Character Analysis
You Don't Know Jack, Kang
Jack Kang is the leader of Candor. He administers truth serum to Tris to learn more about the simulation data and negotiates the lamest peace treaty ever. Why is it lame? Well, it pretty much hinges on a bunch of people sacrificing themselves to Jeanine and dying. "He will do anything to protect his faction, even if it means sacrificing the Divergent" (19.117). What kind of peace is that?
He's a lame duck, pretty much shrinking away in insignificance after Tori executes Eric, eliminating one of the terms of the peace agreement (returning Eric to Jeanine). So, he pretty much retreats to his room and cries like a baby when he doesn't get his way. For someone whose faction represents truth, Jack Kang isn't very honest about how selfish his concerns are.
There Was Something in the Air That Night…
A couple of not-totally-evil Erudite pop up in Insurgent. Cara, Will's sister (you remember Will as the guy Tris shot a whole book ago) shows up and isn't totally awful to Tris. Tris is astonished that someone can treat her like a human being after she did such a terrible thing.
There's also Fernando, arguably the most interesting character in the book, even though he only shows up for a handful of chapters. He's the gadget guru of the Erudite, giving Tris some tools to that assist her break-in to the Erudite compound. He even gives the novel its name when he calls Tris an insurgent. (See our "What's Up With the Title?" section for more.)
Poor Fernando, though, gets shot by a brainwashed Candor while he's trying to cross a ladder suspended between buildings. As an Erudite, he makes a braver sacrifice than any of the Dauntless.
Scarface
Johanna Reyes is the leader of Amity, the friendly faction. Friendliness is, like, totally weird to an angry angsty teen like Tris. She describes the Amity as though they're a hive mind: "They are like many parts of a single mind, and Johanna is their mouthpiece." If they're a beehive, then Johanna is the queen bee. Even Tobias judges the Amity by saying "They don't care about efficiency […] They care about agreement" (2.80). This is coming from a guy who believes that if you don't do as he says, then you should be branded as a traitor.
Johanna has a scar on her face that Tris can't shut up about, but that says more about Tris's superficiality than it does about Johanna. What is worth thinking about is how the Amity are viewed by Tris and Tobias. How is the way Amity behaves any different from the Candor doing exactly what Jack Kang says, or the Dauntless blindly following their own leaders into battle? Does this statement say more about the Amity or about Tris and her judgmental nature?
Cry Baby
Tris's Abnegation friend, Susan Black, cries. All the time. Honestly, that's all we have to say about her. Her dialogue is always peppered with words and phrases like "sobs" (7.139), "collapses to the ground, crying" (7.142), and "her lip wobbling" (8.22). We hope the Abnegation believe in Kleenex.
What About Bob?
There's a scene in which Eric says, "Now, Bob, we can't just kill everyone" (15.8). And Bob is never mentioned again. Exactly who is Bob? Where did his parents get that incredible, unique name, in a world of Trises and Fours? Why is Bob so violent? Could he be the secret to unlocking the mysteries of the Divergent? We eagerly await Veronica Roth's Divergent spin-off: The Bobicles: The Chronicles of Bob.