“There is no Them.
There are only facets of Us.”
-John Green
I’m reading this book right now. It’s called Divergent and it’s by Veronica Roth. It’s about a Dystopian society, which is
pretty much my favorite kind book. Going
into it, I had a pretty clear expectation of what it would be. Dystopian society usually means bad government, oblivious community members, and eventual revolution. I’m about three hundred pages into the book
and so far all of these expectations have been met with the exception of
revolution. I expect that will come in
the sequel. It’s pretty typical as far
as Dystopian novels go, but it has got me thinking about something.
It’s got me thinking about Sorting.
In the world of Divergent,
at the age of sixteen its residents are allowed to choose between five Factions:
Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, Amity, and Dauntless. These five factions split people based on
what virtue they value most. The
narrator, Tris, decides to transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless. But because
she is “Divergent” unlike most members of her society, Tris (according to her aptitude
tests) could supposedly function well in several of the Factions, not just one. It’s pretty similar to the idea of Houses in Harry Potter. Except, in Harry Potter all of the Houses
seem pretty cool and in Divergent all
the Factions seem pretty sucky. For
instance, the Dauntless are like Gryffindor.
They value bravery and courage and they play host to our main
protagonist. Only, unlike Gryffindor, I
don’t root for the Dauntless at all. They’re
twisted and cruel and they have a sick idea of what it means to be brave. I’ve often scoffed at Gryffindor for their
sense of entitlement, but at least they understand what bravery is. Bravery isn’t taking out your strongest
opponents while they sleep to ensure your own place on top. Bravery is Neville Longbottom standing up to
his friends because he doesn’t want the rest of his House to get in trouble. Another issue I have with the Divergent Factions is that Veronica Roth
has gone out of her way to make the Erudite seem like bad guys so far. The Erudite value intelligence. They’re the Faction that I would probably
choose if I had to. So it irks me that
she’s chosen to mark them as the evil strategists. Hopefully, that will change eventually, but
right now it’s pretty damn annoying.
So Factions aren’t fun like Houses are. But to be honest, that’s kind of a good
thing. Because it shows that dividing
ourselves into groups is stupid.
“Sorting” people always causes problems. It pits the good guys against each
other. While Gryffindor and Slytherin
are busy fighting each other, they’re too distracted to see the bigger
picture about the chaos in the Wizarding world. While Erudite and Abnegation
argue over petty differences they fail to recognize it is their corrupt
government system that instills this meaningless hatred. And in Game
of Thrones while the Starks and Lannisters are out for power and revenge,
they remain oblivious to the threat of their entire species that lurks beyond
the Wall.
You get my drift,
Sorting is bad. The authors of these
books obviously realize that. That’s the
whole point that they’re trying to make.
But at the same time they’re still hypocritical. Because it is simply in human nature to want
to split into “Factions” and “Houses.”
Dumbledore, the wisest character in all of Harry Potter, realizes that
sorting is stupid– yet at the end of Deathly
Hallows in “The Prince’s Tale,” we hear him say to Snape, “You know, I
sometimes think we Sort too soon…” So he
STILL believes in the system. He still
believes that Snape is really some kind of Gryffindor in disguise. He’s still trying to categorize him. I’ve always hated that part. Because I think that it’s rather insulting to
Snape’s character. Snape is so much more
than just brave. He’s also bitter and
cruel and self-serving. He has Gryffindor
traits, but so does everyone. Luna
Lovegood is brave enough to remain true to herself despite the adversity she
faces because of it. Ernie McMillan
shuns the idea of leaving for the safe haven of Hogsmeade when he could be
fighting Voldemort side by side with his friends. Narcissa Malfoy proclaims Harry dead at the
risk of being caught to ensure her son’s safety. Deep down, everyone’s got some Gryffindor,
Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw in them.
J.K. Rowling knows that. In book
five she has the Sorting Hat sing a freaking song about it:
“And now the Sorting
Hat is here
And you all know the
score:
I sort you into Houses
Because that is what I’m
for,
But this year I’ll go
further,
Listen closely to my
song:
Though condemned I am
to split you
Still I worry that it’s
wrong”
And then she STILL has Dumbledore say that thing about
Sorting to Snape in Deathly Hallows. Because she still for no reason at all
believes in the system.
Hell, even I believe in the system. Like the others I see that’s it’s
flawed. I see that it’s bullshit. But that doesn’t matter. I still check Pottermore every day to see if
it’s finally out of its goddamn Beta stage so I can find out what House I’m in
according to Rowling’s standards. I still
want to know if I’m a Hufflepuff like all the other tests tell me and figure
out how I really feel about that.
Because I want to feel like I’m a part of something special. I want that sense of community, even if it is
only in this weird abstract fictional way.
That’s probably why I love Nerdfighteria so much actually. It gives me a sense of belonging and it
splits me from the typical college student.
And I want someone else to tell me who I am. I want someone else to label me so I don’t
have to delve any further into myself. Everyone
wants this. They’ll all deny it. But secretly it’s what we all want. We don’t want to imagine people
complexly. We want to be able to
summarize them with one word: Gay, Straight, Black, White, Old, Young, Catholic,
Muslim, Jewish, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Lannister,
Stark, Decepticon, Nerdfighter. But
truthfully no one falls into just one category.
Truthfully, everyone is Divergent.
We all want the same things and we all want different things. We’re paradoxical. We’re all human– that’s the one thing that
should matter most. It’s the one thing
that should bind us. But it never
will. In the human brain, equality is subjective. It means something different to everyone, even though it shouldn't. So we’ll keep trying to define ourselves and
keep splitting into groups. Because as
much as we all advocate for equality, we’re still advocating for the rights of
certain groups. We’re still Sorting ourselves. And we’re still not imagining each other
complexly. At this rate, we never will.
