Allegiant
Chapter Fifty-Six
by Roth, VeronicaThe chapter follows Tobias as he returns to his childhood home in the Abnegation sector, grappling with overwhelming grief and numbness. He drives through the city in a detached state, barely registering his surroundings. Upon arriving, he mechanically shaves his head, revealing his Dauntless tattoo, and contemplates using a vial of memory serum to erase his painful past. The narrative captures his emotional emptiness and desire to reinvent himself as someone untouched by trauma, highlighting his internal struggle between escape and self-preservation.
Tobias reflects on the recent political resolution for Chicago, where the faction system has ended, and the city will now integrate with the outside world under new governance. Despite this progress, he feels broken and unable to move forward. He fixates on the memory serum as a way to become “Tobias Johnson,” a blank slate free from his fractured identity. His actions reveal a deep despair, as he prioritizes self-erasure over facing his pain, underscoring the chapter’s themes of loss and identity crisis.
Christina unexpectedly arrives, challenging Tobias’s decision to use the serum. She confronts him, accusing him of cowardice and insisting that Tris would have opposed his choice. Their heated exchange escalates into physical confrontation, with Tobias pinning her against a wall in a moment of rage. Christina’s words cut through his numbness, provoking anger and forcing him to confront the implications of his actions. This confrontation serves as a turning point, disrupting his emotional detachment.
The chapter culminates in Tobias recalling his father’s abuse, drawing parallels between his own behavior and the violence he witnessed as a child. This realization shocks him into self-awareness, as Christina’s accusation of being a “coward” echoes his deepest fears. The scene leaves Tobias at a crossroads, torn between succumbing to despair or reclaiming his agency. The chapter poignantly explores grief, memory, and the struggle to honor the past while forging a future.
FAQs
1. How does Tobias describe his experience of grief in this chapter, and what does this reveal about his emotional state?
Answer:
Tobias describes grief as “a devastating numbness, every sensation dulled,” with a muffled feeling in his ears like he’s drifting away from the world. This reveals his profound emotional detachment and depression following a significant loss (likely Tris’s death, inferred from Christina’s remarks). His inability to fully engage with either sleep or wakefulness, along with his pale appearance and dark circles, underscores the physical toll of his emotional shutdown. The numbness suggests he’s avoiding processing his pain directly, which later manifests in his extreme decision to erase his memories.2. What symbolic significance does Tobias’s haircutting ritual hold in this chapter?
Answer:
The haircutting ritual symbolizes Tobias’s attempt to return to an earlier, simpler version of himself—specifically, his Abnegation identity. The deliberate, practiced motions (learned in youth) reflect a desire for control amid chaos, while the revealed Dauntless tattoo beneath the shorn hair represents the inescapability of his past. The act also parallels his plan to “reset” his identity with the memory serum, as both involve shedding layers of his experiences. The itching fallen hair underscores the discomfort of confronting these changes.3. Analyze the confrontation between Christina and Tobias. How does her argument challenge his decision to use the memory serum?
Answer:
Christina challenges Tobias by framing his choice as cowardice, insisting he’s betraying Tris’s memory by erasing her. Her emotional appeal (“she wouldn’t want you to erase her from your memory like she didn’t even matter”) triggers Tobias’s anger, revealing his unresolved guilt and love. The physical altercation mirrors his father’s abuse, a parallel Christina weaponizes by calling him a “coward”—a term tied to his deepest fears. This confrontation forces Tobias to confront the contradiction in his plan: becoming “someone new” would mean abandoning the values Tris admired in him.4. What broader societal changes are hinted at in the chapter, and how do they contrast with Tobias’s personal crisis?
Answer:
The chapter mentions Chicago’s transition to a “paradise” for the genetically “damaged,” now governed by non-GD-supremacists and open to outsiders. This hopeful societal renewal contrasts sharply with Tobias’s self-destructive spiral. While the city moves toward integration and prosperity, he seeks isolation and amnesia. Matthew’s vision of “the fringe” finding refuge in Chicago highlights community rebuilding, whereas Tobias’s obsession with personal erasure reflects his inability to envision a future within that community. The dissonance underscores trauma’s isolating effects even amid collective progress.5. Why might Tobias’s choice of identity as “Tobias Johnson, son of Evelyn Johnson” be ironic or problematic?
Answer:
This identity is ironic because Evelyn represents a painful past he once fled (Abnegation oppression and abuse). By reverting to it, he rejects growth post-Dauntless and Tris’s influence. It’s also problematic because Evelyn’s later actions (as a factionless leader) were driven by similar control-seeking behaviors he now exhibits. The name “Johnson” lacks the chosen-family significance of “Four” or his bond with Tris, reducing him to a passive product of his trauma rather than an active agent of change—a regression the chapter frames as self-betrayal.
Quotes
1. “People talk about the pain of grief, but I don’t know what they mean. To me, grief is a devastating numbness, every sensation dulled.”
This quote powerfully captures Tobias’s emotional state after a profound loss. It redefines grief not as sharp pain but as a hollowing numbness, showing his dissociation from the world.
2. “All that I want is to become someone new. […] Tobias Johnson may have lived a dull and empty life, but he is at least a whole person, not this fragment of a person that I am, too damaged by pain to become anything useful.”
This reveals Tobias’s desperate desire to escape his trauma through memory erasure. The contrast between “whole person” and “fragment” illustrates his shattered self-perception post-loss.
3. “‘This is not your decision,’ she says. ‘This is the decision of a coward, and you’re a lot of things, Four, but not a coward. Never.’”
Christina’s intervention marks the chapter’s turning point. Her challenge cuts through Tobias’s numbness by invoking his core identity (“Four”) and values (courage).
4. “‘You can’t become a person she would hate,’ Christina says, quietly this time. ‘And she would have hated this.’”
This emotional appeal reignites Tobias’s humanity by connecting his choice to the memory of his lost loved one. The quiet delivery contrasts powerfully with earlier shouts.
5. “I remember my father’s screams filling the house, and his hand around my mother’s throat […] And I remember hearing quiet sobs through her bedroom door, how she locked it so I couldn’t get in.”
This traumatic flashback explains Tobias’s violent reaction to Christina and his deep fear of becoming like his abusive father. It reveals why her “coward” accusation cuts so deeply.