Divergent: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Beatrice makes her way home. Her neighborhood is full of houses that look exactly the same: a mark of Abnegation’s emphasis of plainness and simplicity. Beatrice has arrived home before Caleb. When Caleb arrives home, he’s accompanied by Susan Black and Susan’s brother, Robert. Beatrice knows that Caleb and Susan like each other—but they’re only allowed to flirt in the tepid way that the Abnegation community approves. Beatrice imagines that one day, Caleb will marry Susan.

Caleb and Beatrice return to their house. Caleb asks Beatrice about her results, but she refuses to tell him. Silently, they prepare dinner for the family. After some time, their father and mother come home. Beatrice’s mother notes that she’s heard there was a problem with the testing that day—someone didn’t get a conclusive result, and had to leave early. Caleb and Beatrice say they know nothing about this.

Beatrice’s father tells his family about his day at work. He works as a political leader alongside his friend Marcus: the city is ruled by 50 such political leaders. This has been the status quo in the city, ever since the five factions made a “Great Peace,” years ago. Today, Beatrice’s father says, an Erudite named Jeanine Matthews released a government report attacking Marcus’s character; i.e., accusing him of being violent and cruel to his son, Tobias—a boy who chose to join Dauntless instead of Abnegation. Beatrice’s father claims that the Erudites have been releasing lots of reports like this lately. He says that the Erudites, with their fancy knowledge and intelligence, are jealous of Abnegation’s simplicity and plainness.

As Beatrice sits at the dinner table, she tries to make sense of her test. She still has to make a decision: which faction to join. She could be courageous and choose Dauntless, or selfless and choose Abnegation. Tomorrow she’ll have to make a choice of some kind.