Abnegation


- Value selflessness.
- Blame selfishness for the worlds problems.
- Discourage any thing done for a persons own enjoyment.
- Believes guns are used for self-defense, if not violence, and therefore they are self serving.
- Believe kisses are not meant to be shared in public.
- Believe gossiping is self-indulgent.
- View suicide as an act of selfishness because someone who is truly selfless does not think of himself often enough to desire death.
- Guilt is used as a tool, rather than a weapon against the self. They use it to remind themselves to do better the next time.
- The night of the Aptitude Test the parents give the children time to think on their results after dinner in preparation for the Choosing Ceremony.
- At their initiation ceremony the initiates, who spend thirty days performing community service before they can become full members, sit side by side on a bench. One of the older members reads the Abnegation manifesto. Then all the older members wash the i
Click Here to Read the Faction Manifesto

I will forget the ones I love If I do not serve them.
I will war with others If I refuse to see them.
Therefore I choose to turn away From my reflection, To rely not on myself But on my brothers and sisters, To project always outward Until I disappear.
Some members add a final line: “And only God remains.” That is at the discretion of each member and is not compulsory.

- The only adornment they are allowed to wear is a watch.
- Every six months one member of the house picks up nearly identical stacks of clothing. Everyone getting the same amounts of everything.
- Female Abnegation typically wear their hair in a bun (knot).
- Their clothing is gray, and simple.
- Members are only allowed to stand in front of the mirror on the second day of every third month for a haircut.
- Families move together in harmony, after dinner parties everyone in attendance help to clean-up afterwards. They help strangers carry their groceries.
- The houses in the Abnegation sector are all the same size and shape.
- The simplicity of their houses, clothes,hairstyles, etc is meant to help them forget themselves and to protect them from vanity. greed, and envy, which they consider forms of selfishness. They believe that if they have little, and want for little, and ar
- Not every family is religious, but some are.
- Taught that physical contact is powerful, displayed affection is rare.
- Children aren’t supposed to speak at the dinner table unless their parents ask them a direct question. Their listening ears are a gift to their parents, and then after dinner their parents give them the gift of their listening ears in the living room.
- Take the stairs as an act of selflessness, and allow the elevator to be used by others.
- Never allowed to do ‘whatever they want.’ They must always think of other people’s needs first.
- Co-eds never sleep in the same room.
- Don’t believe in decorating rooms. They see art as impractical, and its appreciation is time that could be spent serving others.
- Don’t form real friendships because it is hard to do when no one feels like they can accept help or talk about themselves.
- On visiting day, initiates are allowed to visit their families and to visit with them as adults for the first time. They don’t need permission to speak, and are allowed to ask questions at the dinner table.
- Their funerals are a somber occasion. Everyone gathers to support the family of the deceased. There is no laughter, shouting, or joking.
- Most of what they eat is frozen or canned because the farms are far away.
- Eat dinner at the table. They always pass food to the right and wait to eat until everyone has been served. (Tris’s family)
- Eat plain food. (No hamburgers.)
- Don’t drink Alcohol.





“I like the verbs in that one: refuse, deny, reject, renounce–active forms of stripping things from your life. As opposed to relinquish, give up– more passive.”
{The First 100 Pages, and the DIVERGENT Dictionary}
“Abnegation… includes five of the traditional “seven heavenly virtues:” chastity, temperance, charity, patience, and humility.
{Amazon’s Q&A with Author Veronica Roth}