In Veronica Roth’s Divergent, the faction that values selflessness is Abnegation.
Abnegation teaches its members to put the needs of others before their own. Beatrice Prior is raised in Abnegation but feels uncertain about whether she can live entirely by its rules. At the faction-choice ceremony, she selects Dauntless and adopts the name Tris. Her choice creates the identity conflict at the heart of the novel.
The five factions are built around different virtues: Abnegation represents selflessness, Dauntless bravery, Erudite intelligence, Amity peacefulness, and Candor honesty. These labels are social ideals rather than complete descriptions of every individual. Tris’s aptitude test identifies her as Divergent because she does not fit neatly into one faction. Readers sometimes associate Tris with Abnegation because it is her birth faction, but she becomes a Dauntless initiate during the story.