A boy who transferred into Dauntless from Candor, Al becomes one of Tris’s best friends during initiation. Despite his large physical size, his sensitive temperament makes Dauntless training difficult for him. He has trouble mastering many training exercises, and at night he cries from homesickness and stress. After his initial fight with Will, he loses purposely to the other initiates even though he could easily beat them, explaining to Tris that bravery shouldn’t require hurting his friends. Still, after Tris rejects his romantic advances and beats him in the rankings, Al’s insecurity turns into angry desperation. He joins Peter and Drew in their nighttime attack on Tris, a betrayal that loses him her trust and friendship. He commits suicide soon afterward, presumably having realized that Dauntless made him violent in spite of his attempts to resist. His suicide suggests that Dauntless training is meant to weed out weak trainees not by openly killing them, but by breaking them psychologically.

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