Chapter 4

When Caleb arrives home with Susan and Robert in tow, Beatrice is forced to lie about her reasons for leaving the test early. After their classmates leave, Caleb tries to get Beatrice to explain her early departure; however, Beatrice reminds him that they are not supposed to discuss the test. For his part, Caleb agrees to put on a united front before their parents and helps Beatrice cook dinner, even though it is technically her turn. At dinner, both Caleb and Beatrice profess innocence when their parents mention hearing about a problem with one of the tests.

Beatrice's father, however, is more concerned about an Erudite report criticizing Marcus, one of the Abnegation council leaders. In the report, Jeanine Matthews (Erudite's representative) asserts that Marcus's physical abuse of his son, Tobias, led the boy to leave Abnegation for Dauntless. Beatrice's father bitterly maintains that Erudite's lust for power compels it to spread offensive rumors, concluding that Tobias's defection was nothing more than a betrayal. Later, before they enter their separate bedrooms, Caleb gives Beatrice a surprisingly uncharacteristic piece of advice about choosing a faction: he tells her to think not only of her family, but of herself.

Chapter 5

Beatrice and her family make their way to the twentieth floor of the Hub to attend the Choosing Ceremony. The ceremony room is arranged in circles, and in the innermost circle stand five large metal bowls, each containing a substance that represents a specific faction: the Candor bowl, glass; the Amity bowl, earth; the Erudite bowl, water; the Abnegation bowl, gray stones; and the Dauntless bowl, lit coals. While saying goodbye to her parents, Beatrice comes to the uneasy realization that her father expects his children to remain in Abnegation. Meanwhile, Beatrice's mother tells her that she will love her no matter which faction she chooses.

Marcus begins the ceremony with a speech; he tells the families that the five-faction system was devised decades ago to rid the world of evil. He proclaims that those who blamed violence for the world's ills formed Amity, those who blamed ignorance formed Erudite, those who blamed deceit formed Candor, those who blamed egotism formed Abnegation, and those who blamed cowardice formed Dauntless. At the end of his speech, Marcus begins calling out names. Each initiate cuts his or her palm with a knife and drips blood into the bowl of their choice. Caleb goes before Beatrice and chooses Erudite, shocking his sister. When it is Beatrice's turn, she finds her hand poised between the Dauntless and Abnegation bowls. After a moment of hesitation, she lets her blood drip into the Dauntless bowl.

Chapter 6

After the ceremony, Beatrice notices that her father is furious. Her mother, however, is beaming. As she leaves the building with the other Dauntless initiates, Beatrice is thrilled to run freely beside her new peers. She jumps onto a moving train and is helped into one of the cars by Christina, a Candor transfer. Meanwhile, a new Dauntless recruit fails to land on the train and is left behind. Beatrice realizes with a pang that the boy is now factionless, a fate that terrifies her. Eventually, the train slows down as it approaches Dauntless headquarters. Everyone must now leap over a seven-story drop from the moving train to the roof of the main Dauntless building. Beatrice is nervous but makes the jump with Christina.

Molly and Peter, two other Candor transfers, also make the jump. Not everyone lands safely, however; a new initiate falls to her death, reminding Beatrice that the Dauntless do brave but dangerous things. Max,...