us to make important life changing choices about our futures while we are still young. It is around sixteen that we are encouraged to consider our future careers and working lives, whether or not we continue in formal education and what form that education will take.

At sixteen I was lucky enough to start on a career pathway, which has led to a job I still love today at thirty. Will I still feel the same in another fifteen years? Only time will tell.

Unlike in Tris’ society however these decisions are, however difficultly, reversible. Your university course doesn’t necessarily dictate you final career, you can return to education later or retrain in a completely new field. However for the majority of us the decisions we make at sixteen will have long term consequences for our futures.

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Thank you to everyone for taking part, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers! 

I'd love to know what you all think too so please join the discussion in the comments. A lot of the Candor team will be checking back throughout the week to see if you agree with them or not!

Divergent Discussion 1: Faction Values, which is most important? #INSURGENTUK #CANDORUK

This post is part of the Team #CANDORUK campaign for #INSURGENTUK. Click on the picture above for more information.

As part of the Insurgent release week madness I thought it would be fun to have some discussion posts about Divergent. I got the ideas for these topics from the HarperCollins Divergent Discussion Guide that can be found online here. These posts will contain spoilers for Divergent but I'd like to keep them spoiler free for Insurgent so please keep that in mind when you're commenting. I'll be welcoming members of Team #CANDORUK here every day to answer a different question so please give them all a warm welcome!

Taking part in today's discussion we have:

Carly - Writing from the Tub

Keren - Gothic Angel

Jo - Once Upon A Bookcase

M & Little M - We Sat Down

Alison - Big Book Little Book

Today's topic:

There are five different factions in Divergent - Abnegation who value selflessness, Amity who value kindness, Candor who value honesty, Dauntless who value bravery and Erudite who value knowledge. Do you think that these are the most important values for a healthy society? Which value do you think is the most important? Are there any other values that you think should have been included?

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My Thoughts:

I have to say I think these are all important values for any society but I don't believe it can be healthy for people to pick just one of these value to focus on. At one point in the book Four says that he wants to be "brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest" now if everyone tried to do that then Tris's world would be a much better place.

Personally I think each of the values are of equal importance, I could come up with arguments for each of them as to why they are the most important but as we see from Divergent putting too much focus on any of them tends to have a negative effect if you ignore the other qualities to do it. Each of the factors have a lot of good points but they also have downsides because they are so focused on their particular ideal. If they took the positives of each faction and merged it into one set of beliefs then I think that would make a massive difference to the society and make things a lot better for everyone.

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Carly's Thoughts:

I think the five values are probably the most important for a healthy society, yes. I think the thing that stops the society in the Divergent world being healthy is that each person (aside from the factionless) only works to embody one of those values. Candor work to be honest at all times but often their kindness and selflessness suffers as a result of this. The same goes for the other factions. The Erudite strive for knowledge but can be cruel and selfish in their quest for it. The Dauntless can be headstrong as they show their bravery and can make potentially unwise choices because of this. If every member of the Divergent world (and ours!) worked hard to truly embody all five of their core values then it would most likely be a happier, successful society.

I want to say that knowledge is the most important value because, really, I think that's the part of my life I pay most attention to but for society as a whole I think selflessness is the most important. If everybody had a more selfless approach to life I think there would be far fewer problems in the world. I think that the idea of selflessness in the Divergent world is taking it too far and isn't viable for a healthy society but selflessness is definitely good quality I think everybody could work harder to have a little more of in their values.

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Keren's Thoughts:

I'm not sure that a 'healthy society' can be formed from these Factions. Or at least not from these Factions alone. I don't happen to think that the society in which they live is a healthy one. I'm not entirely sure that it would even be possible to live in a world divided as such in real life. It worked in Divergent, to a point. but I think what you realise when reading it is that, it starts to show cracks - and if left, they will become huge fissures.

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Jo's Thoughts:

I do think these are important values for a healthy society, but not the way it’s done in Divergent. We have our charities, we have our armed forces, we have our scholars and teachers, and we have our law enforcement – and if you look at our government, whatever you think of it, there are people that have experience with each. I don’t think I couldn’t name one of the values as most important, I think they are all equally as important to keep our country running. I don’t necessarily think it should have been included, but the only other value I can think of that is present in our society today is belief – the various religions, and the clergy of those religions. As an atheist, I don’t think society needs belief in any god, but it is one I feel others might find lacking. Although there is mention of god in the book, there isn’t a faction that is devoted to religion, and I think religious people could possibly see that as a flaw, when the people in Divergent hold other values with such importance.

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Little M's Thoughts:

I think they’re all really important.

M's Thoughts:

I’d probably add liberty (freedom).

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Alison's Thoughts:

I think it’s hard to pick out one quality that is important for a healthy society. Human beings are diverse creatures with diverse needs and this should be reflected in the society they live within. In Divergent these factions came about as the opposites of the qualities that were destroying mankind, which seems to imply they were looking at qualities they didn’t want rather than ones they did. I do think that all of these values are important but I don’t think that one is more important than another. I also think that to be able to display many of those values you need to display some of the others. I identify most with Abnegation but I don’t think its the most important

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Thank you to everyone for taking part, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers!

I'd love to know what you all think too so please join the discussion in the comments. A lot of the Candor team will be checking back throughout the week to see if you agree with them or not!