Chapter Five - The One With The Choosing Ceremony

The Choosing Ceremony has finally come and Tris is about to make the choice that will change her life forever. The ceremony this year is conducted by Tris' father's coworker Marcus. This responsibility rotates each year by faction and this year was Abnegation's turn. Each of the sixteen year-olds that are going into new factions attend the Choosing Ceremony to make their choice in front of the entire city. Each sixteen year-old (it's not politically correct to call them members yet) is called up individually to make their choice. While Tris is nervous about making her choice, her mother is very supportive.

"I love you. No matter what."

The actual choosing of the factions is what I found pretty interesting. Instead of just walking up to a podium and verbally announcing their future faction, the choosing procedure is much more unique.
The person walks to the middle of the arena where five bowls are present. Each bowl has a specific type of material that personifies each faction. Gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, dirt for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor. The dependent must then slice their hand with a knife and drop blood into whichever bowl indicates the faction of their choice. The whole time I was reading this I was wondering what happens if someone is scared of sharp objects. Or blood. Or large bowls. Ok, maybe not the bowls, but you get the idea.

Anyway, the dependents begin to make their choices. There are some cheers by the factions they select, and some jeers from the factions they are betraying. Anyone who transfers factions is seen as a traitor. I feel like this is kind of shallow because the person has the right to make their own choice and it shouldn't matter what others think about it.

Caleb is the first of the Priors to make their choice. The boy who had put others before himself all of his life walked up calmly and dripped blood onto the dull gray stones of Abnegation. Wait a second! Caleb's blood does fall into a bowl, but it falls into the water of Erudite. Erudite? The same Erudite that is Abnegation's biggest enemy. It sounds crazy, but if you don't take everything for face value while reading, you could have guessed something like this was going to happen. But for those of you who just fall right into the author's trap: OH MY GOSH! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!

Tris kept calm (kind of) and
chose Dauntless.

Beatrice is up not much longer after Caleb. She walks up with the intention to drop blood onto the stones and be the child who stays in Abnegation. But then she starts thinking. (That was her mistake. Save the thinking for the Erudite) In the heat of the moment, Tris chooses Dauntless.

"I am selfish. I am brave."

This is another instance where some of you will be surprised and others will have seen it coming. I fall into the latter category yet again. First off, I want to say that I have enjoyed this book so far, but the author's writing style involves foreshadowing that makes this book very easily predictable at times. However, I am sure there are plenty of surprises coming up in the next chapters as Tris begins her life as Dauntless.