Divergent Thinking: The Downfall of Dauntless

Below is an excerpt from my essay "The DownFall of Dauntless" which can be found in SmartPop's newest release "Divergent Thinking."

#

The Downfall of Dauntless

“War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.”—Georges Clemenceau

“The point of civilian control is to make security subordinate to the larger purposes of a nation, rather than the other way around. The purpose of the military is to defend society, not to define it.”—Richard Kohn

What makes a good man commit an evil act? How does a faction with high-minded ideals of “ordinary acts of bravery” and “the courage that drives one person to stand up for another” devolve into chaos, violence, and murder? Do genetics control a person’s acts, or can training and personal choice overcome “natural programming”? How does the physically strongest faction become the tool of another?

In the world of Divergent we are given a look into the five complementary faction societies that make up Tris’ city: Candor—peace through truth; Amity—peace through avoidance of conflict; Abnegation—peace through selflessness; Erudite—peace through knowledge; and Dauntless—peace through bravery. And yet, despite their noble principles, this “perfect society” is rotting and crumbling from within. Like a row of dominos, all it takes to bring down this balanced society is the fall of one faction.

That faction is Dauntless.

The faction known for courage, bravery, and fearlessness, Dauntless was founded by those who blamed fear for the world’s problems. Dauntless’ objective is to combat cowardice by training its members to act in the face of fear—not necessarily to rid themselves of fear, but to embrace it and overcome it. Though it was founded upon the highest ideal of defense of those who cannot defend themselves, it becomes clear during Tris’ initiation in Divergent that Dauntless has drifted quite far from its core belief of attaining peace through freedom from fear. In fact, peace no longer seems to be a goal for Dauntless at all.

This is perfectly illustrated in the scene in Divergent where Dauntless initiates Al and Will are fighting, and massive, yet gentlehearted, Al is unwillingly beating the pulp out of Will. Al wants the fight to end since it’s clear he has won/will win, and as their instructor, Tobias offers the option of Will conceding the match to prevent more unnecessary violence, suggesting that “A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.” Not only does Will refuse to concede the fight, but Dauntless leader Eric says, “In the new rules, no one concedes . . . A brave man never surrenders.”

How did this happen? How did Dauntless shift its focus from defense to offense? From killing to murder?

By looking at the real-world military and related psychological studies, some answers become readily apparent.

Dauntless’ founding principles are similar to those currently held by modern-day military and police forces such as the United States Marine Corps’—“Honor, Courage, Commitment” (the first principles I, along with every other Marine, learned upon joining the Corps)—and the Los Angeles Police Department—“To Protect and to Serve.” Though trained, structured, and administered like a military force, Dauntless was originally used to patrol not only the edges of the city, but also the factionless areas as a police force (until Abnegation voted to have them stop)—which inherently leads to a conflict of interest.

Military forces are not civilians, and once a civilian dons a military uniform they give up many rights and privileges that citizens of society are allowed. They no longer have some forms of freedom of speech (i.e., members of the military cannot publicly speak out against the President, their Commander in Chief). They cannot “quit” their jobs when they’d like (most have a minimum contracted obligation of four years), they can be charged and found guilty of things that negatively impact the good order and discipline of a unit (such as adultery), and they are held to strict weight, grooming, and physical fitness standards (if you are overweight or cannot pass the annual physical fitness test, you will be administratively separated from the military). Military members are even held to a different justice system and standards (the Uniform Code of Military Justice, in the United States). A military’s purpose is to take over when politics fail; they go forward into battle when words no longer work. Conversely, police officers are civilians, tasked with peacekeeping, not warfighting. Based on why Dauntless was formed, and how it has been utilized in the past, Dauntless’ role in this society is to be peacekeepers. Yet they are trained for battle and war, which leaves a void that, in lieu of any other guidance or employment of said skills, is often filled by reckless thrill seeking, and eventually, in Divergent, something much worse.