the hunger games dystopian essay

What makes “The Hunger Games” a Dystopia?

In the world of dystopian literature, few works have garnered as much attention and acclaim as The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins' bestselling series, which includes the novels The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, has captivated audiences around the world with its gripping narrative, memorable characters, and intricate world-building. Yet, how does The Hunger Games compare to other top dystopian novels, and what can we learn from these comparisons about the political valence of the societies depicted in each work?

To answer these questions, we must first consider what sets The Hunger Games apart from other dystopian novels. One key factor is the novel's focus on the spectacle of violence and power. The Hunger Games depicts a world in which the ruling class of the Capitol holds an annual tournament in which young people from the twelve districts of Panem are forced to fight to the death in a televised spectacle. This tournament serves as a form of entertainment for the Capitol citizens, who revel in the suffering and bloodshed of the contestants. The novel's protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, is thrust into this brutal world when she volunteers to take her younger sister's place as a tribute in the Hunger Games.

While The Hunger Games shares some similarities with other dystopian novels, such as George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, in its depiction of a totalitarian government that controls every aspect of its citizens' lives, the spectacle of violence in The Hunger Games sets it apart from these works. In 1984, for example, the government's control over its citizens is largely achieved through surveillance and propaganda, rather than outright violence. Similarly, in Brave New World, the government uses pleasure and distraction to keep its citizens in line, rather than relying on overt displays of force. By contrast, The Hunger Games presents a world in which violence is not only normalized but actively celebrated, with the Capitol citizens cheering on the contestants as they slaughter one another in the arena.

However, The Hunger Games is not the only dystopian novel that depicts a society in which violence is a central aspect of social control. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, for example, shows a world in which books are banned and "firemen" are tasked with burning any that are found. The use of fire as a symbol of destruction and power is a recurring motif throughout the novel, highlighting the oppressive nature of the society. Similarly, in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, the government's control over women's bodies is maintained through physical violence and the threat of punishment. The novel's protagonist, Offred, is forced to bear children for a high-ranking official and is subjected to frequent beatings and other forms of abuse.

Despite these similarities, the political valence of each society depicted in these novels differs. In The Hunger Games, for example, the violence serves as a form of spectacle that reinforces the power of the ruling class, while also providing a distraction from the poverty and suffering of the districts. By contrast, in Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid's Tale, the violence serves as a means of social control, used by the government to suppress dissent and maintain power. The political valence of each society, then, is shaped by the role that violence plays in maintaining the status quo.

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Dystopian Literature Essay: The Hunger Games

Dystopian Literature Essay: The Hunger…

Dystopian literature without a doubt has sealed its place as a prominent genre among juvenile and adult readers alike. The genre only continues to grow in popularity and diversity. “Young adult (YA) dystopian literature is a trend that is taking the nation by storm.

Since September 11, 2001, the genre has gained a strong backing from academics, authors, and YA readers; after Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (2008), however, YA dystopian literature has become the forefront of teen reading,” (Ryan 1).

However, this popularity among readers poses the question, what exactly makes this genre so appealing to readers? This may be due to the relatability of the themes and characteristics common in dystopian literature and how they reflect the real world. “Constant surveillance, oppressive ruling regimes, lack of freedom, and forced conformity are all aspects of adolescent life that teenagers deal with on a daily basis,” (Ryan 2). These themes and conflicts that are prevalent in dystopian literature not only reflect aspects of life for teenagers but also are implicative of the real world.

To fully comprehend how dystopian literature reflects the real world, one must understand what a dystopia is; per English instructor Terri Chung of North Seattle Community College , a dystopia in the literary sense is, “A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.”

Despite dystopian literature taking the conditions of the real world and spinning them to extremes, the themes and elements present in dystopian societies are still applicable to real-life society. The Hunger Games and the other books of the trilogy are some of the most popular books in the dystopian genre, and while this may be largely due to the romantic elements of the story, its success can also be derived from the relatability of the themes touched on in the story.

In the case of The Hunger Games, these themes include but are not limited to social-class divisions, outlandish beauty standards and ideals, and ideas of what is considered entertaining in the media.

In the story, the districts are divided based on the goods or commodities that they provide for the Capitol. The importance of the good a District provides along with simply how close it is to the Capitol determines the quality of life in that District and how wealthy its population is.

Although the Capitol likes to push that all the districts are equal, the clear-cut social-class divisions from district to district are too glaring to gloss over. This drastic division in the quality of life and the government’s message of equality is an almost obvious nudge at the state of the real world and touches on the theme of equality versus equity.

For example, right here in America, which claims to be the land of equal opportunity, one can see the obvious distinctions between places such as Compton and Beverly Hills with the cities having a per capita income of roughly $13,000 and $85,000 respectively according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In addition, the gap between the Capitol and the Districts reflects the gap between the richest one percent and the rest of the population. In an article from BBC News, Oxfam, a confederation of 19 organizations worldwide in a fight against poverty, “… calculated that the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population.”

In The Hunger Games, the people of the Capitol are described as having outlandish features about them cosmetic-wise. For example, one of Katniss’ two stylists, Venia, is described as having, “… aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows.” The citizens of the Capitol are always changing their facial and body features to match the newest Capitol trends even to the point of going through body modification procedures to keep up with these trends and be considered beautiful, handsome, etc.

However, not just in the story but also in the real-world people are willing to go to great ends to keep up with all the latest beauty trends; this includes purchasing products or performing actual body modification procedures all for the sake of being considered pretty. Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the actual Games, the tributes are put through a thorough cleaning and grooming process and are dressed up in the fanciest Capitol wear even though they are about to be sent to their deaths.

This reflects today’s society because people of all ages today still spend vast sums of money on beauty products and body modification procedures; in fact, the beauty and cosmetics market is worth about $62 billion as of 2016 per MarketResearch.com . Nevertheless, things get worse than just over-indulging in cosmetics and beauty products in the Capitol and in reality.

Although a group of 24 teenage children are being sent to their imminent deaths, the citizens of the Capitol view the Hunger Games as nothing more than a show; the Capitol simply shrugs it off and chalks the practice up to sport. This twisted sense of what is considered entertainment, while not quite exhibited to this degree in real life, can be seen easily in today’s media.

Television broadcasts such as UFC, where opponents brutally beat down each other in a bloody brawl, and almost every reality television show, in which people draw entertainment from the drama and conflict in famous people’s lives, can be seen all too clearly in today’s society. In an article discussing the negative effects of reality television on adolescents, a Penn State Psychology student wrote, “Several adolescent television shows these days are full of fun, partying, fighting, and drama.

Many of these shows can be categorized as reality television shows.” Another aspect of the games in relation to television is the tributes having to put on acts (e.g. Katniss and Peeta’s love) in order to get sponsors to increase their chances to live in the Games. This reflects the wave of adolescents today that think that they can “make it big” by simply doing something over-the-top and crazy to get discovered and become famous overnight. While it is a means of survival in The Hunger Games, in the real world it leads to undriven children who aren’t willing to really work for anything because they’re holding out for their “big break.”

In conclusion, several of the themes and principles of dystopian societies can be related back to the real world. Issues faced in dystopian societies are issues faced by not only young adults but people of all ages, albeit not quite to the same extent as in dystopian literature.

In The Hunger Games, themes such as social class divisions, beauty standards, and ideas of entertainment are all present in today’s society, and this relatability is part of what makes the book series so successful. Perhaps this is where the allure of dystopian literature stems from, people can see reflections of their own lives in stories like The Hunger Games.

The connections that can be drawn from the story to the real world allow people to better understand the world they live in and how to keep it a better place than the broken, dysfunctional world they dove into.

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5 Dystopia and Violence in the Hunger Games Trilogy

Complit 131 brave new world, shannon roch.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins has become well-known for both its popularity among young adult readers, and its subsequent influence on the creation of dystopian young-adult franchises such as Divergent. Books in the young adult genre—particularly when they are, like this trilogy, paired with extreme popularity and with the sci-fi/fantasy genre—traditionally seem to be viewed by the general public as frivolous escapism, and thus are frequently overlooked by academics and literary critics as serious literature expressing concepts meaningful to the real world. However, the Hunger Games trilogy incorporates many grim elements common to dystopian literature, such as authoritarian governments and all that tends to accompany them—lack of freedom of speech, for example. The trilogy also includes themes of violence (including war, fear, and PTSD) as major themes in both the progression of the plot and the growth of the main characters. This paper will look at how the themes of dystopia and violence manifest themselves in the trilogy, and will argue that the trilogy actually explores socioeconomic, political, and psychological concepts much more mature than its critics would expect.

The Hunger Games trilogy is set in Panem, a future North America beset by environmental crises and rent by past war. Panem is governed by the wealthy, decadent Capitol in the Rocky Mountains, which survives on goods produced by the twelve working-class districts surrounding it. In punishment against the districts for a past rebellion, the Capitol forces each district to send one boy and one girl to participate in the Hunger Games, an annual event televised live throughout Panem, in which the children fight each other to the death. District children are selected for this purpose via a sort of grim lottery, called the reaping.

The dystopian elements of the series are obvious from the very first chapter of the first book in the trilogy, which opens with the heroine, Katniss, waking up on reaping day. As she goes about her daily activities and muses on the unfortunate reality of the reaping, the reader slowly gathers that Panem is a dystopian world. The most obvious dystopian element at this point, before the nature of the Hunger Games itself becomes fully revealed to the reader, is the lack of free speech. Katniss notes how she has “learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. […] Even at home, where I am less pleasant, I avoid discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Games” (The Hunger Games 7). It is not made obvious precisely how Katniss fears that incriminating speech could get back to the Capitol, but as Don Latham and Jonathan M. Hollister note in “The Games People Play: Information and Media Literacies in the Hunger Games Trilogy,” “clearly the fear of surveillance is a powerful means of social control through Panem,” even though it “is not clear how extensively surveillance is actually used” (Latham 40). The fear of even the possibility of rebellious comments being recorded is enough to curb any such discussion.

What is clear is that this is not a world where free speech is valued or even possible, but instead a place where citizen dissent has serious ramifications. The threat comes not only from the government, but also from other citizens, who may use their familiarity and knowledge of others’ actions to exploit them, as evidenced by Katniss’s description of those who take bets on whose names will be drawn for the reaping. “Odds are given on their ages, whether they’re Seam or merchant, if they will break down and weep. Most refuse dealing with the racketeers but carefully, carefully. These same people tend to be informers, and who hasn’t broken the law?” (The Hunger Games 20). Needless to say, this makes District 12 a place of distrust not only toward the Capitol, but also toward one’s fellow citizens.

Another element making Katniss’s world dystopian becomes obvious in the first chapter: class differences. Katniss lives in the Seam, the poorest part of District 12, as does her closest friend Gale. The people of the Seam are less fortunate than other people of District 12, living in such extreme poverty that emaciated bodies and death from starvation are not at all uncommon. But aside from these disadvantages, the poverty of people in the Seam also forces them to put themselves at much higher risk of being reaped for the Hunger Games. Katniss describes how, at the age of twelve (the same age at which they become eligible for the Games), District 12 children may “opt to add [their] names more times [to the reaping bowl] in exchange for tesserae. Each tessera is worth a meager year’s supply of grain and oil for one person” (The Hunger Games 15). The necessity of providing for both oneself and one’s family every year means that, at the age of sixteen, Katniss’s name appears in the reaping ball twenty times, and eighteen-year-old Gale’s name appears a whopping forty-two times.

Clearly, both Katniss and Gale are at much higher risk of being selected for the Hunger Games than Madge, the mayor’s daughter, who seems to come from the merchant class and “has never been at risk of needing a tessera” (The Hunger Games 16). As evidenced by Gale’s anger toward Madge when she happens to meet him and Katniss on reaping day, these differences sow further discord and mistrust between the citizens of District 12, this time along class lines. Of course, Katniss quickly learns that their assumptions about the risk of being reaped are a bit misplaced—as evidenced by the reaping of both Prim, whose name was entered only once, and of Peeta, who is a baker’s son from the merchant class, and therefore has probably never needed tesserae. Much later, Katniss also learns that Madge’s aunt was herself a tribute, one who died while partnered with Seam-born victor Haymitch.

Class differences also lead to more generalized friction between the classes in District 12. In fact, as Joe Tompkins argues in his article “The Making of a Contradictory Franchise: Revolutionary Melodrama and Cynicism in The Hunger Games,” that these class differences dovetail nicely with the Capitol’s desire to keep the different classes (and the different districts) from feeling too unified, due to their differences, since “These circumstances [of poorer families taking more tesserae] underscore the class divide that propels the competition, and they disclose a world where ‘pitting every district against the others’ is a way of maintaining class structure” (Tompkins 74). As the people of the Seam look down on the merchant class for their supposedly soft lives, the merchants look down on the people of the Seam for no apparent reason than their poverty. In remembering the desperate days of starvation after her father died, Katniss describes how when she checked the Mellarks’ trash bin for food, Peeta’s mother started screaming at her, “telling me to move on and did I want her to call the Peacekeepers and how sick she was of having those brats from the Seam pawing through her trash. The words were ugly and I had no defense” (The Hunger Games 36).

It is worth noting that, although race or appearance itself seems to have little meaning in Panem, it is frequently noted how the merchant class and the people of the Seam look quite different, to the point where Katniss’s blond and blue-eyed mother (from the merchant class) and sister “look out of place” (The Hunger Games 9) in the Seam. By contrast, Katniss resembles her Seam-born father, and like Gale has straight black hair, olive skin, and gray eyes. The mention of olive skin in particular suggests that the people of the Seam may be people of color. The connection between appearance and social discrimination is worth noting—not only in District 12 but also in District 11 (Rue’s and Thresh’s homeplace), an agricultural district seemingly set somewhere in the south, where many of the citizens are black-skinned and work in orchards of some sort in slavery-like conditions. District 11’s description in Catching Fire makes it clear that the residents of this district are far more severely oppressed than those of District 12:

We slow slightly and I think we might be coming in for another stop, when a fence rises up before us. Towering at least thirty-five feet in the air and topped with wicked coils of barbed wire, it makes ours back in District 12 look childish. My eyes quickly inspect the base, which is lined with enormous metal plates. There would be no burrowing under those, no escaping to hunt. Then I see the watchtowers, placed evenly apart, manned with armed guards, so out of place among the fields of wildflowers around them. “That’s something different,” says Peeta. Rue did give me the impression that the rules in District 11 were more harshly enforced. But I never imagined something like this. (Catching Fire, 67–68)

It is important to acknowledge, of course, that the social hierarchies traditionally ascribed to race and color in the real world may not necessarily apply in Collins’s world. Nevertheless, this description of almost concentration-camp-like conditions in a district populated by black people, laboring daily in what is essentially a plantation for their rich Capitol overlords, are hard to ignore. Notable, too, is the surprise of Katniss, who has previously seemed to assume that the poverty and famine experienced by her own (generally lighter-skinned) district is the height of misfortune, and only now realizes that she has actually been privileged to escape the additional misfortune of social oppression experienced by District 11 residents. In other words, Katniss has been privileged all her life (due, if not to her race, then to the region she grew up in), to the point where she has been totally ignorant of her own privilege.

Aside from poverty, the lack of free speech, and class/ethnic differences, the ultimate challenge faced by the people of Panem’s districts is the Hunger Games itself. While there are certainly many citizens who never get reaped, the risk is always there for residents of every district, in every class, while going through their teenage years. The annual spectacle of the Hunger Games, however unpleasant, is very much a part of district culture: Even someone who does not get selected themselves is likely familiar with watching people die on live television, starting from a very young age. This is an important part of the preparation for potential future tributes, as stated by Latham and Hollister, who note that it “seems likely that Katniss has already gained a well-developed ‘sense’ of the Games from watching previous Games year after year, something that is required of every citizen in Panem” (Latham 36). Some of the people whom viewers see die may well be people they know from their own districts, or even their own family members—while in the Games, Katniss is often motivated by the thought that Prim is probably watching her efforts to survive. Of course, the Hunger Games also forces contestants to sacrifice their own morality and humanity in order to survive, since all children must attempt to kill other children (one of which may even hail from the same district) in order to survive. This ties into the larger subject of war, violence, and PTSD, which will be discussed later in this paper.

Aside from the personal challenges faced by tributes to the Hunger Games, the Games are dystopian in the sense that they also serve the larger purpose of discouraging revolt against the Capitol, which arguably counts as an authoritarian government due to its surveillance and its brutal treatment of the districts. The story told at every District 12 reaping recounts the Dark Days, in which the thirteen districts revolted against the Capitol “which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens” (The Hunger Games 21). The Capitol’s retaliation led to the supposed obliteration of District 13 and the beginning of the Hunger Games: “The Treaty of Treason gave us the new laws that guarantee peace and, as our yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games” (The Hunger Games 21). But Tompkins makes the case that the creation of the Hunger Games and the division it symbolizes between the Capitol and the districts can also be seen as an issue of class:

The ostensible purpose of the Games is ceremonial: to commemorate The Dark Days, an erstwhile rebellion wherein the poorer districts tried, and failed, to overthrow the Capitol, forcing the revolutionary vanguard underground in the seemingly abandoned District 13. But the Games’ true function is symbolic violence in the guise of entertainment, a ritualistic reminder of the sheer power of the Capitol and the futility of rebelling against it. In short, the Games exist to keep class conflict at bay, or, to paraphrase Guy Debord, to manifest a social relationship mediated by spectacle. (Tompkins 71)

In other words, the Hunger Games not only brings peace (in a sense) and provides entertainment, but also provides a framework for reinforcing class differences between the Capitol and the districts. What the reaping day’s history lesson does not mention, of course, is that the Capitol lifestyle is one of massive excess and comfort, and that most of the people of the districts do come from a drastically different socioeconomic class, being essentially impoverished slaves who spend their lives working to support their hedonistic Capitol masters. Hence, it seems highly likely that this framing of the Hunger Games as a just punishment against ungrateful districts is Capitol propaganda, and that the Hunger Games were instead created to discourage future revolts by demoralizing the Districts and making union between the Districts unlikely. Katniss seems cognizant of the fact that the first of those goals—demoralization—is inherent in the Hunger Games, noting that the “real message is clear. ‘Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen’” (The Hunger Games 22).

But it is not until Katniss is actually in the Games that she seems to get the first inkling of how the Hunger Games are actually used to divide the Districts. The fact that flow of information between districts is banned seems to be a given, considering Katniss’s thoughts when she discusses life in District 13 with Rue. “It’s interesting, hearing about her life,” Katniss notes. “We have so little communication with anyone outside our district. In fact, I wonder if the Gamemakers are blocking out our conversation, because even though the information seems harmless, they don’t want people in different districts to know about one another” (The Hunger Games 246). This is in itself notable as a dystopian element, as it is part of Panem’s “strict control of information and misinformation” (Latham 37) by which the Capitol “tightly controls information in an effort to discourage resistance as much as possible, particularly any kind of widespread resistance” (Latham 37).

But while partnering with Rue is not unusual—temporary partnerships form all the time in the arena—Katniss’s unusual refusal to see Rue as an enemy, and her insistence on mourning her death, make clear that the animosity the Games typically arouses in rival districts is essentially an anti-revolt measure. After all, if Katniss had done the more typical thing and killed Rue, the people of District 11 would probably have hated her, and by extension would have hated District 12, making union between the districts difficult. Instead, Katniss covers Rue in flowers and sings to her, wanting to “do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do there is a part of every tribute they can’t own” (The Hunger Games 286). In doing so, she unwittingly invites sympathy from the people of District 11, who send her a gift of bread, and also commits her first act of rebellion against the Capitol, although she does not really seem to realize this until she watches the replay of her Games and notes that the act of covering Rue in flowers has been censored, since “even that smacks of rebellion” (The Hunger Games 440). Much later, in Catching Fire, the sheer sight of victors from different districts holding hands in unity is enough to cause a media blackout.

Aside from pitting the districts against each other and thereby discouraging rebellion, the yearly Hunger Games also, of course, involve violence and death. As noted, this has a powerful impact not only on the people of various districts who watch their own people kill and be killed, but also on the victors. It must be remembered that the violence visited on the tributes is not only perpetrated by other tributes (who could themselves be seen as “a piece in [the Capitol’s] Games” (The Hunger Games 172), but also by the Capitol through other threats in the arena. In Katniss’s first Games there are several examples of environmental threats—fireballs, tracker jacker wasps, and a body of water that dries up—most of which are merely meant to drive the tributes closer together for the sake of drama. The Games are, after all, being broadcast on live television and serve not only as oppression of the districts, but also as the “circuses” that keep the people of the Capitol safely entertained. But the final environmental threat instigated by the Capitol in Katniss’s first games are the muttations, which seem specifically designed to serve not only as a physical threat but a psychological one. This could be seen as the Capitol’s way of terrorizing the three remaining tributes—at least one of whom will certainly become a victor and thereby will have “slipped the noose of poverty that strangles the rest of us” and become an “embodiment of hope where there is no hope” (both Catching Fire 212)—and reminding them that all tributes are still the Capitol’s dogs, collared and lacking their own agency.

Katniss’s first Games are only the first of the trilogy’s many instances of violence and killing. On her post-Games Victory Tour, Katniss witnesses the civil unrest in the districts which she has unwittingly instigated through her celebration of Rue and her romance with Peeta (which culminated in their particularly provocative suicide pact with the berries). The most poignant of these is in District 11, where displaying the three-fingered salute and Rue’s mockingjay call lead to the Peacekeepers putting a bullet through an old man’s head. Aside from being an obvious act of violence, this serves as more psychological warfare against the victors, particularly Katniss, whom President Snow sees as the one to blame for the unrest and who consequently has more guilt over the violence. Though Katniss has obviously been affected by her experiences in the Games since they ended, it is the Capitol’s retaliation that really seems to cause her to be wracked by symptoms of post-traumatic stress. It is on the Victory Tour that Katniss’s nightmares increase to the point that she wakes up screaming in spite of taking sleeping pills.

It is not until the revolution is well underway that Katniss fully realizes just how strong the Capitol’s hold has always been over the victors—while her actions make her particularly prone to arousing the Capitol’s ire, the Capitol has never been particularly kind to those who win the Games. Johanna, unlike Katniss, is untroubled by jabberjays mimicking the sounds of tortured loved ones because, as she says, “They can’t hurt me. I’m not like the rest of you. There’s no one left I love” (Catching Fire 418), which may suggest that any loved ones from her own district were murdered by the Capitol after Johanna became a victor. This may seem like a far-fetched inference to make until one considers the backgrounds of Finnick, who was blackmailed into prostitution out of a desire to protect his loved ones, and Haymitch, whose family was killed because he, like Katniss, made the Capitol feel threatened by the unconventional way he won his Games. In fact, the only relevant difference between Haymitch’s and Katniss’s actions in the Games were that Katniss’s actions not only defied the Capitol but actually incited revolt, whereas Haymitch’s did not.

After the decimation of District 12 and Katniss’s escape to District 13, the psychological warfare of the Capitol continues to serve as a weapon against the victors, particularly Katniss, and by extension against the rebellion. This could actually be said to have started at the beginning of Katniss’s second Games when Cinna was beaten up in front of her, but its frequency and severity takes a sharp uptick in Mockingjay. Conditioned by a life spent carefully attempting to avoid aggravating the Capitol in any way, Katniss feels guilt when she visits the remains of District 12, blasted after her escape from the arena, and sees bodies “reeking in various states of decomposition, carrion for scavengers, blanketed by flies. I killed you, I think as I pass a pile. And you. And you” (Mockingjay 6). The Capitol’s torturing of Peeta also serves as long-distance warfare against Katniss with which they attempt to cripple not only him but also her. The roses that Katniss associates with President Snow serve as psychological warfare on several occasions, including the discovery of the roses in District 12 and the hideous rose-scented muttations in the sewer that call Katniss by name. Of course, there are also many more general instances of PTSD to be found in the other tributes, such as Johanna’s fear of water and Annie’s mental illness.

Finally, it could be argued that the effects of war, mistrust, and PTSD start to turn the supposed heroes of the trilogy, and Katniss in particular, into anti-heroes who bring about realities just as dystopian as the ones they are fighting against. On a wider scale, the anti-hero concept can be seen in District 13, which uses Katniss as a tool just as heartlessly as the Capitol did, and where President Coin seems poised to become just as much of a dictator as President Snow—to the point where Katniss chooses to shoot her rather than Snow. On a more personal level, Katniss in her child-soldier role seems to have become equally heartless, having transformed into more of a killing machine than she ever was in her first games, killing an unarmed Capitol citizen and shortly thereafter mowing down countless people in the Capitol streets. “Peacekeeper, rebel, citizen, who knows?” she says. “Everything that moves is a target” (Mockingjay 398). This is very different from the Games—where Katniss knew who she was killing, did so for her own survival (and Rue’s or Peeta’s), and frequently felt empathy for her victims.

Toward the end of the trilogy, however, Katniss seems to have a growing awareness of the pointlessness and evil of the violence she is both experiencing and inflicting, and again starts to feel, if not exactly empathy, then at least a weary discomfort with war. The key to unlocking this emotion is realizing that her own actions, and Coin’s actions, are endangering the lives of children just as much as President Snow ever did. Before Coin even proposes her own Hunger Games, Katniss feels deeply uneasy about the death of the Capitol girl in the lemon-yellow coat (Mockingjay 397) and the District 13-instigated attack of the children serving as a human shield for the President’s mansion, which results in Prim’s death. The latter incident is a particularly poignant example of the sort of anti-heroism of war at this point in the story, since it seems likely Gale played a role in devising this trap.

In conclusion, the world of Panem contains a number of elements that make the Hunger Games trilogy a classic, chilling example of dystopia. Many of the themes are ones familiar to readers of dystopia—authoritarian governments and surveillance, for example—but the Hunger Games trilogy has a particularly modern resonance with its use of themes such as class/racial friction, the use of media to manipulate viewpoints and simultaneously entertain/control the masses, oppression of the lower socioeconomic tiers, and the ensuing rage and desire for a revolution of the social order. The presence of such elements is especially poignant when one considers that the trilogy is supposedly intended for children and, as such, is frequently seen as just a frivolous mainstream franchise. On the contrary, it could instead be argued that the mature nature of many of the themes touched upon in the trilogy mean it deserves to be taken more serious in literary circles as a work of dystopian literature.

Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. Scholastic, 2009.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic, 2008.

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. Scholastic, 2010.

Latham, Don and Jonathan Hollister. “The Games People Play: Information and Media Literacies in the Hunger Games.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 45, issue 1, Mar. 2014. 33–146. Web. Retrieved 9 Nov. 2020.

Tompkins, Joe. “The Makings of a Contradictory Franchise: Revolutionary Melodrama and Cynicism in the Hunger Games.” Journal of Cinema & Media Studies, vol. 58, issue 1, Oct. 2018. 70–90. Web. Retrieved 9 Nov. 2020.

Writing the World 2020 by Shannon Roch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Hunger Games

By suzanne collins.

'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins captures the dangers of totalitarian regimes through the eyes of the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen.

About the Book

Article written by Neesha Thunga K

B.A. in English Literature, and M.A. in English Language and Literature.

It has a strong female protagonist who acts as the catalyst for several events in the book. The main characters are well-drawn out and the world-building is excellent. The tone of the novel reflects its gruesome contents , making The Hunger Games one of the best Young Adult novels released in recent times.

Terrors of a Totalitarian Regime

The minute we start reading The Hunger Games , it becomes clear that we are no longer dealing with the world as we know it today. We enter the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem where the autocratic President Snow has taken control, and there is no freedom anymore – merely the illusion of it remains.

This is revealed to us at the beginning when we are introduced to the history of Panem by the Mayor of District 12 during the reaping . A great amount of world-building occurs here, as we are provided information regarding the 13 districts , their rebellion, their punishment, and subsequently, the birth of the Hunger Games.

Throughout The Hunger Games , we are shown the callous nature of those at The Capitol who care for nothing other than their luxury and comfort – and of course, the suffering of those at the districts . Watching the tributes fight amongst themselves to the death every single year is what they live for, and what provides flavor and excitement in their superficial and heartless lives.

President Snow appears benevolent but is actually ruthless. He will stop at nothing to maintain control. Everything he does is aimed at expressing dominance, to remind the people in the districts that the Capitol always wins. Most people in the districts have either accepted their fate or have resigned themselves to a life of misery. Those in the wealthier districts have deluded themselves into thinking that they are the Capitol’s favorite, which gives cause for tension throughout the novel.

All of this showcases a totalitarian regime, but one of the major drawbacks of the novel is the fact that it does not go into detail. It is written in a matter-of-fact and superficial manner which does not quite capture the gravity of the content. Nevertheless, it achieves the kind of world-building that is required for the readers to understand the plot, and sets the foundation for the sequels well.

The Spark Lit by Katniss Everdeen

The entire story is narrated by the 16-year-old protagonist, Katniss Everdeen . As such, the novel is in the first-person point of view – something which allows us to experience the horrors of the Hunger Games first-hand.

We are privy only to those things that are related to Katniss, and as a teenager who has had to take on the role of primary provider early in life, there is not much on her mind other than keeping her family alive.

As such, the novel is more about Katniss and her thoughts, feelings, and actions per se than it is about the Hunger Games themselves. We understand the Games from her unique perspective – one that is disgusted by the Capitol and laced with sarcasm and irony.

However, this is not how others in the novel treat the Hunger Games. For instance, the Career tributes have made it their life’s mission to excel at the hideous Games concocted by the Capitol, while those at the Capitol itself revel in the mass killings that take place.

On the contrary, Katniss’s fury at the injustice of the Games grows steadily (and subconsciously) until it ends with her “trick” with the berries. Although Katniss’s only hope behind consuming the berries was to be left alive with Peeta, the very fact that she thought of killing herself is a mark of her awareness, as well as her subtle forms of rebellion.

Katniss undergoes a remarkable change in the short period it takes to complete the Hunger Games, and she transforms from someone who cares only about her family to someone who is deeply affected by the injustice of the Capitol. There is even a point when she thinks of the death of a tribute as “murder.” She reflects on the word the minute it crosses her mind, ultimately concluding that it is a fitting word to use in the situation.

Katniss has a fire within her that is longing to burst forth. Coincidentally, she becomes the “Girl on Fire” with the help of Cinna ’s creations but the references to fire do not stop there. Katniss seems to spark a fire that spreads throughout the nation of Panem with everything she does. The spark she ignites provides an unpleasant jolt to the people of the Capitol, while it acts as a beacon of hope to those in the districts. Soon, Katniss becomes the person who everyone in Panem admires and looks up to, whether she wants them to or not.

Supporting Characters

The plot of The Hunger Games is brilliantly set forth and moves at a breathtakingly quick speed. This is more than enough to sustain the reader’s interest till the end. However, the novel is a little lacking in terms of characters. No character other than Katniss is fully developed, other than through the thoughts and feelings that Katniss has about them.

You might think that her relationships are better explained but this is not the case either. We do not really know much about her relationships with her sister, Prim, who is the very reason for all of the events in the novel. We know that Katniss loves Prim and would sacrifice almost everything for her, including herself, but we do not fully understand why.

Similarly, the other characters in the novel are not provided space for their own development. This is the case for Peeta Mellark , Katniss’s co-tribute and love interest as well as President Snow, the main antagonist of the novel.

All of this could be attributed to the fact that The Hunger Games caters to a younger audience, i.e., young adults, but the novel is still missing some crucial character development.

The Final Pages of The Hunger Games

The concluding pages of the novel credit Suzanne Collins’ ability to hook the reader in. She introduces several twists in the novel, with the final one taking everyone by surprise. The reader is taken on a rollercoaster, where they are given hope (much like the characters themselves) that both Katniss and Peeta would survive, and subsequently given to despair as that hope is snatched away by the Gamemakers .

Ultimately, however, Katniss and Peeta end up surviving, and they come back home. The concluding pages also set the foundation for the sequel, which is based on the Capitol’s fury at Katniss’s rebellion. Lastly, we are left with the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, which takes shape in the next novel, Catching Fire .

Thus, the last pages of the novel act as a spark, much like Katniss herself, for the trilogy of The Hunger Games as a whole.

Did they kill Cinna?

Cinna remains alive by the end of The Hunger Games book 1. However, due to his transgressions in Book 2, where he creates a deceptive Mockingjay outfit for Katniss, he is tortured and killed.

Is Cinna in love with Katniss?

No, Cinna is not in love with Katniss. As her stylist, it is Cinna’s job to make Katniss look appealing to the public. He sees Katniss naked many times, but he looks at her body only professionally (to assess the outfits she needs to wear) and never romantically.

Who is Haymitch to Katniss?

Haymitch is Katniss’s mentor in the 74th and 75th Hunger Games . He is an alcoholic who drowns his sorrows in drink, but comes to care for Katniss very deeply. He tries his best to keep Katniss alive both times she’s in the arena .

Did Katniss ever love Gale?

Katniss does love Gale, but only as a friend. Though Gale confesses that he loves her, Katniss never viewed him as a romantic partner. She is closer to him than anyone else because of their hunting and poaching days, until she forms a bond with Peeta.

The Hunger Games Review: A True Young Adult Dystopian Fiction

Writing Style
Lasting Effect on the Reader

The Hunger Games review

The Hunger Games is a highly memorable young adult dystopian fiction. It is one of a kind and deals with several important themes that are relevant even in our world. The plot and pace of the novel are praiseworthy. It is commendable in terms of world-building and leaves an impression on the reader in an unsettling and uncanny manner. However, character development is weak and superficial.

Incredible plot and setting
Relevant despite being unsettling
Good world-building
Provides an immersive experience through the use of a first-person point of view
Characters other than the protagonist are not well-developed
Lazy writing at times
Falls prey to the clichéd love triangle

About Neesha Thunga K

Neesha, born to a family of avid readers, has devoted several years to teaching English and writing for various organizations, making an impact on the literary community.

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K, NeeshaThunga " The Hunger Games Review ⭐ " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/suzanne-collins/the-hunger-games/review/ . Accessed 6 April 2024.

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Lord of the Flies

Fear to gain control in dystopian literature anonymous college.

A prominent feature of dystopian literature is the ability of certain individuals to capitalize on the fear of others in order to gain power. A novel that this is evident in is William Golding’s Lord of the Flies , in which we see how power is established on the island and how it shifts between the two primary leaders, Ralph and Jack. One important thing to note is that no dystopian novel is written in a vacuum- it is, in fact, written with some relevant context in mind. When Lord of the Flies was written, a significant conflict taking place was the Cold War, which was most intense between the Soviet Union and the United States. There are clear parallels between the Cold War tensions of the time and the struggles of the boys in Lord of the Flies . In the same way that propaganda was used to maintain control over the people in various countries during the Cold War, it is used by Jack and Ralph to get the others to follow them. This use of propaganda to produce fear, and thereby submission, is a theme that lingers in dystopian literature even beyond this time period. In Robert Cormier’s I am the Cheese and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games , different forms of propaganda are used to create fear in people and thereby attain power. ...

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The Hunger Games Character Analysis

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The Hunger Games

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Suzanne Collins

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Mini Essays

What role does debt play in the novel?

Debt, not of the financial sort necessarily but in the form of owing someone for their help, comes up multiple times in the novel. The most significant instance concerns Katniss’s first encounter with Peeta. Katniss was starving at the time, and Peeta essentially saved her life by giving her bread from his family’s bakery. Moreover, he apparently burned bread deliberately to help Katniss, despite knowing he would be punished as a result. Katniss describes how she has felt indebted to Peeta ever since. Thresh also brings up debt when he spares Katniss after learning about her alliance with Rue. He says they are “even” and no more is “owed.”

These feelings of indebtedness, Katniss suggests, stem from the experience of growing up poor. When Peeta expresses his surprise that Thresh let Katniss live, Katniss tells him he wouldn’t understand because he’s “always had enough.” What she implies is that Peeta has never been dependent on another person for either his or his loved ones’ wellbeing, so he can’t understand the feelings of debt associated with that experience. The tessera system plays into this mentality of indebtedness. The poor take extra food rations essentially on credit, which is paid back in the form of extra entries into the reaping. They often need the tessera in order to survive, so they take them knowing they will have to pay back what is essentially a debt later.

Does Katniss truly begin wanting a relationship with Peeta, or is she playing a role to gain a strategic advantage? Explain.

Though Katniss does begin to develop sincere romantic feelings for Peeta, she never appears to want their friendship to turn into a real relationship, and she primarily keeps up the romance with Peeta for the strategic advantage it provides. In numerous instances in which they kiss, Katniss thinks of what Haymitch would want to see rather than thinking that she actually wants to kiss Peeta, and only once does she say they shared a kiss that left her wanting another. In one of the most dramatic moments of their romance, Katniss tells Peeta he doesn’t have competition anywhere, referring to Gale, but even in this situation she thinks of what Haymitch would want her to say.

Just as tellingly, when they’re on their way back to District 12 Katniss makes it clear she doesn’t think she’s the type of person who can be in the sort of relationship Peeta wants. By all indications, she felt this way well before any romance began between them. Early in the novel, for instance, she thinks she could never get married and have children knowing that they might one day have to take part in the Hunger Games. Katniss’s feelings, in other words, have not changed, and she is still not interested in a relationship, perhaps with anyone.

Why does the author spend so much time focusing on the dresses Cinna creates for Katniss?

Given that Katniss’s life is at stake in the Hunger Games, the author’s focus on Katniss’s appearance at various times can seem frivolous. But as becomes clear over the course of the novel, appearances are extremely important to Katniss’s survival. The author’s focus on Cinna’s dresses subtly emphasizes this theme by forcing the reader to take notice of Katniss’s appearance. Katniss’s dress for the opening ceremony, we learn, makes her (and Peeta, who is similarly dressed) stand apart from the other tributes. The significance of this move isn’t fully clear until Katniss is in the arena and in need of sponsors. By making her stand out, the dress makes her popular, and this popularity is amplified by the public romance she shares with Peeta. Consequently, she becomes more likely to receive gifts, and these gifts actually turn out to be vital to her survival.

The Hunger Games (SparkNotes Literature Guide)

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Hunger Games Dystopia Essay

The novel The Hunger Games is written by author Suzannne Collins. Collins created a dystopian novel that has similarities to the current society we live in and could be interpreted to be what the future holds. Throughout the book characteristics of a dystopia society are revealed. From districts starving, living in poverty, being killed for trying to escape to somewhere better and being forced to do things they do not want to do. The beginning of the book on page three, starts with the main character Katniss Everdeen assuming her sister left their bed for their mothers’ because of nightmares caused by the reaping. The reaping is when each district chooses a boy and girl to take place in the Hunger Games. The Hunger games is a sadistic way the capital reminds their citizens they are in control. At the age of twelve children names are entered into calling up until they are …show more content…

The twenty four tributes who have been picked are being watched killing each other by the rest of the world for entertainment. Children killing other children should not be considered good entertainment, normally it would be illegal, but in Panem it is remainder to not cross the Capital. The whole idea of the Hunger games is cruel and even worse that potentially twelve year olds are forced to fight against bigger and stronger eighteen year olds. This is not a fair fight, but the people who made the rules do not care and the adults of the districts have no control over what happens to them or their children. The idea of the Hunger Games is slightly ironic because the capital created new laws guaranteeing peace along with the Hunger games. The games uses starvation, death and murder to remind the citizens to never rebel against them again. The districts are constantly watched by guards and when they step out of line, or try to escape their district murdered or forced to be a servant is their

Hunger Games Sociological

In the movie film The Hunger Games, the nation of Panem is a society very dissimilar to our own. This nation once began with 13 districts, until the thirteenth district chose to take action against the oppressors. They were quickly put down, the remaining 12 districts were punished and were forced to fund two participants which were known as tributes , a boy and a girl of young age to the Capitol each year to compete in the Hunger Games which is a brutal fight to the death. The winner of the huger games is then rewarded with a number of rewards, as well as their home district receives an extra amount of food for one year. The government of Panem administrates these annual “games” as a reminder

The Hunger Games: A Dystopian Society

Can you imagine the feeling knowing that at anytime, a close one could be taken away. A best friend could be stolen. A family member could be killed. Even yourself could be sacrificed for nothing. Do you think that the emotions a family member may encounter, the sadness of an entire community, or even just the thought of dying, is worth it to provide a dominant government their “Hollywood ending”? Well, in the book “The Hunger Games” written by Suzanne Collins, Katniss Everdeen lives in a dystopian society where her community is divided by 13 different groups. Each year, their government randomly selects two participants from each group to play in the Hunger Games, which is a fight to the death among the other participants. In the book, Katniss’

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Essay

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The Hunger Games novel written by Suzanne Collins reflects significant issues in the reality world nowadays which relate to the humanity, the poverty, the violence,… It describes the issues through the characters and what happens in the story, and the most significant issue occurs throughout the novel is the gap between rich and poor people. In the beginning of the novel, Suzanne Collins describes clearly the scene of the poverty, the terrible fear of the 12-district’s villagers, in contrast to the wealthy of the Capitol’s citizens. The inequality of social classes becomes the theme of the novel because of its relation and the effects to the plots of the story. And the reason, which leads to that issue, is the policies of the dictatorship

Classism In The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, the movie, was adapted from the popular young adult novel by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games is sometimes described as another cliche love story for which the young adult genre is infamous. Despite appearances, The Hunger Games illustrates a complex and creative dystopian world with a much deeper underlying message, including topics such as, politics, history, and celebrity worship. The setting appears to be a futuristic version of America. This future America is very classist, and the tyrannical government is sure to keep the classes divided by heavily oppressing the working class. The working class is divided into twelve districts, which used to be thirteen districts until the thirteenth district was annihilated as a result of its uprising. In response to the thirteenth district’s resistance, the President created a game called “The Hunger Games” in an effort to instill obedience in the remaining twelve districts. Through the course of the movie, we learn that “The Hunger Games” are not only a mechanism to force obedience on the working class, but also to serve as entertainment for the elite society who live in the Capitol. The Games require 24 randomly selected children from the working class districts to fight to the death in an elaborately staged battle, all of which is filmed and broadcasted to the entire nation, working class and elite alike. Thesis: The Hunger Games, the movie, has a hauntingly feasible storyline and clear references to real

The Hunger Games Essay

The book The Hunger Games, portrays a society where people are treated unfairly based on factors that they cannot control. The people are born into one of 13 districts. There lives vary drastically based on where they are born. Someone born in the Capitol has a completely different life than someone born in district 12. A person born in the Capitol lives a wealthy life and is always treated with respect. On the other hand someone born in district 12 has a life of constant back breaking work. They live in poverty and struggle to survive.

Conformity And Civil Disobedience In The Hunger Games

To begin with, The Hunger Games is the first book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, which is written by Suzanne Collins. The novel takes place in Penem, a make-believe future where the Capital is surrounded by districts. The districts are like slaves to the Capital, constantly wasting away under horrible living and working conditions in order to give away their rewards of working so hard to the Capital. Because of this, the districts are extremely poor.

The Hunger Games Research Essay

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In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins expresses two themes. The first one is that we can’t let the government use their power to treat, and use people like they want, they are oppressing them. “At one o’clock, we head of the square. Attendance is mandatory unless you are on deaths door. This evening, officials will come around and check to see if this is the case. If not you will be imprisoned.” (Collins, 16) we can see that the Capitol forces the people to participate in the reaping by threatening them. “When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually I understood this would only lead us to

Compare And Contrast The Fahrenheit 451 And The Hunger Games

The hunger games also are based in a futuristic society as applies to the book the Fahrenheit 451. The setting in the novel is one of complete disarray in the order of the society as is the case in the novel the Fahrenheit 451. The Hunger Games is a dystopian novel, but its content is far more political than any other novels written in the twenty-first century. The novel revolves around a young female teenager who is engaged in a young triangle with other two young men. The young men are Peeta Mellark and her best friend, Gale. The main idea, however, is the task that the young teenager, who happens to be the main character is faced with. Katniss Everdeen as is the name of the girl, is faced with the task of uniting her Falk in an uprising against the cruel system of administration which happens to be taking advantage of the other population (Dubrofsky

The Sociology of the Hunger Games Essay

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In a not-too-distant, some 74 years, into the future the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 13 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games; these children are referred to as tributes (Collins, 2008). The Games are meant to be viewed as entertainment, but every citizen knows their purpose, as brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts. The televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eradicate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. The main character

Totalitarianism In The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins illustrates a dystopian society where the government tries to apply a perfect society to maintain the power in all of Panem. The author shows an elaborate and horrifying description of a society not so unlike our own and provides a clear warning about the danger of governmental control. The government of Panem has a government which controls everything. The government shows totalitarianism, a post-apocalyptic setting, and the world ranks. These three main points are what shows how the The Hunger Games is a great example of a dystopian literature.

Examples Of Dystopia In The Hunger Games

To me dystopian literature is dystopian for a reason. The word dystopian means a imaginative society that is dehumanizing as possible. Thats why we have to be thankful for what we have. No internet. Small rations of food. Limitations to everything. That would be a dystopia. The book the Hunger Games is a good example of a dystopia. Because its society doesn’t have the luxuries that the president has. Nor the food. Plus they are forced to fight in an event on tv where they kill eachother. About 9/10 teenagers would rather not do that.

The Book 'Katniss Everdeen In The Hunger Games'

Bryan Lanz M. Tabut BSCE – V03 The Hunger Games The Hunger Games is a science fiction novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. Katness Everdeen is the main character in the story where she played in the annual event of Hunger games. She lives in the dystopian. The Capitol, is a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and girl aged 12-18 from each of the districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to complete in televised battle to the death.

How Is The Hunger Games Related To Modern Society

The novel, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is about an event that’s happening live on television where the people in the Capitol selects a boy and girl between the age of twelve and eighteen from each district of Panem to fight against each other in a game of survival where they are forced to fight until death. The person who wins gets a new house for their families with food and they become wealthy and famous. Katniss, the protagonist, is a 16-year-old girl that find out that her younger sister, Prim, was chosen to compete with a boy named Peta. Katniss being the strong- willed teenager volunteer to take her sister’s place. Instead of fighting to the death, Peta and Katniss decide to fake a romantic relationship between each other to manipulate the game and Capitol politicians to become joint winner of THE HUNGER GAMES.

Comparing the Dystopian Elements in Suzenne Collins' The Hunger Games and George Orwell's 1984

Dystopian literature adheres to certain conventions; the theme of a dystopian future typically encompasses a severely repressed society, with socio-political dysfunction and class stratification. Themes of surveillance, censorship and personal independence have been established by authors such as George Orwell, and are recurrent throughout 2008 novel “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, although Orwellian dystopia and conceived ideas of freedom are juxtaposed in an intriguing fashion. “The Hunger Games” revolves around the notion of the various districts of Panem offering in tribute one young man and woman, to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage and sacrifice, Panem being the nation that was established during an unknown period of time, and the pageant of honor being the barbaric means of controlling its citizens. Whilst more recent dystopian literature derives heavily from Orwellian conventions in some respects, it arguably differs greatly in others, redefining to an extent the genre.

Essay on Cultural Analysis of The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is set in a dystopian country called Panem. This country is split up into twelve districts, and the districts are lead by the Capitol. Annually, the Capitol forces children of the districts to fight in the Hunger Games until only one child is left alive. The Capitol uses the games to show their power and to discourage the people of Panem to start another war. The games are very entertaining to the people of the Capitol, and the whole country is required to watch on television. Even though this seems unusual to enjoy watching children fight to their death, this idea has been around for thousands of years.

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Argumentative Essay On Dystopian Fiction In The Hunger Games

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Literature , The Hunger Games , Wellness , Poverty , Books , Life , Society , Sociology

Published: 03/29/2020

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Dystopian literature is well evident in the book “The hunger games” by Suzanne Collins. The book defines various social contracts that are usually expressed through dystopian literature. Different social contracts have been identified in the book and they represent extensive range on the bases of the Panem districts. Through exclusive analysis of the capitol various tools were used to indicate the social contract defined in the book. The elements are uniquely portrayed through the tools used by the author of the book. Through excellent presentation in the book, Suzanne Collins has been able to delineate unique elements that label social contracts in the in Panem. The first element that has been illustrated is the existence of social class. There is exclusive evidence that there existed super power in the region. There is an indication that there is presence of single absolute rulers with extensive power. Also, there are people in the middle class who just survived by their lives. Lastly, there are poor class people who do not have anything. “I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about district 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far off city called the capitol” (Collins 6). These are word that resulted from Katniss who was an actor in the book. This is a suggestion that since the first class individuals are powerful the lower class people are scared of them as well as their consequences. The lower class people will always have big trouble. This is because they have to always stake their life on the line to do something that they may be unnecessarily free to do. The individuals are always lacking on the basic needs, which includes lack of money. According to the author, the poor had to be happy as well as satisfied of what they have “No one in the Seam would turn up their nose at a good leg of wild dog” (Collins 11). These are words uttered by soup seller in district 12. This line indicates that people will be jovial that they can have a taste of meat instead of being choosy on whether it was a goat, cow, pig, or any other type of meat. The poor are in deep trouble as they starve and no individual has the right to be choosy on what comes their way. Suzanne Collins defines a set of districts in Panem. Although, there are no ways by which the districts could have been similar, the author succeeds to bring in some similarities as well as differences that would make them viable to form Panem. This is indicated through consistent comparison that runs the book o the activities that took place in different districts. These comparisons have been able to bring out extensive differences among the districts that form Panem. The author pens “A monstrous boy who lunges forward to volunteer from District 12. A fox faced girl with sleek red hair from District 5.A boy with a crippled foot from District 10.” (Collins 45). This is an indication that the different districts experienced different problems, which are shown through the children that described in the above quote. However, though out the book there have been extensive comparisons of the rest of the district to district 12. This is another affirmation that there are exclusive differences among the counties in question. Liberty is a choice that any region may choose. In this case, all districts at Panem had unique traits that portrayed private existence. Hand holding supportive of each other, district 12 showed peace and love. It was the choice of every district to have uniqueness defined in terms of behavior and conduct towards a given social element. The extensive differences would be significant to define the choices that every society was at liberty to choose. Some of the liberties are common one of the common liberties is existence of leadership by the rich only who are referred to as the first class in the region. Capitol has been extremely creative in promotion of social contracts in the book. Hunger games are some of the tools that have been used to define the social contracts evident in the book. Also, the capitol has involved other competitions in form of dances that would have been useful in defining the status of different districts in Panem. Social elements such as corruption and hatred are other tools used to define the social contracts that exist in different districts. Dystopian fiction has become a trend of writing which has been embraced by different authors. They find it as a unique tool to enable them to define key social elements concerning the societies that they target. The author tries to critique social contracts concerning the kind of leadership that is witnessed in the region. She is against the form of government that can only be led by the rich people. She is also critiquing existence of extremely hungry individuals from certain districts while others are satisfied. Her critique is effective as all people in any society should be eligible to govern provided they have necessary skills. Also, all parties are subjected to proper feeding for healthy living for the members of the society.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. Print.

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Examples of a Dystopian Society in The Hunger Games

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In The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, we are introduced to a dystopian culture that glorifies violence. The movie is focused on a 16 year old girl, Katniss Everdeen, forced to compete in an annual competition known as the Hunger Games. This event is a fight to the death, in which only one tribute is allowed to survive. The worst part? The competitors are between the ages of 12 and 18. Children killing other children is a source of entertainment for the country, Panem’s, Capitol citizens.

This desensitization to violence of the Capitol’s is disgusting and unthinkable to every viewer. But, how far are we from achieving this same type of desensitization? If our culture doesn’t stop its current trajectory, we will be headed in much the same direction as the corrupt Capitol. In this adaptation of The Hunger Games novel, we get a good look at the Capitol’s rabid love of violence. When we come into the story, they are on the 74th annual Hunger Games. There is no confusion as to how the games work. Every citizen knows that 23 children are about to die.

However, while in Panem’s 12 districts this is cause for horror and sorrow, it is a cause for celebration in the Capitol. 24 tributes are brought to the Capitol and are forced to take part in a tribute parade before the Games. The director uses several close up shots to show the excitement and crazed pleasure these Capitol citizens feel during this time. They love the Games, they can’t see how disgusting their behavior truly is. Even the music used in the scene is dramatic and intense, strengthening the feeling that this is something entertaining, not horrifying.

The night before the Games begin, Katniss and her district partner, Peeta Mellark are sitting in their quarters talking. Towards the beginning of their conversation, Katniss hears the crowds of Capitol citizens below, cheering and screaming in anticipation of the soon to begin Games. “Listen to them! ? (61), she exclaims in disgust and distress. She, and the movie audience along with her, cannot believe the excitement they have for the deadly Games. However, do we not do essentially the same thing in shows such as Survivor?

Granted the players in that game do not face death, but they are facing terrible circumstances that strenuously test their endurance level, possibly causing them to have mental health issues later in life, and we pick favorites and cheer them on. As Katniss’s friend Gale Hawthorne states early in the movie about the Hunger Games, ” you root for your favorites, you cry when they get killed, it’s sick ?

Is how we handle similar circumstances really much different than in Panem? In the movie, while the tributes are training for the Games, there is a moment when the youngest tribute, 12 year old Rue, is shown watching the film’s protagonist Katniss and Peeta. Immediately after our glimpse of Rue, we see an odds board, showing that the odds of Rue winning are 60-1. There are betting booths set up all around the cafA© this scene takes place in. The capitol’s citizens have wasted no time in throwing their money to the strongest contenders for the victor’s crown. In the middle of this cafA©, sits Katniss and Peeta’s mentor Haymitch who is watching a small family.

The parents in this family have just given their son a gift of a shiny, plastic sword. In our culture, this seems a harmless gift. He can’t do any damage with the sword. He pretends to chase after his sister, then stab his mother. All the while the family is laughing and Haymitch sits glaring at them. In most circumstances, we would think nothing of giving a young child a fake sword. But in this dystopian future, it’s not a gift to celebrate something the child has done or to teach him to use the sword in combat, but to celebrate the entertaining Games that are about to begin.

Is our society very far from this imagined world? We let our children play with potentially dangerous toys and call them just that. Toys. A toy sword or gun. We teach them that they are things to play with, lessening the terribly dangerous quality that should be emphasized. Even worse than this is the video game culture that is taking prominence in our everyday lives. So many games are completely willing to show excessive amounts of violence and gore. One video game, called Manhunt 2, was actually banned by several companies for its depiction of gore.

What kind of message are we sending our children? Very young kids, not just preteens but all the way through 18 year olds, are being exposed to gratuitous amounts of violence and it’s despicable. And as if these things aren’t enough, we glorify violence even through our television shows. We think nothing of men and women getting shot or dying or even becoming a zombie and literally eating other people. We let children watch shows where these things happen. Tell them not to be afraid or not to imitate some of the more violent displays.

But it’s not just “bad guys ? who are showing our children these types of violence. A good guy is just as likely to shoot a man, though possibly for more “heroic ? reasons than the criminal. How can you tell a child not to imitate their Hollywood hero and truly expect them to listen? In The Hunger Games, we see a dystopian future that is despicable to us. A government that makes children kill each other because “they just want a good show ?

As a culture, we cannot imagine the excitement the Capitol’s citizens feel in this movie. However, they are hardly more desensitized to violence than we are. We watch violence on television as though it’s nothing. It’s not real to us. But, our children go out, having seen the television and video game horrors, and begin experimenting. If their heroes can justify their actions, then so can they. Of course, we still are horrified when these things happen today, in our country, to our own people. But is it really so difficult to imagine a situation where we weren’t?

Killing our enemies from a particularly bad war. Televising it for the world to see. We feel no pain for them, their lost families. We truly believe they deserve their lot. In Panem, this is the way the Capitol thinks as well. The districts rebelled, they lost, now they are punished forevermore with the Hunger Games. We are only a few steps away from the type of desensitization that leads us to take more drastic measures of punishing our enemies. We need to stop ourselves soon, or it will be too late.

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Guest Essay

Hong Kongers Are Purging the Evidence of Their Lost Freedom

An illustration of a giant red snake wrapped around the feet of four people on a dark and empty street.

By Maya Wang

Ms. Wang is the acting China director for Human Rights Watch.

“What should I do with those copies of Apple Daily ?”

Someone in Hong Kong I was chatting with on the phone recently had suddenly dropped her voice to ask that question, referring to the pro-democracy newspaper that the government forced to shut down in 2021.

“Should I toss them or send them to you?”

My conversations with Hong Kong friends are peppered with such whispers these days. Last week, the city enacted a draconian security law — its second serious legislative assault on Hong Kong’s freedoms since 2020. Known as Article 23 , the new law expands the National Security Law and criminalizes such vague behavior as the possession of information that is “directly or indirectly useful to an external force.”

Hong Kong was once a place where people did not live in fear. It had rule of law, a rowdy press and a semi-democratic legislature that kept the powerful in check. The result was a city with a freewheeling energy unmatched in China. Anyone who grew up in China in the 1980s and 1990s could sing the Cantopop songs of Hong Kong stars like Anita Mui, and that was a problem for Beijing: Freedom was glamorous, desirable.

When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the city’s people accepted, in good faith, Beijing’s promises that its capitalist system and way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years and that the city would move toward universal suffrage in the election of its leader.

Not anymore. Now Hong Kong people are quietly taking precautions, getting rid of books, T-shirts, film footage, computer files and other documents from the heady days when this international financial center was also known for its residents’ passionate desire for freedom.

I used to joke that I never needed to watch dystopian series like “The Handmaid’s Tale” or “The Hunger Games.” As someone who has lived and worked for years in Hong Kong and China, I know what it feels like to descend into deepening repression, remembering our free lives.

As Beijing kept breaking its promises over the years, Hong Kongers took to the streets to defend their freedoms nearly every sweltering summer. In 2003, demonstrations by half a million people forced Hong Kong’s government to shelve an earlier attempt to introduce Article 23. In 2014, hundreds of thousands peacefully occupied parts of the city for 79 days to protest moves by Beijing to ensure that only candidates acceptable to the Communist Party could run for election as Hong Kong’s top leader.

But Hong Kongers were unprepared for the coming of President Xi Jinping of China, the architect of another frightening crackdown far away on the mainland.

In 2017, I started to receive reports that Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities were disappearing into “ political education” camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang . People who had managed to get out told me how Xinjiang’s borders were suddenly closed, escape was becoming impossible and speech or behavior that was once acceptable — like simply praying at a neighbor’s house — could get you jailed. Officials would enter homes to inspect books and decorations. Uyghurs were discarding copies of the Quran or books written in Arabic, fearing they would be disappeared or jailed for insufficient loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. One man told me he had burned a T-shirt with a map of Kazakhstan on it — many of Xinjiang’s inhabitants are ethnic Kazakhs with family members across the border — because any foreign connection had become risky.

As these stories of repression and fear emerged from Xinjiang, they were instantly recognizable in Hong Kong. In 2019, the city’s government proposed a bill that would have allowed extradition to China. Fear and anger — and the feeling that Hong Kong people needed to make one last stand while they could — exploded in months of protest .

One of the 2019 protest slogans — “Today’s Xinjiang is tomorrow’s Hong Kong”— sounded to me like hyperbole at the time. Now, five years later, it feels prescient. Today, it’s Hong Kongers who are disposing of dangerous books and T-shirts. Some people I know have quietly left an online chat group that includes foreign organizations and individuals; such contact could put the group’s Hong Kong members at risk. Others are quitting social media; tens of thousands have already left Hong Kong.

After Beijing imposed the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020, it used the law to decimate the city’s pro-democracy movement by jailing its leaders. More than 1,000 people remain in jail. Fearful of arrest, independent labor unions and media outlets disbanded. Libraries pulled hundreds of books off shelves. Films and plays were censored. Civil servants can no longer stay neutral and are forced to pledge allegiance to the government.

Both the National Security Law and Article 23, passed last week, are broad, vague and blunt instruments intended to critically wound civil liberties and transform institutions that protected people’s freedoms into tools of repression. Under Article 23, anyone found guilty of participating in a meeting of a “prohibited organization” or who discloses “unlawful” and vaguely defined “state secrets” could face a decade behind bars.

Beijing has couched this repression in terms like “the rule of law,” and visitors to Hong Kong often fail to recognize the transformations taking place beneath the enduring glitz of the city. That leaves the rest of the world detached from the reality on the ground — unable to sympathize with Beijing’s victims or to feel their breathlessness under this growing weight.

One acquaintance in Hong Kong told me that people he knew had become blasé about their sudden loss of freedom and were just coldly watching the destruction of the city and what it stood for. But others, toughened over the years, still express hope and defiance. The solidarity forged through nearly two decades of widespread activism won’t die easily. A Pew Research Center survey this month found that more than 80 percent of Hong Kongers still want democracy, however remote that possibility looks today.

The Chinese government wants the world to forget about Hong Kong, to forget what the city once was, to forget Beijing’s broken promises. But Hong Kong’s people will never forget. Don’t look away.

Maya Wang (@wang_maya) is acting China director for Human Rights Watch.

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What makes "The Hunger Games" a Dystopia?
However, The Hunger Games is not the only dystopian novel that depicts a society in which violence is a central aspect of social control. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, for example, shows a world in which books are banned and "firemen" are tasked with burning any that are found. The use of fire as a symbol of destruction and power is a ...
Dystopian Literature Essay: The Hunger Games
Dystopian literature without a doubt has sealed its place as a prominent genre among juvenile and adult readers alike. The genre only continues to grow in popularity and diversity. "Young adult (YA) dystopian literature is a trend that is taking the nation by storm. Since September 11, 2001, the genre has gained a strong backing.
The Hunger Games as Dystopian Fiction
The Hunger Games is a dystopian trilogy written by Suzanne Collins with film adaptations so far for the eponymous first novel and its sequel, Catching Fire. The third and final installation of the series, Mockingjay, is in production and is to be presented in two parts, similar to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This essay will focus on ...
Dystopia and Violence in the Hunger Games Trilogy
This paper will look at how the themes of dystopia and violence manifest themselves in the trilogy, and will argue that the trilogy actually explores socioeconomic, political, and psychological concepts much more mature than its critics would expect. The Hunger Games trilogy is set in Panem, a future North America beset by environmental crises ...
The Hunger Games Essays
Hook Examples for "The Hunger Games" Essays. Anecdotal Hook "As I followed Katniss Everdeen's journey from District 12 to the Capitol's cruel arena, I couldn't help but reflect on the dystopian world Suzanne Collins crafted—a world eerily relevant to our own." ... Introduction Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" is a dystopian novel that ...
The Hunger Games: A Dystopian Society
The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is set in a dystopian country called Panem. This country is split up into twelve districts, and the districts are lead by the Capitol. Annually, the Capitol forces children of the districts to fight in the Hunger Games until only one child is left alive.
The Hunger Games Review: A True Dystopian Fiction
4.2. The Hunger Games review. The Hunger Games is a highly memorable young adult dystopian fiction. It is one of a kind and deals with several important themes that are relevant even in our world. The plot and pace of the novel are praiseworthy. It is commendable in terms of world-building and leaves an impression on the reader in an unsettling ...
REVIEW ESSAY The Hunger Games Trilogy as a Text for Education HJEAS
Rebellion in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction (2). The essays in part IV in Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games, connecting the novels to the Second Henriad by Shakespeare, then to feminist science fiction, Young Adult science fiction, as well as to the Twilight Saga, and the Harry Potter series offer creative ways of
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In her essay "Fresh Hell," Miller (2010) also notes uneven aspects of the text and the absence of a clear dystopian project. The book ... Grossman's use of the word "sting" to describe murder in The Hunger Games .) Unlike dystopian literature, traditional folk- and fairy tales are not critical of their culture or politically ...
The Hunger Games Analysis
The Hunger Games Analysis. Panem is a dystopian vision of the future, where an authoritarian government maintains its control of the populace using resource shortages and violent public rituals ...
Why is The Hunger Games considered dystopian literature?
The Hunger Games is classified as dystopian literature because it deals with a frightening world controlled by a totalitarian government that severely limits the rights of its citizens. Therefore ...
The Hunger Games: Suggested Essay Topics
Suggested Essay Topics. Is Haymitch a good mentor to Katniss and Peeta? Explain. In what ways does Katniss's hunting experience prepare her for the Games, and in what ways does it fail to prepare her? How does Katniss's role in her family affect her behavior in the Games? What is Katniss's greatest strength in the Games, and what is her ...
The Hunger Games Theme: Social Injustice and Survival
The Hunger Games Book Analysis Essay. The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is a widely popular book that falls within the dystopian genre. Collins, S. (2008). The Hunger Games. Scholastic Press. Mendlesohn, F. (2008). Rhetorics of fantasy.
The Hunger Games Essay
Fear to Gain Control in Dystopian Literature. A prominent feature of dystopian literature is the ability of certain individuals to capitalize on the fear of others in order to gain power. A novel that this is evident in is William Golding's Lord of the Flies, in which we see how power is established on the island and how it shifts between the ...
Dystopian Literature: The Hunger Games Essay
Schroder English IV Honors 26 April 2018 The Comparison of Dystopian Aspects within 1984 and Hunger Games George Orwell's novel 1984 created a bleak future where there was little to no hope. Such a society can be classified as dystopia, a utopia with dark aspects. Dystopian works are a subgenre of literature that highlights major ethical and ...
The Hunger Games Character Analysis: [Essay Example], 864 words
The Hunger Games Character Analysis. In Suzanne Collins' dystopian novel, The Hunger Games, the characters are forced to navigate a brutal and unforgiving world where survival is not guaranteed. The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, is a complex and compelling character who undergoes significant development as she confronts the challenges of the ...
PDF ALAN
It's fairy-tale violence, Brothers Grimm violence—not a cheap thrill but a symbol of something deeper" (para. 5). Grossman's and Miller's reading of The Hunger Games series as a fairy tale minimizes its violent content and the dystopian admonitory impulse. (Note, for instance, Grossman's use of the word "sting" to describe ...
Dystopian Essay On The Hunger Games
Survival In The Hunger Games. The hunger games is a science-fiction novel written by Suzanna Collins. It is written in first person perspective of a 16 year old girl called Katniss Everdeen. She lives in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem.
The Hunger Games: Mini Essays
Debt, not of the financial sort necessarily but in the form of owing someone for their help, comes up multiple times in the novel. The most significant instance concerns Katniss's first encounter with Peeta. Katniss was starving at the time, and Peeta essentially saved her life by giving her bread from his family's bakery.
Hunger Games Dystopia Essay
Hunger Games Dystopia Essay. The novel The Hunger Games is written by author Suzannne Collins. Collins created a dystopian novel that has similarities to the current society we live in and could be interpreted to be what the future holds. Throughout the book characteristics of a dystopia society are revealed. From districts starving, living in ...
Argumentative Essay On Dystopian Fiction In The Hunger Games
Topic: Literature, The Hunger Games, Wellness, Poverty, Books, Life, Society, Sociology. Pages: 3. Words: 900. Published: 03/29/2020. ORDER PAPER LIKE THIS. Dystopian literature is well evident in the book "The hunger games" by Suzanne Collins. The book defines various social contracts that are usually expressed through dystopian literature.
PDF The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins a typical dystopian novel?" With this research paper I want to find out what exactly a "dystopia" is and what it is characterized by. Also, I want to look at the opposite of a "dystopia", which is a "utopia" and what its particular aspects are. After that, I am going to examine the novel for
Examples of a Dystopian Society in The Hunger Games
In The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, we are introduced to a dystopian culture that glorifies violence. The movie is focused on a 16 year old girl, Katniss Everdeen, forced to compete in an annual competition known as the Hunger Games. This event is a fight to the death, in which only one tribute is allowed to survive.
Opinion
I used to joke that I never needed to watch dystopian series like "The Handmaid's Tale" or "The Hunger Games." As someone who has lived and worked for years in Hong Kong and China, I ...

What makes “The Hunger Games” a Dystopia?

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Dystopian Literature Essay: The Hunger Games

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