Welcome!

Welcome to the weblog for our American Literature class. Here's the place we will be continuing conversations from class and starting new ones. We'll be discussing and debating current events, historical controversies, and literary conundrums. We might even see a little poetry.

So, what's a blog? And how will we be using it class? For information on blogging and how to join and post to our blog, see "All About Blogging."

We're looking forward to a great year.

Make sure you check your e-mail for your invitation to join the blog. Also – and this is very important – the first step you should take after you accept the invitation is to edit your user profile so that you control how your identity and your communication preferences.  Click on the pull-down menu next to your name in the upper right corner of the browser and click on “Blogger Profile.” Then click on “Edit Profile.”

You can fill out as much of it as you want, but the only requirement is -- under “Identity” -- make sure your “Display name” is your first name and last initial only -- so we provide some anonymity while still allowing your classmates and teacher to be able to identity who you are. For example, change “Bernie Heidkamp” to “Bernie H.”

Can We Really Predict the Future?

In the chapter "Safari" from the novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, author Jennifer Egan employs a writing technique that is not typically used, the use of flash forwards. Throughout the story, Egan writes little snapshots of character's futures and readers start considering what actions the characters did in the present that affected the character's futures for better, or for worse.

In "Safari", Egan highlights a theory called The Butterfly Effect, a theory that states that every decision one makes, no matter how little, will effect and potentially alter their future in someway. In "Safari" Egan exemplifies the Butterfly Effect with her use of flash forwards. As readers know character's fates, little actions characters perform can seem very impactful to character's futures.

The concept of the Butterfly Effect could drive individuals to live in fear and be extremely cautious with their actions. But, living in fear is useless, because there is no true telling of what the future will hold or what altering effects individual's actions will have on their futures.

Also, if every action can potentially alter an individual's future there is really no way to predict the future because it is constantly evolving. Having the knowledge of one's future is futile because it is not set in stone. Egan exemplifies the fact that knowing one's future is useless knowledge by giving the readers the ability to see character's futures by showing that there is really nothing readers can do with that knowledge. All readers can do is continue to flip through the pages and enjoy the unpredictable ride.

Postmodernism in "The Office"

The Office is a popular sitcom that aired for nine seasons on NBC. The show displays postmodernism through its mockumentary style of film. The Office is set up and filmed comparable to a documentary, however the humor and tone in the show demonstrate the parody aspect of the sitcom.

The show revolves around employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The sitcom illustrates what everyday life is like for the employees, while providing their commentary through interviews. During the interviews, the characters discuss their opinions and allow the viewer to have multiple perspectives on the certain situation. The interviews grant insight to all of the characters, similar to Jennifer Egan's novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad.

A Visit From the Good Squad follows the lives and stories of many different characters who all somehow are tied together. As you progress through the book, you learn information about the characters that connects to previous stories. For example, in "Found Objects", Sasha is the main focus. She struggles with an addiction to stealing things, and allows the reader insight on her life and her condition. Sasha comes back into the book in the second story, "The Gold Cure." In this chapter, the new focus is Sasha's old boss, Bennie. Sasha is a minor character in "The Gold Cure" and, in Bennie's eyes, is viewed as an object. Near the end of the second story, Bennie is unable to locate his red tin where he keeps his gold flakes. Sasha says that she has it as Bennie "left" it somewhere on their way out of the sister's studio. Bennie then makes a comment about how Sasha can always find things that he misplaces, which is why he feels so dependent on her. The reader can infer that Sasha probably stole the red tin and many of the other items that Bennie has "misplaced." I find this fascinating as the reader knows what is going on and is aware of the depth to Sasha's character while Bennie is ignorant and unconcerned with Sasha. Granting the reader this sort of understanding is similar to a specific situation in The Office. Jim and Pam are two of the main characters in the television show. The co-workers are friends, however they both secretly have feelings for each other. They both believe their feelings are unrequited but it is revealed during interviews that they both like each other. This example reminds me of A Visit From the Good Squad because in many situations in the book, like Bennie and Sasha's, the reader has more information than the character's do, allowing the reader more involvement in the story.

The Mask of Uniformity in The Goon Squad

Cliques are very prominent in today’s schools and society. Webster’s dictionary defines a clique as “small groups of people who spend time together and who are not friendly to other people.” In Jennifer Egan’s novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, she consistently addresses different cliques. However, she doesn’t reference them as cliques, but as uniforms. A few of these uniforms are Alice’s sister’s green school uniform, the punk look, the typical cholo look and the JV soccer team uniform. In Egan’s novel, all of these uniforms represent stereotypes and “masks” of the people wearing them. The uniforms define the characters and make them who they are.

In the chapter entitled Ask Me If I Care, the narrator Rhea struggles to identify as a punk. The biggest problem for her is her freckles. In her opinion, punks don’t have freckles; they aren’t a part of the stereotypes (Egan 43). Punks should have dark hair, mohawks, dog collars, ripped clothes and dyed hair. Based on this definition, neither Rhea nor her friend Alice is a true punk. Rhea says that Alice has drippy eye makeup, wears ripped jeans and has long blonde hair. By the definition of punk, Alice isn’t a punk either due to her long blonde hair. Rhea references a song entitled The Passenger sung by punk artist, Iggy Pop. She lives her life feeling unwanted and observes her group of friends around her. Throughout the chapter she debates whether punk is real or if it is simply an idea or a concept that people try to obtain. In her opinion, only Scotty is a true punk. His personality, actions and attitude are the closest to being a true punk. 

The cholos wear a mask based around the tough guy, West Side Story look. Their greased back black hair, leather coats and clicky shoes (42). It’s how they identify as a group and differentiate themselves from others. 

The JV soccer team moves and works together as a unit. Once they heard Scotty’s music, they all drifted up into the stands to listen. They represent the fans of punk music. They are the type of people who don’t commit to the punk scene, but they enjoy the music.

The green plaid uniforms are used to represent the wealthy and a shift in personalities. Alice’s sisters all attend the all girls’ school Alice used to go to. They wear green plaid uniforms. Jocelyn says that rich children are always blonde (40). Therefore, the green plaid uniforms are a representation of the wealthy. Alice used to be one of those innocent little girls wearing the green plaid uniforms. Her identity was based on those uniforms but eventually she shifted her identity to the punk scene. All of these uniforms are masks that the characters wear to identify with not only themselves, but as a group. Their social interactions and friendships are based around what mask they wear and how they identify themselves.

A Hard River to Cross

In Tim O'Brien's collection of multiple war stories, The Things They Carried, many stories stick out as very bold and not really holding anything back. My favorite of these stories is named "On the Rainy River." This story details O'Brien's actions after receiving his draft notice and thinking about what to do.

I really enjoyed reading this story because of the brutal amount of emotion put into how it was written. O'Brien did a really good job of taking his emotions and precisely as well as meticulously forming them into words on paper. For example, here's a short excerpt from the story:

I remember opening up the letter, scanning the few lines, feeling the blood go thick behind my eyes. I remember a sound in my head. It wasn't thinking, just a silent howl.

O'Brien's story, while very tragic, captures the perfect representation of the "typical" person's reactions to a war draft. He didn't read it, tell himself "OOH RAH, LET'S KILL SOME GOOKS", and face the war with sheer force. He was terrified. He wondered how running away would go, how he would survive in Canada, how the Government would hunt him down and prosecute him for dodging the draft. He didn't consider himself the bad-ass warfighter, he was a scared young man. The truthfulness and sheer amount of emotion in his words and the story itself really entrapped me in it, and I really recommend that you read the entire book if you haven't already.

Women in the Eye

Women seldom play a role in traditional fantasy. Tolkien started it, really, having very few female characters,  and even fewer strong ones. That trend carried until Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic, Dune. There were plenty of strong women in Dune, but only in the magical sense.  Dune set the bar, causing many stories to include magically gifted women with their male sword wielding protectors. Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World is a perfect example of said trend, however, it begins to break away from it in almost invisible but incredibly profound ways.

Like Dune's Bene Gesserit an intergalactic organization of magically gifted women, The Eye of the World's international Aes Sedai spend their time scheming, manipulating, and otherwise controlling the world. Neither the Bene Gesserit nor the Aes Sedai share their power with men, and in both stories almost all of the main female characters are either a member of the respective groups, training to become one, or contemplating training to become one. Everyone is generally afraid of them. Vaguely sexist 17 year old main character,  Rand puts it best. "Oh Light! What if all women are Aes Sedai?"

The comment is said when he discovers that the main love interest, Egwene, is entering training under Moiraine Sedai. Readers know that much of his apprehension comes from his desire to change Egwene Al'Vere to Egwene Al'Thor when she would rather change it to Egwene Sedai. However,  he is not alone in the sentiment. The other vaguely sexist 17 year old hero, Mat, also voices the concern. The almost vaguely sexist 17 year old hero, Perrin,  is too wrapped up in his own problems and is just grateful for the assistance the Aes Sedai, and Moiraine Sedai in particular, provides. Perrin is a rarity.

The Aes Sedai are slightly less edgy than the Bene Gesserit, in that their male sword wielding protectors are actually official. The character Lan is Moiraine's "bonded Warder," a very official, important, and powerful job to have, the only job that men can have in regards to the Aes Sedai. 

Then cult of domesticity ideology is enforced. Once, the Aes Sedai had male members, just as many male members as female members. But at an event called "The Breaking of the World" the male half of the True Source, or the magic the Aes Sedai use, was tainted with eeeeeevil and now only women can use it without going nuts.

That brings us back to vaguely sexist 17 year old hero number one, Rand. He discovers that he is one of those men in an almost biblically inspired battle with Ba'alzamon,  the Dark One, or, to use his real name at the horror and dread of the characters, Shai'tan. Of course, the male Aes Sedai can be tenfold more powerful than the female. Moiraine Sedai is not quite utterly useless in the fight, though to be fair, Lan, the sword wielding protctor goes down before she does. Rand single handedly defeats the Dark One completely untrained. At least he still can't use a sword right, to Lan's utter frustration.

After going though all the ways The Eye of the World perpetuates existing gender roles, let's turn to all of the ways it shoots them down. These are relatively few, but more impacting than the weight of all the above combined.

Let's turn first to vaguely sexist 17 year old hero number one, Rand Al'Thor and his relationship with main love interest Egwene. It becomes very clear about half way through the book that Egwene Al'Vere is never, ever, going to become Egwene Al'Thor. The prophet Min says so straight after seeing them together. "You're in love with her. She loves you, too, but she's not for you, or you for her, in the way you both want. When I look at her, I see the same as when I look at Moiraine Sedai. She won't refuse it." It may take a female prophet dressed like a man to say it, but Egwene needs to join the Aes Sedai and Rand has no say in that whatsoever. By the end of the book, the couple readers are lead to root for is split up in all but name.

Then there is the structure of the Kingdom of Andor, where the story takes place. Queendom of Andor may be the better phrase, as power descends from mother to daughter. The eldest son acts as a sort of advisor to his sister, the Queen. Kings don't really even exist. There is the royal consort, but the Queen is essentially free to spend her time with whomever she wishes and the recipient of her affection doesn't really gain any political power to show for it.

Other relationships in the book create much the same effect. Besides Egwene's relationship with the main character,  she has a brief fling with a gypsy, and there is definitely something between her and almost vaguely sexist hero, Perrin Aybara, and she isn't alone. Egwene's first mentor, village Wisdom Nynaeve seems to have something going on with Moiraine's sword wielding protector, Lan. She very nearly asks him to marry her, as Rand discovers when the two think that everyone else is asleep. Lan refuses, pressured by the societal requirement of providing for one's wife. A requirement that Nynaeve says repeatedly she doesn't care about.

The two spend the book caught in petty rivalry, as Lan is a talented Warder (a.k.a. sword wielding protector guy) and Nynaeve was trained by her father as a replacement for the brothers she never had. They both hide things from each other, sneak up on each other, and otherwise test their hunting, tracking, and other survival skills. Nynaeve wins those fights just as frequently as Lan does.

Despite Lan's incredible Warder talents, Nynaeve meets his every challenge. By the end of the book, they have more respect for one another than anyone else in the party. And that contradicts every set role women have in traditional fantasy.
 

The Eye of the World and it's fourteen follow-ups both enforce and challenge the roles set for women in traditional fantasy. It is a shame the author is dead. I would have liked to hug him.

Egan's Excruciating Ending

There are many who would argue that Jennifer Egan’s style is whimsical and thought provoking. Although I do think there is some merit to Egan’s artistic style and creative license, I think that the ultimate ending of her book is utterly disappointing and too open-ended. It is true that the story itself is non-linear in nature, which is completely fine to me. I have read a few other books that progress as a series of experiences from alternate perspectives that eventually culminate in an awe-inspiring, goosebump-effecting conclusion. This sort of story ties together all loose ends and brings all characters and events full circle, demonstrative of the idea of a “small world”.

However, Egan’s ending to her story seems to be missing a few pages, or even an entire chapter. All of Egan’s characters seem to be connected in some way throughout the story. This, unfortunately, does not mean that they all impact the “ending” of Egan’s collection of perspectives. The last chapter paints a picture of Alex, a man who is struggling to sort out the ethics of his corrupt desires for noble pursuits. Alex ends up working for Bennie, and together they set up a concert to showcase Scotty’s (Bennie’s old friend) new musical endeavors. Sasha is the only character up until now who has interacted with Alex, and her connection with his future is so weak that it could be arguably not significant at all. It is true that Bennie’s life becomes entangled with many protagonists of the previous 12 chapters of Egan’s book. However, the part that drives me crazy is that there seems to be no real purpose to the events taking place throughout the entire chronology of the stories.

The characters that interacted with one another impacted one another’s lives in ranging ways, from completely influential to almost no significance whatsoever. Some characters, such as Bennie and Kitty, seem to have no real important connection at all. They both new Dolly, Bennie even less directly than Kitty, but this entanglement of shared acquaintance had no grounds for directing either of their lives. The ending of this book, if one wishes to call it even that, feels like a sort of middle finger to me as a reader. Most of the main characters are living bleak lives, dead, or struggling to balance an occupation and a family simultaneously.

The ending would appear to be the moment when the audience at the concert receives Scotty’s music with immense praise and encouragement. This seems like an appropriate way to finish the book, as the eventual result of all of these characters’ personal choices led in some way to Scotty’s rise as an important figure in the music industry. However, Egan instead decides to take the reader to Sasha’s old apartment, where Bennie and Alex try to enter and possibly reconnect with their old friend. After finding themselves unable to gain access to her building, the two leave, and the story ends with the most anticlimactic denouement possible. Alex thinks he hears Sasha behind him, and he turns quickly to try and catch her. However, he finds it is just “another girl, young and new to the city, fiddling with her keys”(340).

This is the final sentence of the entire book, and it left me feeling empty. I want to know what happens to Alex, and Bennie, and the other main characters of these stories. Maybe I’m too wrapped up in conventionality, but what I truly wanted from this book was a finale that tied everything and everyone together, that created a moment in my mind where the unmistakable delight of realization took hold and left me completely satisfied. Perhaps Egan’s seemingly cliffhanger ending is just embodying the principles of post-modernism. She is challenging what the ending of a story truly has to be, and if this is the case, then she is a pioneer in a realm of writing that encourages the reader to accept life as a conclusion that is anything but conclusive.

The Power of Definitions

Throughout Jennifer Egan’s “Safari” chapter in her novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, she uses definitions to portray the emotions which the characters experience. The definitions progress the plot while representing emotions that the reader can relate to. Most of the definitions describe cliché occurrences within a family, and even though the story takes place in an African safari, the story is incredibly relatable.

The first definition Egan uses in the story is “Structural Resentment,” which she defines as an adolescent daughter’s rejection of her twice-divorced father’s new girlfriend. By including this definition, Egan thoroughly describes the situation, using twice-divorced father instead of solely divorced, adopting the definition to fit to her story. She also uses "Structural Resentment" to describe the situation when stating in the definition that the adolescent's “own nascent sexuality being her chief weapon” (64). This sets up the story for the numerous rebellious actions Lou’s, the twice-divorced father, daughter Charlie takes, giving justification for the actions.

“Structural Incompatibility” is another definition that Egan uses. Egan defines it as twice-divorced male not being able to “acknowledge, much less sanction, the ambitions of a much younger female mate” (65). Egan uses this definition as an instance to foreshadow. In the definition, she states that the relationship will only be temporary, a harbinger for the separation of Mindy and Lou, who the reader can assume the definition refers to.

The definitions Egan provides are not only used to progress the story, but are also used to relate the reader to the story. “Structural Dissatisfaction,” the final definition that Egan uses, is clearly relatable to my life. I, like Mindy, after having an exciting experience, have trouble returning to the my everyday-life that once pleased me. With Egan’s inclusion of this definition, specifically relating to me, the story becomes remarkably more powerful. It is clear that without Egan’s definitions, her “Safari” chapter would lose much of the attractive force which the chapter does so well to retain.

Parallels in Les Miserables and The Things They Carried

The story of Les Miserables and the songs from its musical, especially “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” have many parallels with The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.

During “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” one of the main characters in Les Miserables, Marius, has just gotten back on his feet after a revolutionarily sustained injury, goes to the sight of the revolution, and sings about his heartbreak. Marius sings, “Oh my friends, my friends forgive me, that I live and you are gone. There's a grief that can't be spoken. There's a pain goes on and on.” The guilt that Marius is feeling in the scene is made apparent when he begs for his dead friends’ to “forgive” him because he was the one to “live on” and that they are now “gone.”

O’Brien talks about a similar guilt when talking about death and war. He says, “my presence was guilt enough… and I remember feeling the burden of responsibility and grief” (171). Marius’ and O’Brien’s “guilt” about death brings to light the after affects of war on the soldier’s conscience.

Both in Les Miserables and The Things They Carried, characters acknowledge the profound sacrifice that takes place in war and that the reason for that sacrifice is not always clear. Marius sings, “Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for. Empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will sing no more.” Marius’ blatant ignorance in regards to what his “friends” have just died for exemplifies the fact that soldiers or revolutionaries do not always know if their “sacrifice” is worth the cost or if it is justified.

O’Brien discusses this often times unjustified sacrifice when saying, “you don’t make a war without knowing why… [and] when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause… Once people are dead, you can’t make them undead” (38-39). O’Brien’s concrete way of talking about the “dead” demonstrates his views on the importance war being just.

The similarities that these two stories hold highlight the common experiences that all soldiers might have despite the century.

A Place You Don't Belong

War is tasting the envelope flaps
Knowing her tongue has been there
War is humping photographs
Wrapping the nylons around your neck

War is dense crushing love
Lying on the ground with a cheekbone gone
War is feeling shame and hatred
Morals aplenty, the sky on their shoulders

War is hating the silence
Trying to fill it up with hard words
War is hiding the feelings
Burning the blame, no more fantasies

War is switching from coffee to gin
Stories like Ping-Pong balls with fancy spin
War is following the dink, staying in the pink
Trying to relax, feeling guilty sometimes

War is being too scared to be brave
Breaking your own nose out of fear
War is trusting your enemies
Being a little crazy, just enough

War is a ragged circle, fresh and original
Grotesque beauty mixed with fluid symmetries
War is not true
War cannot be false
War is the beautiful sunlight on a dead guy's face

Thanks to Tim O'Brien for the words

Found Poem: War is Wonderful

War is Wonderful


It's about your brothers.


How her brother made the war seem almost fun


The way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up


It's about love and bonds that not even death can break


War is fun


The harmonies of sound and shape


War is hope


A powerful, implacable beauty


War is thrilling.


War makes you a man


The majesty of combat fills the eye


Sometimes things can almost get sweet


Very personal and touching


To be there for a reason


You've never felt more at peace


You recognize what's valuable


It was my life


We were real young and innocent


Like everybody else


It's about love and memory


It was a love story


Happy stories, too, and even a few peace stories


But in truth war is also beautiful


We got ourselves a nice mellow war today.

A Found Poem: War is...

War is hell,
But that's not the half of it,
War makes you dead.
And you were dead,
Never partly dead.

It was not courage,
They were too frightened to be cowards.
They died so as not to die of embarrassment
A mere matter of falling,
Yet no one ever fell.
You can't change what can't be changed,
There were rules.

But the war wasn't all that way.
The war wasn't all terror and violence.
They made themselves laugh.
They found jokes to tell.

Well, you'd think,
This isn't so bad.
Garden of Evil
They'd say.
The place talks.
Nam - it truly talks.
You come over clean
And you get dirty
And afterward 

It's never the same.

Are the Watchmen more than just watching?

The 1986 DC limited series turn movie, Watchmen was a huge success through the simple and over-thought idea of: What if superheroes were real? Alan Moore answered the question through an elaborate story which truly answers the question everyone has asked. Based in New York City in 1985, Moore tells the story of a group of crime fighters whose presence in this alternate reality has dramatically affected and also changed the outcomes of events that took place in the real-world at the time. The group of superheroes are called the Minutemen and have been the answer to the United State's problems leading up to 1985. Although, as the story progresses the group who were once called heroes are now considered a threat to the US by increasing the tension of the impending nuclear war between Russia and the United States.

Throughout the book flashbacks are shown of the hero "The Comedian" in the past, which shows his mistakes and the growing corruption of the power given to him. In Ferguson and in many places around the US, our "watchmen" have shown signs of corruption through the power given to them by the government. Police officers are shown and perceived in our country as righteous heroes who protect us from the evil in the world. There are many cases and Ferguson is just one of how our view of officers can be exactly the opposite. Although many cops are truly here to serve the country as our protectors, just like their were many heroes in Watchmen, there are still many cops who aren't serving for the same reason. As more and more officers are overusing the power given to them for our protection it is becoming very hard to hold onto the perception of police officers being the heroes we need.

Hunger Games in The World

The Hunger Games book and movie series by Suzanne Collins has been a highlight of popular culture for the last several years because the theme echoes the crisis we have seen in the Middle East for the last decade. the story is set in futuristic post revolutionary America, known as Panem. It describes the conflict between the poor majority of the citizens and the rich minority ruling class referred to as “The Capital.” The Capital uses fear tactics and terrorism to keep the majority from uprising. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks the freedom of Americans has also been threatened by terrorism. The Hunger Games relates with our culture because it shows us that we can fight back against these fear tactics.

Each year the Capital reminds everyone of its power by taking two children from each district and forcing them to fight to the death in a virtual reality arena. This creates fear in the public and demonstrates that their lives are not valued. In our world, random terrorist bombings have the same effect on society.

There is a scene in the Hunger games when the president of the Capital states that although fear is powerful hope will always outweigh it. “Hope, It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.” This tells us that even in the face of terrorism, resilience is possible.

Divergent -- Feminism of the Future

As the world of today is evolving and advancing, culture is becoming more and more compelled to fiction about the future. One example of this increasingly popular fiction is called Divergent. Divergent, written by Veronica Roth, is a recent book of 2011. The book is set in a futuristic dystopia where society is divided into five factions that each represent a different virtue: Abnegation the selfless, Dauntless the brave, Erudite the intelligent, Candor the honest, and Amity the peaceful. Tris does not truly belong in any faction and is what is known as a Divergent, which is considered a danger to society and who must be executed immediately. 

Throughout Divergent, Tris defies the stereotype that women are weak and powerless while attempting to diffuse into society. Although an argument can be made proving Tris is in fact an enforcer of the stereotype, the book empowers Tris more than it characterizes her as dependent and weak. The book shows Tris' character as dominant in many ways, as she evolves during the story.

Tris is originally characterized as a weak girl who is powerless. Upon choosing the faction Dauntless, everyone is astonished. In order to join Dauntless, Tris must complete both physical and physiological tests, which question her strength. Tris, being the lowest of the initiates, is paired to fight against the best of the initiates. In their first fight, Tris loses and is still considered the weak girl developed in the beginning of the book. However, Tris never gives up and continues training. The next time she fights the best of the initiates, she is still defeated, yet contacts her opponent a few times and survives the fight for a longer period of time, thus proving increased strength.

Another example of Tris progressing into a more powerful character is shown during a game of capture the flag. Tris is on a team composed of the worst of the initiatives, who have accepted defeat even before the game has began. Disregarding her disadvantages, Tris takes control of her team and develops a plan to win. Tris' plan is executed successfully and her team wins, even though it was against all odds, proving her incorrigible vigor. 

A final instance of Tris’ tenacious character is exemplified when Tris overpowers the leader of her society. This leader controls all of the dystopia and the juxtaposition between the two supports that Tris' is a strong character. This is because she destroys the leader's, the most powerful in the entire society, attempt to rebuild part of the society. Clearly, the protagonist of the futuristic, fiction novel, Divergent, resists the stereotype characterizing women as powerless and weak, as she evolves into a woman of admirable strength and dominance.

I strongly recommend the movie!