Dauntless Decisions, Beautiful Opportunities by Shayla

Dauntless Decisions, Beautiful Opportunities by Shayla - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

Dystopian novels have the tendency to be widely known in today’s society. Why, might you ask? Well, maybe it’s because it’s much easier to get wrapped up in a fictional characters adventurous tale than to face our own problems or situations. Many of these situations will decide the next step in our lives or the direction in which our path will follow. Big decisions, countless amounts of worry (usually unnecessary), difficulties as small as when our next test is and as large as world hunger. When it comes down to it, there will be times that we are impacted by someone or some event, and there will be times where we have the ability to be the influential impact.

As of January first, ten million copies have been sold and lives exhilarated. Divergent, a popular novel and series written by author Veronica Roth, just happens to be the book I would recommend. I finished this book in a matter of two days and eventually followed it up by reading the next two that the author had published. There may be a few speculations as to why this book should be read before a student graduates, but I have my own reasons.

Just in case a few are unaware of the story line of Divergent or it’s been a while, a recap may be necessary. The characters live in a world where high society believes some people have bad genes and some have healed, proper genes. In their lives, the people of different groups, or factions, are placed in areas most like their personalities. Abnegation the selfless, Amity the peaceful, Erudite the intelligent, and so on. Now, being born into a faction doesn't meant that that’s the type of person they are. In order to clear it up and leave a “choice,” teenagers can switch to a new faction, only once or become factionless, based off of what they feel their personality is. The novel then goes on to follow the growth and development of Beatrice (Tris) and her relationships as well as choices.

Within the Divergent series, many life changing choices are forced to be made and actions taken without much time to prepare. Sometimes, that’s how life is. Life can be cruel and hard but it can also be filled with beauty and opportunities. Tris, one of the main characters, goes through a portion of self discovery and a time where she doesn't know if she is being brave or ignorant. This was not only a time for her to find herself but for readers to look at the life they’re living and decide if they’re being the best they can be or just making foolish, albeit occasionally exciting, decisions.

So just what am I getting at with this book? Why should all high school students take the time to read it? Divergent leaves the idea that we all have our own categories, personalities, and we are all affected by it in our own way. Our personalities; whether we be brutally honest like the Candor faction or adventurous and daring like the Dauntless faction, impact who we are as a person and the mark we leave on the world. Through the Divergent series, the reader grows along with the characters, compares their personalities to that of the factions, and discovers that there is more to see in this world than what meets the eye.

Self- discovery and personal growth are among the most recognized ideas of a high school senior or college student. It is expected to be a time of excitement, learning, and incredible experiences; the expectations are usually true. The thing is though, these discoveries that everyone talks about begin at the earliest of ages and continue on for the rest of our lives. Just like in Divergent, we as humans will take leaps in hopes of reaching the ledge, sometimes we’ll make it and other times we just have to take the extra time and climb back up. Tris experienced many hard times of loss and betrayal, as will I and every other person on the planet, but she made it past her obstacles and took the steps needed to make a positive impact on her world and discover what was beyond.

I chose this novel as a must-read because if one looks into it enough, they will see that the lessons can be applied to not only the characters, but themselves as well. During a time in a persons life where things seem to flying at an uncontrollable speed and we just want to slow it down for even a short time, it’s important to take a look at yourself and decide if the decisions you are making are best for you and what impact they’ll leave now and in the future. Life is alluringly complicated and harshly beautiful, but it’s a time gifted to us to find ourselves, worry a little bit less, and influence people and actions in as many positive ways as possible.