Strong Women

***This is my concluding post to Divergent Week***

In Divergent by Veronica Roth, Triss joins the Dauntless faction, and goes through training to face her fears and develop bravery and strength. 

 (The author dressed up as a Dauntless faction member.)

It  had me thinking about how a lot of novels recently like Divergent, Hunger Games, and even Jeremy's steampunk Leviathan series have lead female characters who are highly independent, strong, brave, and even fighters.  

 In a review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I read a Christian woman noting the strong female Character, and saying basically that these types of characters are wrong for our daughters to be reading because it's teaching girls to take on the roles of men.  Particularly stating that in The Hunger Games it was a complete role-reversal since Peeta was the one who needed more protecting, and he was a cake decorator and liked pretty things, and so he was acting like a woman. 

I have two responses to this type of thinking:

First of all--don't tell my sons that they can't be cake decorators.  My boys can be whatever they want in life.  They don't need to choose interests and professions based on what traditional "manly" jobs are.

Secondly--the world is changing. 

A year and a half ago, Disney announced that there would be no more "Princess Movies"--the type which revolved around finding the man of your dreams, and then living happily ever after.  That type of story has run its course and is no longer applicable.  The ideal of the perfect man has always been false, and "happily ever after" is not a resort destination--it's a triathlon. 

So yes, the heroines of the twenty-first century are different than those of the twentieth.  They are Strong, they are independent, they are brave, and they are even fighters.  Because that's what life in today's society is and will require of women. 

It requires strength to endure hard trials when society tells you you can just run away.  It takes independence to desire freedom above a dole. It takes bravery to bear and raise children when society around you is implying you made the wrong choice. And it will take so much fighting to defend safe havens in which to raise those children.

On Geek Glasses and Tatoos

***This post contains spoilers from the book Divergent by Veronica Roth***

In Divergent people's appearances tell a lot about them.  The Abnegation faction who value selflessness wear only grey and plain hairstyles.  Many of the Erudite people who value knowledge wear glasses, which Beatrice is sure for most of them is only to look smarter.  At the choosing ceremony Beatrice leaves the faction of her youth to attempt initiation into the Dauntless--the faction that values bravery or overcoming fear.  They live underground and wear black.  They get piercings and tattoos.       

Beatrice, who changes her name to Triss as a Dauntless initiate, slowly changes her plain grey appearance to fit her faction.  Over the course of her training she gets a number of tattoos.  She gets three birds tattooed across her collar bone, one for each member of her family that she left behind.  She gets a tattoo of the symbol of her Dauntless faction, and a hidden tattoo of her old faction, which is still a part of her.  The tattoos are so symbolic and so meaningful.  Just a part of such a greater struggle--that I found myself for the first time almost wanting a tattoo.

I will never get a tattoo.  A lot of the reasons why are summed up very eloquently in a Red Vs Blue "PSA" Should you get a Tattoo?" Of which the following is an edited transcript:

Church: You know, a lot of you out there are probably considering getting a tattoo. Or, as the young people like to call it, a "tat."

Grif: Or, adding a tattoo to your already impressive collection.

Church: So today we present to you, a very special "Point/Counterpoint" edition of Red Vs. Blue.

Grif: Should you get, a tattoo?

Church: I think it's quite clear, that you should not get a tattoo. And I can sum up my points in this very elegant, but simple, bulleted list.

        Number one: tattoos, are permanent.

        Number two: you are an idiot. And I'd like to prove this mathematically if I may. Take your current age. Now subtract ten years from it. Were you smart back then? Of course you weren't. You were an idiot. Fact of the matter is, you're just as big an idiot today, it's just gonna take you ten more years to realize. Now think if you'd drawn a picture on your body ten years ago. Would you be happy with it today? Chances are, you wouldn't be.

Grif: Unless it was cool, which brings me to my main point. Tattoos, are cool, as long as you avoid the following rookie mistakes... you'll be just fine.

       The barb wire ring. Nothing says 1998 quite like a barb wire ring around your bicep. You'll look like a defensive lineman, and if you get the tattoo, you're probably about as smart as one.

       The band logo. Any band logo. Think about it. The only pop star to remain cool for more than ten years was Madonna, and you're not fooling anybody by getting a tattoo of her.

Church: Right.

Grif: Lastly, and most importantly, are the tribal designs, and the Asian character. No one gets it! Let's be honest, you don't either. Someone had to explain it to you, and you have no idea if they were even telling you the truth. So, avoid these simple pitfalls, and a tattoo can be a wonderful, and rewarding experience. ...except for the pain.

So basically this jokes about how people get tattoos because they think they are cool or meaningful, but really they are just a mistake that they regret in ten years.  (I can't say for sure because I don't have any)

I think what I was feeling more though, was the desire to be a part of something so epic and so meaningful.  Saying that feels almost sacrilegious though, because I know that I am a part of great things, but my personal part seems so small.  And I do have epic personal battles I'm fighting, but nothing that would translate well into a tattoo.

I guess something that appeals to me about this practice of the factions all having their own sort of dress code is the idea of people knowing something about you by looking at you.  I know I've talked before about not subscribing to labels, but sometimes I wish people could know more about me by looking at me.  It's out of loneliness, I suppose, and I figure that if people knew more about me they would be interested in being my friend?  (Does that sound conceited, or desperate?  Unfortunately the truth is more of the second.)

After my sister got Lasik surgery she talked about wanting to keep her super-cute pair of geek girl plastic frame glasses, and maybe even have plain glass put in them so she could still wear them sometimes.   My mom told her "No way!"  She had, of course, just spent a few thousand dollars on my sister's surgery, and referenced all the years my sister had "whined" about having to wear glasses.  So she sent them to me instead (Thanks Eve!) and I had lenses put in and wore them in college.

A few years ago I had Lasik/PRK surgery as well.  And I'll admit--I sometimes wish I could wear those glasses again.   They just made a certain "statement."

I believe in modesty in appearance.  Avoiding extremes in clothing and hairstyles.  Fashion also isn't really my thing.  I wear a lot of hand-me-downs, and a lot of "basic wardrobe" type pieces, because I don't make it to the fun things before deciding that my budget is done.  I feel like that translates into me looking boring and reserved, and thus me looking like a boring and reserved person.  I often wish that I looked more like I feel--which is in itself hard to define. . . spunky and fun, quirky, intelligent, thoughtful, hopeful.

I don't really know what the answer is.  Sometimes I wish I could make all my own clothes-- I like how Doctrine and Covenants section 42 says to let the beauty of our clothes be the beauty of the work of our own hands.  I would like to do that more as I often don't feel like clothing in the stores represents who I feel like inside.

I do regularly dye purple streaks into my hair.  It's because that feels like me. When I feel like I look like me I am happier and more self-confident.  I know that it is all external and doesn't affect who I am inside.  But God gave me my eyes, and my intelligence, so therefore my perception of external things is meaningful.  I can't help it.  So I'll keep my purple streaks (which to me is the same practice as others painting their fingernails) and no, I won't be going out and getting any tattoos soon, but I still do sometimes wish I could wear my geek girl glasses.   

Divergent

I love a good futuristic dystopian novel.  They are a little bit in the pop culture right now, but it's always been my thing.  Fahrenheit 451 and the short stories of Isaac Asimov for example.  What I love about them is the exploration of society.  The question of what would life be like if these people were in power, or this mindset reigned supreme, or suddenly this aspect of culture or technology were to change. . .

In the book Divergent by Veronica Roth, the society has restructured after a great war into factions of people based on what they considered to be at fault for war and contention.  Thus their faction works to eliminate that weakness from among their ranks, developing instead the positive opposite character strength that they believe will help rebuild a better society.  These traits are selflessness, honesty, bravery, knowledge, and kindness.

Children are brought up in the faction of their parents, but when they turn 16 they take part in aptitude testing and then a choosing ceremony in which they can choose to remain in the faction of their parents or based on their aptitude results and preferences can choose to leave their faction and go through initiation to join another faction. 

The main character, Beatrice, grew up in the faction of Abnegation with her mother, her brother and her father, who--as a man valuing selflessness-- is a member of the government leadership.  Beatrice has never felt as effortlessly-selfless as her mother appears to be, yet her aptitude test results surprise her, and ultimately, so does her faction choice. 

As Beatrice learns more about herself, she also learns more about her society around her.  The factions are not all working together toward a common good, as she once believed, and she has a secret role to play in the unfolding events.  As she hones her strengths she comes to realize, with the help of a friend, that what she believed were her weaknesses may not make her so weak after all. 


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That was my Reading Rainbow style book review in which I end by telling you to go pick up this book in your local library today!  Of course it may be a little difficult right now because the second book Insurgent just came out two weeks ago.  Jeremy and I are reading them together.  There is enough action for him, but not too much of the other kind of "action" that guys don't like reading about.

As I said this is Divergent WEEK, so I have a few more things to talk about in relation to the story.  But the next one will contain a good deal of spoilers, so I wanted to separate it from this review.