Quote 13
I try to run, but my feet are firmly planted and refuse to move, like the crow on my shoulder. I scream as they surround me, feathers flapping in my ears, beaks pecking at my shoulders, talons clinging to my clothes. I scream until tears come from my eyes, my arms flailing. My hands hit solid bodies but do nothing; there are too many. I am alone. They nip at my fingertips and press against my body, wings sliding across the back of my neck, feet tearing at my hair. (18.49)
This is the first time we see Tris's fear landscape, with the bird attack, which is very nightmarish—it's got that typical "I can't run" nightmare feeling. Of course, this isn't an actual nightmare, it's something that the Dauntless training is doing to Tris. (Nice friends, eh?) But what is it that she's actually afraid of? It's not birds, is it? Is it being alone (which she mentions)? Or… what?
Quote 14
In the past four days, I faced four fears. In one I was tied to a stake and Peter set a fire beneath my feet. In another I was drowning again, this time in the middle of an ocean as the water raged around me. In the third, I watched as my family slowly bled to death. And in the fourth, I was held at gunpoint and forced to shoot them. I know what fear is now. (21.9)
The Dauntless initiation is about 1/3 fighting and 2/3 psychological torture. But note how symbolic all these fears are for Tris: she's not really afraid of fire or drowning. (There's not even a lake anymore in this "setting.") Why does she get these symbolic fears? Why isn't she just afraid of spiders like the rest of us?
Quote 15
My fear is being with him. I have been wary of affection all my life, but I didn't know how deep that wariness went.
But this obstacle doesn't feel the same as the others. It is a different kind of fear—nervous panic rather than blind terror. (30.58-9)
We talk about fear as if it's always the same, but Divergent makes a good case that there are different types of fear: there's dread, panic, terror. (Yay for thesauruses.) In this, part of Tris's fear is wrapped up with something that she wants but doesn't quite trust. Tris doesn't have the same fear when it comes to jumping off buildings, for instance.