The Journey and the Ending by Claire

The Journey and the Ending by Claire - April 2014 Scholarship Essay

If you have not yet read the full Divergent series by Veronica Roth, this essay is going to spoil it for you.

For Christmas this year I received a box set of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, and because each book was so excellent and so incredibly difficult to put down, I finished the series within a week. After staying up until 4:00 in the morning one day and finishing the final book in the trilogy, I slowly put it down and wept. Why? Because Ms. Roth killed the main character, Tris. I was in complete shock and denial at first (yes, I’m that attached to book characters), but then I started to get angry. I questioned Ms. Roth’s sanity, her writing ability, her morality, and even her humanity. Honestly, I did not truly understand why I was so upset after this character’s death until I thought about what an impact Tris Prior had on me.

The Divergent series is a coming-of-age story where the reader has the privilege of watching Tris grow into a young woman that would make the perfect role model for just about anyone. She is brave, she is confident, and she is so generous that she was willing to give her life for the good of her friends. She is the kind of person I want to be when I grow up, the kind of role model I want to be for my children. Tris has her flaws, like any good character does, but they make her a better person. I’m so used to books having a “happily ever after” ending where maybe not everyone lives but the main characters definitely do, that I literally could not accept for a good half hour that this wonderful main character had died.

However, after reflecting on the end to the trilogy, I realized that it made sense. Tris Prior was originally an Abnegation, and she stayed true to her roots until the very end, taking it so far as to give her life for her friends. That’s the kind of person I want to be. I want to be the kind of woman who remembers and stays true to my roots so that I never forget how far I have come. A person’s life is all about the journey that made them who they are, and like Tris Prior, I never want to forget my journey.