Allegiant
Chapter Forty-Four
by Roth, VeronicaTobias prepares for a critical mission with Amar and George, monitoring the movements of key figures like Evelyn and Marcus via surveillance screens. With limited time, he must choose between resetting one of his parents using a memory serum—a decision weighing heavily on him. The group gears up amidst a snowstorm, with George providing a gun and coordinating their plan from a control room. Tobias secretly urges George to inoculate himself against the serum, hinting at deeper concerns about the mission’s consequences.
The team piles into a truck, navigating through heavy snowfall toward the city. Tobias is tasked with manning a digital map, though he questions the need for stealth given the obvious landmarks. As they drive, he reflects on the Bureau’s negligence, condemning their passive role in the city’s suffering until their genetic interests were threatened. The journey back stirs mixed emotions, with Peter and Tobias sharing quiet disbelief about returning to the chaotic city they left behind.
Tobias wrestles with his moral dilemma: whether to erase Marcus, his abusive father, or Evelyn, his estranged mother, to reshape the city’s future. Each choice feels selfish—freeing himself from Marcus’s tyranny or recreating Evelyn as a nurturing figure. The weight of the decision paralyzes him, as neither option clearly benefits the city more. Meanwhile, the truck crosses the symbolic boundary between the Bureau’s world and the experiment zone, a transition that feels jarring and surreal to Tobias.
As they approach the city, Amar asks for directions to find Zeke, a key contact aligned with the revolt. Tobias suggests heading where the rebels are concentrated, focusing on reuniting with allies. The chapter ends with tension lingering over Tobias’s unresolved choice and the group’s precarious mission, underscored by the oppressive snowfall and the looming confrontation with their past.
FAQs
1. What is Tobias’s dilemma regarding his parents in this chapter, and what are the potential implications of each choice?
Answer:
Tobias is torn between using the memory serum on either Marcus or Evelyn. Resetting Marcus would erase the abusive father he fears and hates, granting him personal freedom from Marcus’s influence. Resetting Evelyn could create a more nurturing mother who wouldn’t abandon him or seek revenge. Both choices would benefit Tobias personally—Marcus’s erasure would end his trauma, while Evelyn’s reset might fulfill his longing for maternal care. However, he also considers which option would most help the city, though he remains uncertain. This internal conflict highlights his struggle between self-interest and the greater good.2. How does the chapter portray the Bureau’s relationship with the city, and what critique does Tobias offer about their actions?
Answer:
Tobias sharply criticizes the Bureau for their deliberate distance and inaction. He reflects that they had the capacity to help the city’s factions but instead allowed violence and collapse to unfold, intervening only now to protect “genetic material.” This passive observation, he argues, is as sinister as their planned memory war—they prioritized control over compassion, letting people suffer and die. The chapter frames the Bureau as morally bankrupt, valuing data over human lives, which fuels Tobias’s disillusionment with their authority.3. Analyze the significance of the “line” between the Bureau’s compound and the city. How does Tobias’s perception of it differ from Amar’s?
Answer:
The physical boundary between the Bureau and the city symbolizes a divide between truth/adulthood (the compound) and illusion/childhood (the city). For Amar, the line has faded with familiarity; he crosses it casually, assimilated into the Bureau’s world. Tobias, however, feels the transition acutely, describing it as moving from reality into a lie. This contrast underscores Tobias’s unresolved tension between his past and present identities—he remains emotionally tied to the city’s struggles, while Amar has adapted to the Bureau’s detached perspective.4. What role does the snow play in this chapter, both practically and thematically?
Answer:
Practically, the heavy snowfall obscures visibility, complicating the mission by hiding the city’s landmarks and making surveillance difficult (George notes the cameras are impaired). Thematically, the snow mirrors Tobias’s uncertainty—its swirling chaos reflects his indecision about his parents, while its blanketing effect suggests erasure, tying into the memory serum’s threat. The “vapor curling around [his] mouth” also emphasizes his tense, anxious breathing, reinforcing the chapter’s mood of peril and moral ambiguity.5. Why might Peter’s presence in the mission be significant, given his history and Tobias’s distrust of him?
Answer:
Peter’s eagerness to join the group raises suspicion, as he has previously been manipulative and self-serving. Tobias notes the need to stay “wary,” hinting at potential betrayal or ulterior motives. Peter’s quiet remark (“I can’t believe we’re going back”) suggests nostalgia or unresolved ties to the city, but his past actions (e.g., betraying Tris) cast doubt on his sincerity. His inclusion adds tension, as readers anticipate whether he’ll disrupt the mission or redeem himself—a microcosm of the book’s broader themes of trust and redemption.
Quotes
1. “The distance the Bureau has kept from the rest of the world is an evil separate from the war they intend to wage against our memories—more subtle, but, in its way, just as sinister.”
This powerful statement captures Tobias’s realization about the Bureau’s moral failing—their passive observation allowed suffering while preparing to erase memories. It critiques institutional complicity through inaction.
2. “Resetting Marcus would mean erasing the man I hate and fear from the world… Resetting Evelyn would mean making her into a new mother—one who wouldn’t abandon me…”
This internal conflict reveals Tobias’s painful dilemma—whether to weaponize memory serum for personal liberation or emotional repair. It highlights the ethical complexity of altering identities.
3. “They had the capacity to help us, languishing in our factions, but instead they let us fall apart. Let us die. Let us kill one another.”
A scathing indictment of the Bureau’s negligence, this quote underscores the chapter’s theme of institutional betrayal. The repetition of “let us” emphasizes passive cruelty.
4. “For me, it feels like driving from truth into a lie, from adulthood into childhood.”
This poetic observation contrasts Tobias’s perspective with Amar’s, using the physical journey into Chicago as a metaphor for psychological regression into his traumatic past.