When the Power Diverges

In the movie Divergent, the sixteen year old, Beatrice Prior (Tris) is forced to decide what her faction will be by taking an aptitude test. There are five factions (Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless and Erudite) and the Factionless (the homeless). She discovers that she does not belong to any one faction, but all five. She is Divergent, but the “power” a divergent holds, causes the government to eliminate any Divergent individuals so she chooses to be “dauntless”. The Abnegation faction runs the government and holds the most power at the moment. Power is more than just having the ability to force some one, or people, to do something; it is a three-dimensional concept that not only influences one’s actions and personal desires, but also is “something rooted in institutional practices, cultural supports, and alternative pathways outside the usual political apparatus” (Roscigno,1). The stronger group takes over the decision-making arena, enabling their access to resources, and further solidifying their power over the subordinate group. Within the Abnegation, there is a group of elite who control everything from the forced aptitude tests to the inside knowledge of an outside world. The powerful aims to remain in power by keeping the powerless dependent; therefore they are unable to speak out against the powerful, destroying their “critical consciousness” and producing a “culture of silence”. There is a method, known has “multiple consciousness”, which uses “myth or symbols, threats or rumors, or other mechanisms of power, (so that) the powerful may be able to ensure certain beliefs and actions emerge in one context while contradictory grievances occur in another”, to keep the small issues as key issues and the bigger issues on the back burner (Gaventa, 19). The threat of becoming Factionless keeps people preoccupied with their day-to-day lives instead of bigger, governmental issues.

The power did not remain within the Abnegation faction. Instead, the Erudite faction set out to overthrow the Abnegation because the powerless is capable of rebellion. By recognizing the inequality of power, the powerless must collect all the resources, and then they can fully carry out action against the powerful. Any small change in power relationships creates room for conflict and “the action explicitly challenges (and succeeds at challenging) the structural and cultural bases of power” (Roscigno, 6). The Erudite’s initial rebellion, which changed the power relationships for all the factions, allowed other Divergents to join together to fight against both the Erudite’s and the Abnegation, permanently changing who holds the power.