New Book- Setting

Divergent by Veronica Roth is set in a city that is ruled by a council of fifty people and separated into factions: Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, and Candor. Each faction has their own set of standards and personalities. The city is industrialized, but also run-down, according to Beatrice, who says, "Renovation moves slowly through the city, which is a patchwork of new, clean buildings and old, crumbling ones. Most of the new buildings are next to the marsh, which used to be a lake a long time ago." (Roth 24). Abnegation (the part of the city Beatrice lives in) is plain. In chapter four, Beatrice says, "The houses on my street are all the same size and shape. They are made of gray cement, with few windows, in economical, no-nonsense rectangles. Their lawns are crabgrass and their mailboxes are dull metal. To some the sight might be gloomy, but to me their simplicity is comforting." (Roth 27). There aren't many farms around the city. When Beatrice is getting ready to have dinner with her family, she says, "Most of what we eat is frozen or canned, because farms these days are far away. My mother told me once that, a long time ago, there were people who wouldn't buy genetically engineered produce because they viewed it as unnatural. Now we have no other option." (Roth 31). This also shows that the setting is in the future. Veronica Roth uses good imagery when Beatrice is walking home when she says, "We don't need stoplights, either, but in some places they dangle precariously over the road like they night crash down any minute." (Roth 24). This is a good example of imagery because it shows how old and fragile the lights look by using the word "precariously".