When looking at Veronica Roth's Divergent as a retelling of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series, the dystopian, futuristic Chicago which breeds a society that splits its people into five factions based on personality characteristics is much like the post-apocalyptic setting of the country Panem which is divided into 13 districts and a Capitol each with their own set of skills and jobs. Even Roth's female heroine Beatrice Prior shares many characteristics with Collins' protagonist Katniss Everdeen- both sixteen year olds living in a world in which they do not belong or wish to change, meeting a love interest along the way, and using their strength, intelligence and natural abilities to get ahead of the game to fight for their survival. Both of these characters challenge the system around them, either curiously or defiantly, demanding the attention of those in power; however this is where a major difference in the novels takes place: the leader of the power greedy Erudite faction is Jeanine Matthews while Panem's cruel and authoritative president is Coriolanus Snow, one leader female and one male. When looking at the interactions of Roth's protagonist Beatrice and antagonist Jeanine and Collins' Katniss and President Snow, we can see a deceiving, manipulative relationship between the female in power and the divergent female contrasted with a, although evil, honest relationship between the male in power and the female victor; this is important because these relationships depict a 21st century outlook on the differences in the dynamic of female-female and male-female relationships.

The first time President Snow and Katniss sit face to face is in the beginning of Collins' novel, Catching Fire, after Katniss wins the 74th annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are a tradition in Panem to remind its citizens that all power lies in the hands of the Capitol by forcing 24 tributes from the 12 districts to have a fight to the death televised competition in which only one victor is granted the prize of living which serves as a hint of hope given to the districts by the Capitol. In a turn of events, Katniss influenced the gamemakers in a moment of intense emotion into allowing there to be two victors, a decision President Snow had not approved and strongly disagreed with. The tension in their meeting is obvious as Katniss "outsmarted his sadistic Hunger Games, made the Capitol look foolish, and consequently undermined his control (Collins 18)". In an attempt to cease the beginnings of uprisings in several districts as a result of Hunger Games, President Snow travels to Katniss's home in Victor Village to let her know her options: convince the people of the nation her undying love of Peeta made her act irrationally in the games or face the execution of her friends and family.

Although President Snow rules with an iron fist, manipulating the districts and executing those who act against him, his only redeeming quality in this scene is his honesty. Upon seeing Katniss he states "I think we'll make this whole situation a lot simpler by agreeing not to lie to each other. What do you think? (Collins 19)". The man who rules in an authoritatively inhumane style identifies the influence one teenage girl has on others and acknowledges her intelligence and abilities, which he demonstrates while conversing with her. He makes it clear that her actions will have the ability to prevent uprisings, and as she is the "girl who was on fire" who sparked rebellion in Panem he cannot just execute her because it would "add fuel to the flames (Collins 23)". In recognizing the effect and abilities Katniss has, it is actually very smart of President Snow to speak with her honestly in order to get his threatening point across to her. This leaves Katniss with only one choice- obey the president to save the people she loves and the people she actually fights for.

In a similar scene of the meeting of the one in power with the one who challenges the system, Beatrice Prior and Jeanine Matthews in Roth's Divergent find themselves at odds. When Beatrice leaves the Dauntless compound to visit her brother in Erudite, their leader Jeanine sees this as her chance to test the concerns she senses in Beatrice's behavior that hint at her divergent aptitude results. In the world Beatrice lives in, it is very dangerous to receive divergent results through the aptitude test. Those who receive divergent results, such as Beatrice, do not predominantly fit the characteristics of a single faction, rather the divergent display characteristics of multiple factions equally. The Erudite faction, who are traditionally curious for knowledge, are becoming power thirsty. Their leader developed the simulations which determine the test results which she describes as her "greatest achievement as a scientist (Roth 356)" which leads her to take a special interest in why Beatrice's results were manually recorded.

During the conversation between Beatrice and Jeanine, both try to manipulate the other; Beatrice lied in order to protect her identity at all costs and Jeanine hid her real motives in investigating Beatrice by questioning the aptitude results and her presence on the Erudite compound. Since the book is written in first person in Beatrice's view, we can see that from one side of this female-female dynamic she can sense she is being lied to. When Jeanine claims she is worried about Beatrice's results because she wants to make sure the technology is working correctly Beatrice thinks "she is lying to me. She doesn't care about the technology- she suspects that something is awry with my test results (Roth 358)." By the looks Jeanine is giving Beatrice, it seems that she can tell something is skewed with the girl sitting across from her, yet unlike President Snow she doesn't outright express her concerns. Jeanine manipulates the conversation until Beatrice must agree with what the Erudite report which she knows to be false. The fault in this leadership method is while Jeanine seems to have won the battle at hand, she has not confirmed Beatrice's divergence and does not scare her enough to actually do anything she wants.

It is interesting to compare these two scenes, since they have so many similarities yet they turn to two opposite directions- one brutally honest and one conniving to the end. In the male-female dynamic, Snow presented to Katniss in the beginning he wishes for only the truth from her and in turn he will never lie to her and this promise follows them to the end of the Hunger Games series. In the female-female dynamic, Beatrice and Jeanine both lie to one another in order to out-manipulate the other; this eventually leads to their betrayal of each other shortly in the novel. In a study it was found that "women seem more transparent in exhibiting feelings about their messages whether being truthful or deceptive ("University of Miami Scholarly Repository")" which would explain why Beatrice was able to tell Jeanine was deceiving her, yet she lied as well. However, it is not known for sure if the Erudite leader was onto her. The relationship between Beatrice and Jeanine in contrast to that of Katniss and Snow demonstrates that females are more willing to be deceitful in order to accomplish their own personal goals.
 
Analyzing the relationships and interactions between these duos shows the reader two completely different routes that the leadership fighting against rebellion can take. In one case, Snow presents his case with honesty, and although the eventual overturn of his reign does take place, Katniss follows through on their promise of honesty and rejects his replacement as well. In the other case, Beatrice lies and causes Jeanine to fail to extract information about Beatrice's divergence. With neither Beatrice nor Jeanine willing to cooperate with each other, it creates a paradigm of distrust, deceit and power lust which ultimately leads to the attack of the Abnegation faction by the Erudite faction. Rebellion takes places in the first novel of the Divergent trilogy while in Hunger Games it was the third which demonstrates that Snow's tactic of honesty was more effective. While it is a stretch to say, in a twisted way Katniss and Snow develop a slight father-daughter role while Beatrice and Jeanine defy each other like teenage girls do. In order for the effectiveness of leadership to take place, it isn't a question of whether men or women are better, but rather that "a better balance between assertiveness and receptivity (Wiliams)" is achieved by who is in power.


