"It must require bravery to be honest all the time"

Discuss the June 2014 book of the month Divergent by Veronica Roth. While only Divergent--the first book of the series--is the book of the month, feel free to use this subforum to discuss the rest of the series or to talk about the movies, but make sure not to post spoilers unless noted in the topic title.
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MissJane
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Re: "It must require bravery to be honest all the time"

Post by MissJane »

I agree with most of the other people who posted in this forum. Each of the factions shows great bravery in their own ways.

1. The Abnegation: they are really brave in their selflessness. Like Tris demonstrated at the end of Abnegation, they are selfless to the point of willingness to give their own lives for someone else. This ultimate sacrifice requires bravery so great that it cannot be described fully in words.
2. The Dauntless: the bravery of the Dauntless is much more visible than those of the other factions. Their bravery is physical; they are willing to put their bodies in great danger and aren't afraid to flaunt their bravery.
3. The Amity: though it may not seem like it, the Amity do have bravery. It does take bravery to be kind to even the cruelest of people. It takes bravery to keep a smile on your face when you're sad, or disappointed, or angry.
4. The Candor: It also does require bravery to be honest all the time. (Remember the story of George Washington and the cherry tree anyone?) Being honest means confessing your wrongdoings and mistakes, and that requires great courage.
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Post by Rachaelamb1 »

Different types of bravery. Dauntless is physical bravery and Candor is emotional/psychological bravery. Although, some people enjoy being tactlessly honest and that isn't brave at all.
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Post by ashley_claire »

In certain situations it takes a lot of bravery to be honest, when you're telling someone something that you know will hurt their pride. But I think a lot of "honest" people use their honesty just for the sake of being shocking and in turn hide behind their bluntness.
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Post by Mjelmer »

I think it takes a great deal of bravery to be honest. We see this in day to day life. Especially in our children who are trying to fit in to society. Those standing up for what they believe.
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Post by Drakex1686 »

Wow, what a great observation that I hadn't noticed when I first read the series. I knew all the factions had many base ideals, but the connection to bravery is something I didn't think about. Personally I think that you're right about honesty and the right thing being the bravest to do, Dauntless may not be as brave as you would think, they're simple fearless when they need to be, they learned to do this. Now if you're fearless, can you really be brave?
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Post by abasto123 »

While I agree it does take bravery to be honest all the time, I think it takes a different kind of bravery than the faultless deal with. Being scared of what will happen should you tell the truth but telling anyways, is overcoming a small fear. To live in that kind of world though may not be what our world needs.
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Post by BColeman »

I think that they are both brave in different ways. I think we like to think that Dauntless is braver because they put their lives on the line, but Candor puts all of there emotions on the line when they bravely tell the truth. I think that people could save others more easily than always say what is on their mind.
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Post by meganxxcooper »

I think they are brave, but I'm not sure who is braver. I think Candor takes things way too far. There are certain things that don't matter so much that people need to be entirely honest. What if things are too personal, but you are forced to share. After a while privacy is violated.
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Post by Crimsonsky 749 »

I think it does require a huge amount of bravery to be honest. Most of the doctors of today, if not all of them hate delivering the news that a family member is dead. Some people might argue that they have to because the family will find out eventually. This is true but that doesn't mean they had to do it, they could've asked someone else to do it for them. Therefore I think they need quite a bit of courage to say that to someone. Have you ever heard the quote "The truth isn't always pretty"? It is absolutely true.
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Post by zjones99 »

Honestly, I have always believed that Candor was the bravest faction of them all. I can try new things and learn how to fight, but lying to someone is such an easy way out in a tough situation. It takes real bravery to stand your ground and tell the truth to someone, no matter how hard it may be.
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Post by Conycardoza »

I think that the book wanted to show the corruption in daughtless showing that putting your life out on the line isn't being brave. That small things like being honest all the time or putting others before yourself is brave. Its supposed to show that each of the factions had a piece of all the others. As for who's braver daughtless or candor, for me personally candor is much braver because I would never be able to hurt anyone with my words and thats exactly what telling the truth does. So yes I would rather throw myself out of a moving train than have to be honest all the time.
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Post by makenna-16 »

I think sometimes it does require bravery to be honest. When you are honest you have to be brave about knowing that people will judge you and have opinions about you. Candor took that to the extreme.
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Post by hannahbm13 »

I personally believe that the Dauntless faction is braver than the Candor faction. While Candor does tell the tell, and it may be quite hard sometimes, I do not think it takes an exceptional amount of bravery. They are trained to tell the truth, so it just becomes second nature to them. Dauntless, on the other hand, are trained to always push themselves and find the newest risk or adventure.
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Post by Heidi M Simone »

I think it depends on the situation. For instance, some people find it difficult to tell the truth because it might hurt the other person's feeling or they are trying to fit in (and that's extremely difficult). However, when people start becoming hurtful just to show that they are honest does not mean they are brave. I think honesty is wonderful and any long-lasting, healthy relationship there needs to honesty. However, it all depends on how the message is delivered; after all, we all have feelings, and we don't constantly want to be put down just for the sake of always telling the truth.

One example: Two young women at a store trying on dresses, and one tries on a dress that doesn't work well with her body. Asking her friend's opinion, it would be better to say something like "I think we should try another one" or "I'm not sure about this one, let's see if they have something better for your body type." Rather than, "gosh! You're hips are so big, I'm surprised you even fit into that dress!" or "that dress would look good if you'd lose a couple of pounds!"

That's a very minor example, but you can see how the truth can be too much if you're not careful. In one situation, the woman trying out the dress may agree with her friend more easily and look for another dress. While the second scenario, the first woman could be so heartbroken because she is already self-conscious of the way she looks and doesn't want to continue looking.

As I said before, telling the truth can be brave as long as you are aware of who you are telling the truth to and how you are delivering the truth.
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Post by Tanaya »

@hsimmone I totally agree with you and think you put it very well. Delivery is key. There's a major difference between honesty used with good judgment and plain bluntness.
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