Dystopian literature has a lot to offer to the reader. Dystopias are something in between reality and fantasy. While the events that occur in these stories are not real, the author uses them as a warning about society. Awful things happen around the globe that are hard to believe when we sit in the comfort of our air-conditioned multi-story homes. I have chosen to create a project based upon Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. In this book, there are many different themes and events that are under-estimated upon the first read. Now, having studied other dystopian novels, I would like to go back to the first dystopian novel I read as a teenager and break it down.
Katniss is presented as a strong feminine character from the beginning, because she provides for her family and seems determined not to show emotion. From the moment she reaches the Capitol, however, this changes. President Snow and his oppressive powers inside and outside of the arena requires that Katniss act a certain way in order to survive. This fuels the star-crossed-lovers appearance as well as the rebellion.
The culture inside the Capitol is unsettling for Katniss. The class distinctions make Katniss more aware of the absurdities of life in the richer districts and in the Capitol. The way people dress, the things they do for entertainment, and their naivety are shocking to her, but upon inspection they make a certain degree of sense. The lavish life that Capitol citizens live keeps them blind to the atrocities that occur in the poorer districts. This is something we see in the United States as well. The media regulates what we see and hear, eliciting the desired emotions and actions from its viewers. In order to develop a better understanding of what happens around the globe, we have to be willing to look for the truth and accept its consequences.
Hunger Games themselves are a message from the Capitol to Panem’s citizens that they are powerless against the dominance of the Capitol. Those who live in the Capitol view the games as a punishment or a warning. Some people just view them as a sport to bet on, not a slaughter of innocent children. The Career districts allow their children to train to fight in the games for the glory of it. Becoming a winner, to them, is honorable. To Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch, there is no winning the games. Surviving means living with blood on their hands. I would like to look at this distinction and speculate on what makes the Career tributes so different from the tributes of District 12.
The things that made The Hunger Games so exciting to me in middle school turned out to be false. Katniss is not unbreakable and fearless. She is remodeled by the Capitol and is never the same again. This book and the rest of the series changes every time I read it. I uncover new themes that the author may not have made intentionally, but that still resonate with me. I would like to see how I view my final project in a few years after my life has changed.
Here is an interesting discussion that ranges from Katniss' femininity to the brutality of the Careers. I do not necessarily agree with all of the points from this article but it does offer interesting points.
“Hungry Hungry Hunger Games: The Reader Experience.” Hungry Hungry Hunger Games: The Reader Experience, 1 Jan. 1970, clawdis.blogspot.com/2012/03/hungry-hungry-hunger-game-reader.html.
“Peeta Mellark.” The Hunger Games Wiki, thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/Peeta_Mellark.
“The Hunger Games Wallpaper: Hunger Games WP1.” Fanpop, www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-hunger-games/images/27308535/title/hunger-games-wp1-wallpaper.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic Children's Books, 2013.
Rubiarose, et al. “Disability: Lost in the Translation of The Hunger Games?” Feminist Disability Studies Blog, 10 June 2013, feministdisabiltystudiesblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/disability-lost-in-the-translation-of-the-hunger-games-2/.