You Don’t Need to Go to Bravery Boot Camp to Become Dauntless
What I learned from YA fiction and flying knives.
Many years ago, my friend wrote me something along these lines: “You should check out the Divergent movie. I think you’d like it. The protagonist really reminds me of you.”
Of course, that comment was like catnip for my ego. I rushed to find out more about it at a speed that would have made light envious.
(Side comment: if you ever need to get someone to read or watch something, just tell them the protagonist is like them. We’re all Narcissus at heart.)
Upon watching the movie, I burst out laughing. Turns out my friend was spot-on! The protagonist’s love interest even had the same name — and interest in martial arts — as a guy I had crushed on in the past.
If you don’t know this YA story, congrats on your level of adulting! Basically, Divergent is set in a dystopian world where people are divided into 5 fractions: selfless, honest, intelligent, peaceful, and brave people.
(No, you can’t be all of them. Pick one!)
Bravery boot camp
While critics have called the factions “stupid,” according to research they
“appear to constitute an original set of…
