Divergent Book Reflection Essay

There are so many ways and reasons that people can change. You can change for love, passion, or to fit in. There are many more things that can change a person. I’m taking two stories and looking if the characters changed or stayed the same.

Everybody changes throughout life, either it from being around certain people, having people persuade you into doing something, or by seeing a certain event happen. Everyone goes through a type of change that can make a big difference in their life. I argue that people in the play “Witness” by Karen Hesse can change from being around others because Sara Chickering changed from being around the Hirsh’s, Viola ended up joining the KKK because of her husband pressuring her to, and Merlin by seeing Leanora saving Ester.

The book Who Moved My Cheese is about change and how it can affect how you are in life. Some people take changes hard while others just go with the flow. Some are ready for a change when the time comes and others want things to never change.

You’re not the same person you were yesterday. You changed, you grew. Be it physically, mentally, or emotionally. And just like you change, so do characters in books. Take Scout Finch from Harper Lee’s fictional novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. At the beginning of the story, she’s 7 and just learning how the world works. She's scared of her reclusive neighbor and never wants to become what society expects her to be: a lady. At the end of the novel, 4 years later, she realizes that her reclusive neighbor is nothing to be afraid of and being a lady doesn't mean that you aren't strong. Scout changes by learning what real courage is, by walking in others shows, and by learning that things aren't always as they seem.

This shows Tris has grown up enough to realize the true meaning of those closest to you. Another time Tris shows that she has changed is by starting to wear her hair down and get a tattoo. The tattoo is of three ravens on her left collarbone which symbolize her irrational fear of being pecked to death by a flock of ravens. She decided she wanted this tattoo to express how she has overcome her fear. Also when Tris falls in love with Tobias, or Four, she realizes love is a power in itself.

In the story "The girl who loved Tom Gordon" it works with the theme man vs. nature. It demonstrates the unimportance of a single human life, while at the same time shows the limits of a person’s strength and motivation to exist. Trisha’s experience shows her struggle against the strength of nature and her potential to live pleasantly with nature by her will to keep on moving forward, using what she had around her, going delusional, and the wasp god/ beast following her.

Transformation in the world happens when people are healed and start investing in other people- Michael W. Smith. Change plays a key role in one’s life. Change is what makes one’s life different from usual; change is needed in everyone’s life in order to maintain the fluency of life. The character Gregor Samsa’s in the book “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka symbolizes change, in which he gets transformed into a large insect. Change literally means to make or do something in a different manner to get a new result.

In the book Walk Two Moons there is a girl, her name is Sal, she has many things that change her life which are the internal and external conflict. For example she met someone who then starts to like, and Gram is in the hospital, she has many feelings about this and it changes her life, but these are just the few internal and external conflicts that change her life.

One way that Sal changes internally and externally is by moving out of her childhood home. She changes because she moves to her new house and it is different from her old house Sal was upset because she didn't want to move to the new house out of her childhood home I can infer this because in the book it says “No trees?...This is where we are going to live?” this quote shows that she is unhappy that she is moving because it is not the same as her old home and what she is use to.

(O-S1)The changes we see in people do not always come from the most suspecting person. The people we think never change can be influenced by just one thing and be changed forever.(O-S2) In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, the events that occur to the people in the book prove that hope it a factor in the changes of people.(O-S3) In the book the hope that Jefferson ,an unsuspecting character, will be changed by a teacher to see himself as a human and be seen as a true man.

This change is a positive and uplifting change of self for the protagonist in this novel.

In life, the smallest things can lead to the greatest changes. Perspectives always shift when ideas are challenged. This occurred several times in Wendy Guerra’s book Everyone Leaves. Each character’s actions caused a change in the outcomes. In Everyone Leaves, Wendy Guerra reveals that people’s attitude change over time because of the events the characters witness.

(AGG) Children in the middle east are losing family members because of all the war going on there, the kids are having to witness this and therefore are changed by the conflict and loss. (BS-1)In the story Under the Persimmon Tree, Najmah is changed by becoming more determined to find her father and brother after they were taken by the Taliban. (BS-2) Najmah is significantly changed after her father and brother are kidnapped by the Taliban. (BS-3) With the loss of all of her family members Najmah changes dramatically. (TS) Najmah in the story tragically loses all her family members this changes her character into someone she never thought she would be..

Back in Abnegation, Beatrice was selfless and she always tried to blend in. Beatrice was like every other girl in Abnegation. She wasn’t that tall and she was skinny. She had no muscle because citizens of Abnegation weren’t allowed to play and run around.

Instead of showing characteristics from just her new faction (Dauntless) or her old faction (Abnegation), Tris tends to show characteristics from other factions too such as Erudite. Her response to the dog in her aptitude test was considered intelligent and courageous because of the fact that she did not run in fear of getting attacked. Instead, she leaned down and was nice to the dog. In the Dauntless manifesto it states; “We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another” and that is exactly what Tris did in two situations throughout the book. (Roth pg. 47) The Abnegation inside her shined through when she chose to jump on the visious dog to save the inoccent little girl who's intention was only to pet the dog. The second situation was when she stood up for Al and took his place in front of the target while Four threw knives. She did this because she believed that anyone can stand in front of a target and that it does not prove anything. After all, she did reveal this