Chapter 8

At training, Four explains the initiation process. 3 stages which will rank and measure you are your progress, providing preparation.

1. Primarily physical
2. Primarily emotional
3. Primarily mental

Emotional and mental seem like the same thing, or connected in some way. Yawning, Peter asks a stupid question during training and Four flips the gun in his hand, presses the barrel to Peter's forehead, and clicks a bullet in place. "Wake up. You are holding a loaded gun you idiot. Act like it." This scares Peter. (Not important, but one of my favorite parts!) Four shows the how to shoot a gun.The initiates all practice, once Tris gets it down she feels powerful! The initiates take a lunch break and Tris sits with Al, Will and Christina. They talk about their factions, and how grossed out Tris is by watching Edward and Myra kiss. Christina tells Tris that her "Abnegation is showing." I understand why she is so disgusted... it's gross to see couples PDAing in the hallways of NS everyday too, but I don't understand why her faction is so against it. Their faction does seem very stiff, it seems like they weren't even aloud to laugh a lot because after Will makes fun of her for being so shocked by the kiss, she laughs and says "It feels good to laugh again." You must have to be really careful if you lived in Abnegation, you could never know when you are being selfish. After lunch, Four leads them to a huge room with punching bags. He teaches them how to fight, which teaches your body how to respond to threats and challenges you will need to "survive life as a Dauntless." Is life as a Dauntless always going to be as threatening as it is in initiation, could you still end up faction less?? I wonder if Tris would have picked Dauntless if she knew how much aggression and fighting was involved. Four demonstrates punches and the initiates practice. He tells Tris that she will need to use her knees and elbows more since she doesn't have much muscle. On the way to dinner, Tris and Christina talk about how intimidting Four is, but Tris isn't afraid of him.. (hmmmmm!) Christina then takes Tris to the clothing place, she replaces her ugly, gigantic, grey clothes with a new back dress! She puts some makeup on her and Tris actually feels like she is breaking the rules! Even wearing somehting noticeable is frowned upon in Abnegation! Leaving her Abnegation identity behind gives her hope, she wants to be a new person and break her old habits that her parents worked so hard to create! Next they go to the tattoo parlor where Tris sees Tori again, the one who gave her the aptitude test! Tris wants to ask her questions, but Tori thinks that it will be to dangerous, so Tris decides to get a tattoo on her collar bone, leading to her heart. Three birds marking a path towards her heart, one for each family member she left behind.

What I pictured the tattoo like, minus two birds, plus on the collarbone.

"We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear."