Allegiant
Chapter Thirty-Nine
by Roth, VeronicaIn Chapter Thirty-Nine of *Allegiant*, Tris and her companions discuss the Bureau’s plan to use a memory serum to reset the city’s population. Matthew explains that the serum targets explicit memories like personal identities while sparing implicit skills like speaking or walking. The group debates the ethical implications, with Cara and Matthew delving into scientific details, while Tris and Tobias remain uneasy about the plan. The urgency escalates as they realize they must secure the serum from the heavily guarded Weapons Lab within forty-eight hours to prevent the Bureau from erasing their friends’ memories.
Tris and Tobias leave the meeting, grappling with moral dilemmas. Tobias expresses doubts about mirroring the Bureau’s tactics, questioning whether erasing memories is justified even for a noble cause. Tris argues that their actions are different because they aim to protect innocent lives in the city, unlike the Bureau, which enabled Jeanine’s atrocities. Their conversation highlights the tension between desperation and morality, culminating in Tris’s firm stance that saving loved ones justifies difficult choices. Tobias reluctantly agrees, though his reservations linger.
The chapter takes a emotional turn when Christina arrives with devastating news about Uriah, revealing he will never wake up. The group is crushed, especially when they realize the Bureau’s memory reset will erase Uriah’s existence from his family’s minds before they can say goodbye. This revelation adds personal stakes to their mission, as Christina’s family and others in the city face the same fate. The urgency to stop the Bureau intensifies, blending grief with determination.
The chapter concludes with a sense of impending loss and resolve. Tris and her friends are forced to confront the human cost of the Bureau’s plans, strengthening their resolve to act. The interplay of scientific debate, ethical conflict, and raw emotion underscores the chapter’s tension, setting the stage for a race against time to save their city and preserve the memories of those they love.
FAQs
1. How does the memory serum work according to Matthew, and what are its limitations?
Answer:
Matthew explains that the memory serum selectively targets explicit memories (such as personal identity, biographical details, and specific events) while preserving implicit memories (like motor skills and language abilities). However, he acknowledges that some important memories may inevitably be lost in the process. The serum leaves individuals in a disoriented, pliable state for several days afterward, making them susceptible to reprogramming with new information. This design allows for the erasure of propaganda-filled histories while maintaining basic functionality, though the process isn’t perfect—critical knowledge may disappear without proper documentation to facilitate relearning.2. What ethical dilemma does Tobias raise about their plan to use the memory serum against the Bureau?
Answer:
Tobias questions whether their plan to erase the Bureau’s memories is fundamentally different from the Bureau’s own actions against the city. He points out that both groups are acting out of desperation to protect what they value, creating a moral equivalence. Tris counters that the key difference lies in innocence: the city’s inhabitants are victims of the Bureau’s manipulation (like supplying Jeanine’s attack simulation), making their retaliation justified. This debate highlights the complex ethics of using the same weapon against their oppressors and whether ends justify means in extreme circumstances.3. Why is the urgency to obtain the memory serum heightened after Christina’s news about Uriah?
Answer:
Christina reveals that Uriah will never wake up and has only four days before life support ends. This intensifies the urgency because the Bureau plans to reset the city’s memories in 48 hours—before Uriah’s family (Zeke and their mother) can say goodbye. If the reset occurs, they’ll forget Uriah entirely, erasing his existence from their minds. This personal stake transforms the mission from abstract resistance to a race against time to preserve both collective history and individual grief, adding emotional weight to the serum’s retrieval.4. Analyze the significance of Tris’s observation about the compound feeling “smaller” over time.
Answer:
Tris reflects that the compound, once overwhelming and unfamiliar, has become navigable and ordinary through repeated exposure. This metaphor mirrors her growing understanding of the Bureau’s systems and her own adaptability. The observation underscores a thematic tension between control and resistance: just as the physical space shrinks in her mind, so too does the Bureau’s perceived invincibility. However, it also hints at normalization of oppression—a warning that prolonged exposure to corrupt systems can dull their strangeness, making resistance harder to sustain.5. How does the dynamic between Cara and Matthew contrast with Tris and Tobias’s approach to problem-solving?
Answer:
Cara and Matthew engage in rapid, abstract scientific discourse (e.g., debating serum mechanics and reprogramming methods), mirroring Erudite traits of intellectual detachment. In contrast, Tris and Tobias focus on immediate action (“find out where Nita went wrong”) and moral implications, reflecting Dauntless pragmatism and Abnegation-influenced ethics. The divide highlights faction-based thinking: while the Erudite pair gets lost in theoretical possibilities, Tris prioritizes solutions that balance efficiency with humanity, showing how divergent perspectives shape crisis response.
Quotes
1. “It targets explicit memories, like your name, where you grew up, your first teacher’s name, and leaves implicit memories—like how to speak or tie your shoes or ride a bicycle—untouched.”
This quote explains the selective nature of the memory serum, highlighting its ability to erase personal identity while preserving basic skills. It introduces a key scientific concept central to the chapter’s conflict about memory manipulation.
2. “People are very pliable then.”
A chilling observation by Matthew about human vulnerability after memory erasure. This brief statement underscores the ethical dilemma of exploiting disorientation for reprogramming purposes, foreshadowing the Bureau’s plans.
3. “The difference is what’s right… The people in the city, as a whole, are innocent. The people in the Bureau, who supplied Jeanine with the attack simulation, are not innocent.”
Tris’s moral justification for their counter-plan captures the chapter’s central ethical conflict. This distinction between innocent subjects and guilty administrators drives their decision to use the serum against the Bureau.
4. “When you have to choose between two bad options, you pick the one that saves the people you love and believe in most. You just do. Okay?”
A powerful statement of Tris’s pragmatic philosophy in impossible situations. This quote represents the emotional core of the chapter, showing how personal loyalties ultimately guide difficult decisions.
5. “They’ll forget him before they have a chance to say good-bye to him. It will be like he never existed.”
This heartbreaking realization about Uriah’s family adds urgent personal stakes to the memory reset countdown. The quote transforms the abstract ethical debate into a visceral human tragedy.