Women and Sexuality Theme Analysis

Divergent has been praised by some for its strong female protagonist. Tris Prior is a powerful, even heroic character, and during the course of the novel she protects the weak and saves countless lives. More importantly, Tris’s heroism seems directly tied to the fact that she is a young woman: her gender gives her a powerful tool for fighting evil. It’s worth considering the novel’s take on women a little more closely.

The majority of Divergent is set in a society that’s openly, even blatantly, masculine in its structure. The Dauntless—who are government by men and men only, it would appear—celebrate combat, aggression, violence, and other qualities that are more commonly associated with men than women. When Tris arrives at Dauntless, few people take her seriously, because she’s a woman, and a small, unintimidating woman at that. On a basic level, the structure of Dauntless society sends a strong message to Tris, telling her to be frightened, submissive, and meek. Throughout the novel, Tris responds to this “challenge” from masculine Dauntless society, sometimes by imitating masculine behavior, and sometimes by using her gender to her advantage.

At times, Tris tries to succeed by imitating the masculine norms at Dauntless, but often, she’s most successful when she doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a woman. She masters the basics of personal combat, but never really excels at fighting: frankly put, biology is against her—she’s not big enough to defeat an opponent like Peter. Tris’s most impressive feats at Dauntless occur outside the domain of combat and aggression. During the capture the flag game, for example, she uses quick thinking to find her opponents before they find her. While it’s certainly true that Tris lives in a masculine community, she’s able to gain respect herself through intelligence, wit, and strategy—avenues that, while not necessarily feminine, are certainly less stereotypically masculine.

One major sign that Tris’s gender is essential, not incidental, to her strength is the role of sexuality in the novel. Tris isn’t a 12-year-old “tomboy”—during the course of the book, she discovers and explores her sexual desires via her relationship with Tobias (and at one point, it’s strongly implied that Tris loses her virginity to Tobias). At the novel’s climax, Tris’s romantic desires become a weapon as well as a source of pleasure: when Tobias is brainwashed into wanting to kill Tris, Tris is able to “break through” to her lover by communicating her feelings, causing Tobias to regain control of his mind. Quite literally, Tris’s (heterosexual) feminine romantic feelings save her life. Because Roth foregrounds Tris’s passion for Tobias throughout the novel’s climactic chapters, we never lose sight of the fact that she’s a strong woman, not just a strong, genderless character.

From a feminist viewpoint, there are two major ways for young adult novels about women to go wrong. First, the book can make the mistake of depicting women as passive “damsels in distress”—waiting for heroic men to save them. Divergent certainly doesn’t make this mistake, as Tris isn’t just the protagonist of the book; she’s arguably the strongest and most competent character. Second, young adult novels sometimes depict women as almost androgynous characters: while they are, in fact, female, nothing they say or do can identify them as women. Divergent doesn’t shy away from gender or sexuality: Tris is a woman, with strong sexual desires for men. Although she learns to spar with the men surrounding her, she doesn’t try to imitate these men. Instead, Tris pioneers her own brand of bravery, becoming a true heroine in the process.