Reading Response #6: Allegiant (SPOILER ALERT)

As I approach the end of the book, I find myself very frustrated and upset. There's only a couple more chapters left but I could not continue because it made me so mad. Maybe that was the reaction Veronica Roth was trying to get out of her audience or maybe I'm overreacting, but I was really hoping for a better ending. In the midst of all the chaos, Tris must make a final decision to sacrafice her life for her brother that betrayed her. Even though she has experienced many near-death tragedies, this situation is different because Tris acts out of love rather than revenge. The Abnegation side of her shows through as she chooses the selfless path and walks into the light of death. Miraculously, Tris survives the unstoppable death serum but as she is completing her mission of releasing a memory serum, she dies from the gun shots of the leader of the outside world. Tris is able to be reunited with her dead parents, but leaves all her friends and loved ones behind. It is so sad and depressing because I wanted to Tris and Tobias to be able to live happily ever after. Plus, Roth just kiled off the main character of the story! The rest of the book continues on with Tobias' point of view and he is able to reconnect with his mother who had abandoned him early in his childhood. The ending kind of ruined the whole series for me now because all I can think is that Tris is going to die, no matter how noble her actions were. The books ending reminds me of other tragic love stories such as Romeo and Juliet. When Tobias comes back to find the love of his life no longer breathing, he was in broken. He says, "I squeeze Tris's hand, praying that if I do it hard enough, I will send life back into her body and she will flush with color and wake up. I don't know how long it takes me to realize that it isn't going to happen, that she is gone. But when I do I feel all the strength go out of me, and I fall to my knees beside the table and I think I cry, then, or at least I want to, and everything inside me screams for just one more kiss, one more word, one more glance, one more." I find this similar to when Romeo wakes up and finds Juliet dead. He is so heartbroken that he can no longer live. I really don't like these depressing types of endings but oh well.