Beatrice "Tris" Prior Quotes

She launches into the story of our first day, and my body relaxes, but I still feel heavy. I should not lie to my friends. It creates barriers between us, and we already have more than I want. Christina taking the flag. Me rejecting Al. (16.60)

Tris is new to this whole friends thing and new to keeping secrets and new to Dauntless. So, this is going to go well, right? Notice how this secret gets lumped in with her competition issues (who gets the flag) and friendship issues (everybody loves Al—except Tris). Secrets are just another thing that separate Tris and her newfound friends.

The reports that label my family as corrupt, power-hungry, moralizing dictators? The reports that carry subtle threats and hint at revolution? They make me sick to my stomach. Knowing that she is the one who released them makes me want to strangle her.

I smile.

"Wholeheartedly," I say. (28.106-8)

Here's one good thing about secrets: yes, they can drive a wedge between you and your friends (see above), but secrets can also drive a wedge between you and your enemies, which is handy. In this passage, Tris's secret is laid out clearly for us in the line about this making Tris feel sick to her stomach and strangle-happy. But all that is on the inside; on the outside, Tris is willing to lie and manipulate Jeanine to get what she wants.

I don't know when I accumulated so many secrets. Being Divergent. Fears. How I really feel about my friends, my family, Al, Tobias. Candor initiation would reach things that even the simulations can't touch; it would wreck me. (28.199)

"It would wreck me" is a pretty strong statement. Like, if you imagine spilling your secrets, you might say "it would embarrass me" or "it would damage some of my friendships." But Tris rockets past anything like that and ends up with the word "wreck." She might be being a little melodramatic with that word, or maybe she thinks her secrets are really terrible things that would make people hate her. That's a problem with secrets: you don't know how people will react until you, you know, tell them.