Dear Veronica Roth,
People have said the most awful things about the third book of the Divergent trilogy, Allegiant. Most of my friends told me, “It’s for people who like horrible endings.” Most critics said, “it didn’t work: the storyline, the ending, the character build.” Following a classic example of social conformity, it took me two years – after hours of hesitation– to pick up and read this book. Sure, I understand why everyone was upset: the main character’s sacrifice for her loved ones. But I loved it. This book taught me that nothing in life is perfect; our flaws are more important to our wellbeing and success in this society.
Growing up, my parents always compared me to my brother: the “golden” child. My family – from the most traditional part of India – viewed intelligence as the greatest indicator of success in the doctor-or-engineer pathway. Because of this, they sought my brother’s greatness from the beginning. Everything about him seemed so “perfect.” He was smart, obedient, and humble. It was as if he had “fixed” combination of my parents’ greatest assets. This comparison also easily happens in school. The “popular” girl – everything about you has to be perfect. We all had a moment to try and be a part of the “popular” group. Both these illusions created a negative mental environment for me; I started doubting myself to the extreme. I started “fixing” myself so that I could be “good enough” for my parents and others around me. But I came to realize that no matter how much I changed, there was always more that I wanted to change: my personality, my character, my looks. The list was endless. This illusion became more prominent when I moved to Tennessee. It was a chance for me to make new friends and start fresh. I kept changing my personality depending on who I was around. In reality, all it did was push me around the wrong people that wouldn’t like who I truly was. If I hadn’t read this book, I would still be striving and struggling for this idea of “perfection.” From reading this book (and other events), I realized that this “perfect” personality doesn’t exist.
Allegiant taught me that not only the “perfect” personality doesn’t exist but also there are usually negative drawbacks to our greatest assets. The whole Divergent series was about a city’s interactions between factions with “fixed” personalities. These “fixed” personalities were genetic mutations of a specific trait. Each one was represented by a different faction: “abnegation,” to be selfless; “erudite,” to be knowledgeable; “candor,” to be honest; “amity,” to be friendly; and “dauntless,” to be brave. The purpose of this experiment was to see if “fixed” genetics would be better than our freewill and “pure” mindset. The researchers considered this experiment an “utter failure” and wanted to factions to kill themselves; they tried to have a civil war – which also failed miserably. The experiment was a failure because the researchers realized that for every “fixed” personality trait, there was a huge drawback – a negative character trait. Abnegation were considered “selfless but stifling,” Dauntless were “brave but cruel,” Erudite were “intelligent but vain,” Amity were “peaceful but passive,” and Candor were “honest but inconsiderate.” These negative drawbacks made the idea of “fixing” personality traits pointless; those who lived had “pure” genetics – the genes that we are naturally born with – because of their free will and unique mindset.
This book made me realize that no matter how hard I try to be “perfect” for my parents, there will always be drawbacks. Furthermore, the traits that we often view as flaws are what will contribute the most to our success. These “flawed” traits will bring you closer to the people who will love and accept you, which will mean more than being “popular.” My flaws – being loud and energetic – is what will make me happy in life.
Sincerely,
