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by Veronica Roth
DIVERGENT -- CHAPTER 4
Beatrice gets home a little early. She describes how alike all of the homes looks. All the houses have conformed to the same rectangular, nearly windowless, gray patterns.
A little while later, Caleb approaches with Susan and her brother Robert. They sense that something is wrong with Beatrice. Beatrice blames the liquid they drank. She says it’s making her sick.
After Susan and Robert depart, Caleb and Beatrice head inside. Instinctively, Beatrice realizes that Caleb will remain as Abnegation and live a dull, simple life like their parents. Caleb asks Beatrice for the truth behind her weird actions. She asks him what happened during his test. He doesn’t answer. They both just agree to keep whatever happened to themselves.
Beatrice gets to cooking since it’s her turn to prepare a meal. She is joined by her brother. Beatrice explains how most of their food is canned or frozen since food comes from far away.
Their parents get home and they sit down to dinner. Their mom, who works for the government, mentions a rumor in which one of the tests went wrong. Caleb, knowing that it was his sister’s test that went wrong, holds his tongue and pretends that it’s his first time hearing of the rumor.
The meal proceeds and is interrupted when the mom asks the dad what is wrong. She even grabs his hand, a powerful gesture. Beatrice didn’t even notice anything wrong with her dad, but now she sees too that something is bothering him. He explains that the problem was with a coworker, Marcus.
Beatrice then explains how the city is run. The city is led by fifty selfless Abnegations who are chosen based on their characteristics. Although they listen to input from other faction representatives, the Abnegations are the ones who run the show. Beatrice goes onto say that the city is afraid to be governed any other way, since this is how it has worked since the great peace.
Beatrice’s dad then complains of Jeanine Matthews, a representative from the Erudite who has come up with a report on Marcus. The report uses slander to putdown Marcus’ character. According to Jeanine, Marcus mistreated his son, Tobias; his mistreatment is why Tobias chose the Dauntless faction instead of the Abnegation faction. It’s, apparently, a big deal when a person of one faction chooses to go to another faction.
Beatrice speaks up and questions the Erudite’s motives. Her mother, knowing the rule at the dinner table is for the kids to stay quiet, passively asks Beatrice to quiet down. Beatrice’s dad explains the Erudite’s motives: they are after some sense of power.
Dinner concludes and the kids head off to their rooms to decide upon their factions. Before they depart, Caleb tells Beatrice that she must make a decision that is good for her and not necessarily good for her family.
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