Appreciation of our Freedoms by Kayla

Appreciation of our Freedoms by Kayla - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

A book that I think should be read by every high school student before they graduate is Divergent by Veronica Roth. While most think that it is just a book about a society gone wrong it teaches important lessons about freedom and being your own person. This book is about a dystopian society that implodes because the people that are living there have their freedom taken away because their world is set up by outsiders. The people inside the fence are forced to choose lifestyles at a young age by choosing between five factions. While most say that these young people have the freedom to choose and be their own person the characters do not really have the freedom because most are pressured into the faction by either their personality test or the people around them. Because the society implodes I feel that it teaches students that the freedom they have is worth so much more than they realize and that once it is taken away society cannot maintain the peace that we see today.

The book also shows that this dystopian society is not accepting of individualism in their young citizens. Being divergent means that you do not fit into one of the categories that the community leaders have developed. Throughout the book the main character, Tris, is fighting for her life because she is considered dangerous since she is divergent and the villain of the story is seeking to kill all divergents because they are considered a threat to their world.

Requiring students to read this book will open their eyes to the many things they take for granted in our society, and will show them what a very diverse world we live it. This book has so many conformists which is exactly what we are taught not to be along with being taught that making our own path is more important than putting ourselves into little boxes, or factions. Having the freedom to be our own person and picking our own path shows is emphasized in this book because the citizens of this dystopian society have their individual identities and basic freedoms taken away. Realizing that we as American citizens have a life that the people in this book yearn to have is a great lesson and is why students should all read this book.