Tris from ‘Divergent’ as an Archetypal Hero

In the novel “Divergent” by Veronica Roth, the protagonist, Tris, learns that she must change the way the world works. In the world of Divergent people are separated into 4 different factions, and these factions are more important then their own family. Tris herself decided to leave behind her family in order to choose a different faction, Dauntless, which is meant for the brave. As people look down on other factions, the conflict between them is endless and they constantly fight for power. Tris decides that the conflict between the factions has gone on long enough and that to get through these hard times she must stand up and make a change. In this way, Tris is clearly an archetypal hero.

One instance in which Tris is a hero is when she always emerges victorious in the end. When Tris goes up against the people that disliked her for choosing Dauntless over the faction she was born into she made others understand that there was nothing wrong with her decision. In front off a huge audience she declares: “Is it wrong to feel different? I felt that I did not belong with them. I felt that I did not fit in. Is that not a valid reason?” (Roth 89). Here we see Tris standing up against the norm. She wants to fight for the people who wanted to break free of the constraints, including herself, that were holding them back. Towards the middle of the book she has convinced most of her family and others who left their old factions that what they did was perfectly fine. Everybody, besides the antagonist and her followers, supports Tris and wants to help her. Another time Tris emerges as the winner is when she spoils the plans of Erudite, the faction which dislikes Dauntless. While escaping from the Erudite who were attempting to brainwash the Dauntless she screams, “You will not catch the Divergents nor will you catch the Dauntless. You can take all our food, our water, and our clothes, but you will not take our freedom away!” (Roth 321). The Erudite want to change the Dauntless to fit their standards but Tris will not allow this. She fights back and in the end survives escaping the Erudite. She does not lose to evil and in the end, saves the day. All of this supports the fact that Tris is a archetypal hero.

Another instance where Tris acts like a hero is when she decided to prioritize her friends’ and their needs over hers. For example, Tris saves her friends instead of saving herself when she saves Will, another friends of hers. The antagonists in the novel, the Erudite, who are after Tris pose her with a very hard decision. Matthews, one of the faction leaders states “On one hand there is Will. On the other is the key that will bring you freedom. Make your choice girl.” Tris replies “Give me back Will” (Roth 256). Tris decides to save Will over saving herself which shows that she is indeed a hero. Another time Trish prioritizes her friends over herself is when she helped out her friend Christina. Tris had left her old faction to and her family to join the new faction and she started experiencing a new world. She made many friends one of whom was a girl named Christina. In Dauntless everyone had to partake in fights which showed courage and skill in the members. Unfortunately Christina was very bad at combat but still loved the faction. That is when Tris stated “Christina in the next matchup i’ll give you a free punch. Don’t hesitate to take it” (Roth 102). Here we see Tris’s selfless attitude as she throws the match away just so Christina could win and stay. Selflessness is a key characteristic of a hero.

Tris is clearly an archetypal hero. She leaves her old world behind of being with her family in the Abnegation faction to explore the world of the Dauntless. She slowly becomes a more famed Dauntless and learns more about it. Tris fights to protect her friends and put them before herself. She also wishes to save her faction and other divergents from the people who dislike them, like the Erudite. Many people in our society do not care to save other but this should change. Seeing Tris’s bravery, selflessness, and care for others should inspire people help others, as her influence has only good consequences. While Tris is a fictional hero with superpower abilities, her traits are very human and represent the best of us.