Where is the Power in Allegiant?

          Allegiant is the third book in the Divergent trilogy. the main characters are Tris and Tobias, two teenagers who formerly lived in a futuristic and isolated Chicago. They escaped from this corrupted, violent and warring city only to find that the rest of the world was just as corrupted and violent. It is ruled by people who oppress their enemies by discriminating against people with "damaged genes." These leaders think they have all the power.  Tris, Tobias, their friends from the city, and their new genetically damaged allies have more power than the leaders realize. Even though their numbers small, they can accomplish amazing things.

          The  government leaders in the outside world have a tight hold on their people. They keep control of the "damaged" people by keeping them poor. They control the people in cities like Tris' and Tobias's by watching through security cameras and in introducing drugs that cause memory loss and even death when things get out of hand. These cities were experiments trying to weed out the genetically pure people from the more common genetically damaged people . They also control the genetically pure people who have allied with the leaders and their causes by feeding them false or twisted information. If everyone access to all of the pure, true facts then people would be able to decide for themselves what they believed without someone influencing their decisions.

         Tris, Tobias, and their friends try to take some of the power away from these leaders. They use different elements to attack the system from within. Tris goes in as a spy, pretending to be interested in getting a job in the council and others attempt to use the memory erasing drug against everyone with prejudice twoards the genetically damage to people. They are able to use their determination, intelligence, and strength against the most powerful people they have ever encountered.

         The story starts out with these leaders holding all of the power but it is threatened to be taken away from them by Tris and Tobias. This book teaches that you don't need to be numerous or start out with power to make a change in the world. I don't agree with all of the methods used to dethrone the government and I hope that our country is never in the position of needing that kind of fixing. Another constant theme throughout the story is information - or lack of. It shows that information is power and that if you control the information you control the people. It is unjust to keep people misinformed and supporting a cause they don't understand.