Analysis
Chapter 25
Tris makes a drastic decision to get a tattoo of the Abnegation seal, because she feels it's still a part of her identity. Afterwards, she, Will, and Christina go stand over the Chasm and throw down every report that Erudite made about Abnegation. They discuss Jeanine Matthews, the Erudite representative, and Tris asks Will's opinion on everything she's saying. He suggests that it might be a good idea for multiple factions to run the government, rather than just one, which makes Tris a little touchy. She also notices the beginnings of a relationship between Will and Christina.
Later, Tris catches up with Four, who invites her into his fear landscape. Before they go in, he tells her to see if she can figure out why they call him Four, and if she can figure out his real name. In the first part of the landscape they're on top of a building, reflecting his fear of heights, and they have to jump off. Next they're trapped inside a small room, representing his fear of confinement, and they have to scrunch up tight in order to pass this stage. They're closer than they've ever been, both physically and emotionally, and Tris makes him talk about the origin of this fear. Four tells her he was punished as a child by being forced into the small upstairs closet. Next, a woman is pointing a gun at them, and on a table next to them is another gun; Four must kill her.
Then finally, he has to face a man that Tris recognizes: Marcus Eaton, one of the Abnegation representatives. She realizes that Four is really Tobias Eaton, the boy who transferred to Dauntless. Marcus begins to beat Four - now Tobias - with a belt, and Tris steps in its path. She grabs the belt and swings it towards Marcus instead. Then the landscape ends, and Tris realizes that he only has four fears: that's why they call him Four.
Chapter 26
Tobias tells Tris that his four fears have not changed since he arrived in Dauntless, but Tris insists that no one can be fearless. She asks about his aptitude test results, and he says that his result was Abnegation, and explains that he chose Dauntless to get away from his father. He mentions that part of the reason he didn't want to be a Dauntless leader is because he still sometimes feels like he doesn't belong among the Dauntless.
He tells Tris his theory that selflessness and bravery aren't very different, and Tris admits that she left Abnegation because she wasn't selfless enough. But he reminds her of the times she's shown selflessness - when she stood in front of the knife target for Al, or her interference in his fear landscape. She chides him for paying so much attention to her, and he admits that he likes her. Then they kiss for the first time, and it occurs to Tris that if they had both chosen to remain in Abnegation, they might be doing the same thing in gray clothes instead of black.
Chapter 27
Tris is in a great mood the next morning, and as she goes to the dining hall she expects to spend the meal with Tobias. But when he walks in he completely ignores her. She's extremely hurt. The initiates discuss fear landscape day, and Uriah tells them they'll be seeing an instructor's landscape today. Christina says she hopes it's Four's, but Tris insists that it won't be him, because she knows he won't want them to see his father.
It turns out to be Lauren's landscape that they view; she tells them that a normal person will have between ten and fifteen fears. The lowest number someone has gotten in recent years is four -Tobias, obviously. Each initiate faces one of Lauren's fears, and Tris gets kidnapping. It's too much for her to handle, and she screams and screams until they stop the simulation, as Lauren's fear of kidnapping has become one of her own. In front of everyone, Tobias tells her to get herself together, and that her response was pathetic. Tris stalks from the room after slapping him as hard as she can.
Analysis
At last, Tris and Four's relationship has blossomed into something real. By allowing Tris to experience his fear landscape, Four has shared something extremely personal and central to his identity with her. Sharing your fears with someone would be monumental anywhere, but it is particularly so in Dauntless, where their fears characterize their entire experience. He has at last opened himself up to her, and it seems like he isn't the kind of person who does that easily.
Tris and Tobias's experience inside the landscape illustrates some key changes in their relationship and in their respective characters. Since she arrived in Dauntless, Four has spent much of his time trying to protect Tris, even if sometimes he's unaware that he's doing so. She was always the smaller, weaker one, and their developing relationship was defined by moments like her kidnapping, where he stepped in to rescue her. Now, inside his fear landscape, Tobias is the vulnerable one, and Tris has to keep a level head while he panics. This is essential; it's important for them to be on equal standing if the relationship will work.
Tobias trusts Tris enough to allow her to see who he truly is. At long last we've solved the mystery of Tobias Eaton, the Abnegation son of Marcus Eaton who transferred to Dauntless. Even more significant is that we've learned that Jeanine Matthews and Erudite were right in the article they published about Marcus, stating he abused his son. This fact reveals some key points about both factions, and the system at large. Abnegation, which prides itself on selflessness, appointed a child abuser as a representative. Of course no one but Marcus and Tobias knew the truth, but the pure motivations behind Abnegation start to crumble in this revelation. Its purpose was twisted by Marcus who found a way to justify beating his son. Just as Eric and the new Dauntless leadership are manipulating aspects of the manifesto to their own end, Abnegation can be corrupted. Also of interest is that Erudite's propaganda is not always false. This chips away at Tris's assumptions that everything Erudite publishes is slander. Pitting factions against factions makes the world seem black and white, but not everything is as it seems, and neither side is innocent.
In the moment, however, Tris does not fully process the news. Understandably, the exchange of affection and kisses are the most pressing of her concerns. She doesn't stop to think about what this might mean for her home faction, or even all the factions in general, having an abusive man like Marcus leading them. The larger implications of having an abusive man in power, or whether or not Jeanine Matthews is right to target Marcus gets lost in the wake of the newfound relationship. Of course these issues will crop up again as Tris gets a handle on her emotions, but Divergent hooks its readers with romance and a believable teenage response to first-time love. This makes Tris relatable and universal.
