How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Maybe. Maybe there's more we all could have done," he says, "but we just have to let the guilt remind us to do better next time."
I frown and pull back. That is a lesson that members of Abnegation learn—guilt as a tool, rather than a weapon against the self. It is a line straight from one of my father's lectures at our weekly meetings. (24.107-8)
Great, Tris meets a nice (but wounded and mysterious) boy—and he starts talking like her father, which is a total turn-off. But he does have a theory of guilt that might help. So now Tris has two methods of dealing with guilt: trying to act like her parents and trying to do better next time—both of them Abnegation lessons.
Quote #8
I shake my head and take a bite. What did I expect? Just because we kissed doesn't mean anything changes. Maybe he changed his mind about liking me. Maybe he thinks kissing me was a mistake. (27.11)
Oh, girlfriend, we've all been there. Aggravatingly (and relatably), her first response to Four ignoring her is to blame herself for getting her hopes up and misreading the situation. Even in the dystopian future, there's going to your room to feel bad about yourself when relationships seem to be going wrong. Some things never change.
Quote #9
I press my forehead to the wall and scream. After a few seconds I clamp my hand over my mouth to muffle the sound and scream again, a scream that turns into a sob. The gun clatters to the ground. I still see Will.
He smiles in my memory. A curled lip. Straight teeth. Light in his eyes. Laughing, teasing, more alive in memory than I am in reality. It was him or me. I chose me. But I feel dead too. (36.8-9)
After shooting her mind-controlled friend Will, Tris feels so guilty that her sentences start breaking down. A similar thing happens to her with Al commits suicide (24.9-16). Notice also the pretty severe effect of this guilt: screaming, crying, and feeling dead. Guilt is (obviously) no laughing matter.