Every villain has to have his or her lackey. They simply can’t attempt to burn down the world or create unnecessary mayhem without them! Villains and their henchmen are very common in y/a literature, and the Divergent trilogy is no exception!
The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth is a Dystopian Y/A series which features around the city of Chicago, years from now. The city is split into five factions, each favouring certain personality traits over the other. The five factions are thus:
Dauntless (Bravery)
Candor (Honesty)
Erudite (Knowledge)
Abnegation (Selflessness)
Amity (Kindness)
Caleb is the brother of our leading lady in the Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, Tris Prior and when we first meet Caleb, we would have no reason at all to think that he could turn out to be deceitful, and end up being the one to be behind one of the biggest betrayals of Modern Y/A Fiction history.
When choosing factions, Caleb opted for Erudite in an attempt to seek knowledge, whereas his sister Tris chose Dauntless, trying to find out who she really was.
Of course, I am talking about the events in the series that lead him to become Jeanine Matthews’ lap dog and not even think twice about his sister’s un-avoidable, impending death.
“What kind of brother would help be a part of his sister’s imprisonment and have no qualms about stepping in to defend her?” Some may ask. “What were his motives?”
Well, as the story goes, Caleb claims that he thought that he was doing these things for the greater good, and in the fandom, there are mixed feelings on Caleb’s betrayal. Some fans of the series say that they understand why, but others say that there were no excuses for his actions.
The good thing about Caleb Prior, though, is the fact that although he has done some unforgivable things in his past, he does try to redeem himself in any way he can, especially in the last book of the trilogy, Allegiant, when he is prepared to give his life to save others. When reading this series, fans were amazed at how much he did actually love his sister, he didn’t want her to think badly of him, even though he deserved to be thought badly of.
One would like to think that Caleb’s feelings towards his sister and his concern for the safety of others was genuine, but as Roth’s character building proves, the fans and the I’m With Geek Books team can pretty much all agree that this particular character was just a selfish young man who made lots of bad decisions and followed the wrong people for no real reason.
As for the Divergent fans that call themselves the Dauntless, it is unanimous that they would have liked him to kick the bucket, rather than others who were sadly lost in his place.