Access to food draws a thin line between the privileged and the poor. In Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games, food has a massive impact on the different characters from the different locations. Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist, lives in the poorest district in Panem – District 12. Each different district has a specialty that they use to provide for the Capitol; District 12’s specialty is coal mining. Author Despail explains the districts in a way that makes it easier to understand by stating that “[e]ach outlying district in Panem forms an identity around not only the products the district is known for but also the ways in which its citizens cope with their lack of food” (70). Because of this, many people in District 12 have a tough time …show more content…
Emrah Peksoy wrote an article called “Food as Control in the Hunger Games Trilogy” and compared food to a controlling aspect used in society. He discusses how dystopian writers use food as a concept and an underlying image to show how important food is to a culture. The connection Peksoy makes with Collins’ novel is how she uses “… constant employment of food related discourse and food vocabulary metaphorically show characters’ own political, cultural and personal understandings of the society…” (79). This connection goes to make the imagery of food stronger for the reader to understand the power hunger has over a person. Peksoy made a point about how the novel revolves around food even if it seems unintentional to the reader. He states about the way Collins wrote how “one of the key scenes in the novel takes place between President Snow and Katniss while they are having tea and cookies” (82). Even though the food is not significant to the importance of the scene, it is a subliminal message given by Collins showing the prominence of food by making an important section in the novel surrounded by …show more content…
Max Despail wrote a critical essay that was published in the book Of Bread, Blood, and the Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy that specifically focuses on “[t]he unusual culture, rooted somehow out of contemporary America, [and how it] reveals its complexity through social habits best portrayed in its use of food” (70). The novel’s culture may seem unusual; however, it is not that far off from the society of today. Yes, America does not have a reaping to select one man and woman to represent each ‘district’ in an annual game that children fight to the death leaving one victor, but America does have a steady line between classes that derives around food. Katniss lives in the poorest district in Panem, and is required to slip past the fence that confines her home to find food to feel herself and her family. Peeta, living in the same poor district, works at his family’s bakers; however, he is not usually allowed to eat the bread that is baked. On the contrary, the people in the Capitol do not have to worry about if they are going to eat because they know they will. This shows the complexity of food in relation to the societal
The movie The Hunger Games, originally based on a book by Suzanne Collins, is about a place called Panem, which is ruled by the Capitol and has 12 districts within it. These 12 districts are separated founded on their economic statuses, meaning the higher the district, the more impoverished the residents are. There are 2 tributes that are chosen to participate, forcibly, in The Hunger Games each year. Each competitor is instructed to eliminate one another in order to survive and come out on top. There is only one tribute allowed to come out of the arena alive. Katniss lives in District 12, which is the most impoverished district of them all, and she volunteers as tribute in “the Reaping” when her sister is chosen to participate. She and the other tribute from her district, Peeta, make it into the arena with the hopes that one of them comes out the winner and above all else, alive (Ross, 2012). I will refrain from going any further just in case you have not read the book or have not seen the movie. In terms of soci...
In the novel Hunger Game, author Suzanne Collins narrates a girl name Katniss Everdeen who voluntarily replaces her younger sister, Prime, to be one of the tribute to participate in the hunger game. She is the family’s backbone after her father died in the mine accident and then the district only gives them a little compensation which it’s not enough for her family’s living. Soon, they run out of money and suffer from hunger. They live in the District 12 where it’s a poor and food shortage region. People often suffer from hunger and Katniss is of no exception. In one section of the story, Katniss could not trade old baby clothes for food or find food from trash bins. She is extremely hungry, until she passes by a bakery:
What are you supposed to do when your government makes you sacrifice 24 lives every year? How do you deal when they are innocent children, ranging from ages twelve to eighteen? Written by Suzanne Collins, in 2008, "The Hunger Games" is a masterpiece of unfairness, righteousness, and the rebelling against the wrongful doing of government. While the government reigns supreme, it is unfair and dehumanizing.
The story of The Hunger Games is an intense depiction of a totalitarianism society that is reigned by the Capitol, whom of which has complete political control over the twelve districts that are all located in Panem. Those who live in the twelve districts must undergo the possibility of entering into the infamous Hunger Games that are intended to remind and represent the Capitol’s authority over the powerless districts. Suzanne Collin’s novel and Gary Ross’s film of The Hunger Games have several things in common but also a few differences as well.
"There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance" (Walt Whitman). In the novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is a young girl from District 12, who lives in a society which finds great entertainment in the organized killing of children. These bloodbaths are constructed by the Capitol into an event known as the Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games, kids are thrown into a huge arena and forced to fight to the death. Katniss`s younger sister Prim is chosen to participate in the Hunger Games but Katniss volunteers to take her place as tribute. Over the course of the Hunger Games and the events that proceed it, Katniss changes from being impulsive and feeling impotent into a rational revolutionist, who quietly defies the capitol and takes a stand for what is right.
The Hunger Games, a film based off of a novel written by Susan Collins, was released in March of 2012. The film, and the book it was based on, chronicles the struggles of a girl named Katniss Everdeen, a girl who lives in a poverty stricken province or “District”, until untimely circumstances forces her to play in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial like contest where children between the ages of 12 and 18 are forced to fight to the death. A contest that was set up by an oppressive and authoritarian government, and has thus far been sustained via the forced obedience of the rebellious Districts, the brainwashing and conditioning of Districts 1 and 2, and the conditioning of the residents of its Capitol. The movie has a variety of messages, most especially in regards toward social control and social conditioning. With these ideas in mind, a case could very well be made that The Hunger Games, throughout its two hour long run time, shows a very realistic look at a socially conditioned society and what humanity can become with the right amount of conditioning and control by an authoritarian force.
In the article “Where the food is both scarce and risky” by Alfred Lubrano it talks about the food conditions for the poor people. In chapter 3 of “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, it talks about a boy named Walter that pours syrup all over his food when he goes to Scout's house for lunch. In the article many people describe the appalling food conditions of poor people and one being said, “When we get food up here, it’s like we get the end of all food, the last batch of it” (Lubrano). This shows that when the poor people get fed they eat like they've never seen food before or like they haven't been fed in days. Similarly, in chapter 3 Scout invites Walter to her house for lunch and “Walter poured syrup on his vegetables and meat with a
The Hunger Games that follows, the term that defines a dystopian fiction. One main belief that defines Dystopian society is the development into a “hierarchical society” (“Dystopia”). A hierarchical society plays a big part in the story that outline the whole plot. For example, Capitol is wealthier than all the districts. Some districts are more privileged than others. The Careers, being tributes from districts one to three, are prepared and trained for years before the games. However, this is illegal, but because of the support towards District two from the Capitol, they are let off, along with District one and District four, the other richer districts. In this cas...
In The Hunger Games, the inequality between the rich and the poor is the biggest theme presented in the book. Throughout the book, Katniss mentions that starvation is common in District 12, and she has often gone hunting illegally in the woods for food for her family. This is an example of how the rich and the poor are separated. Wealth is only centralized in the hands of the rich, while the poor are left to starve, leaving disparity. The best examples of the inequality between the rich and the poor is seen in the tessera system, and the way the tributes are selected for the games. In the novel, they have what is called “the reaping”, which is the lottery at which they choose the tributes for the games. It is said in the book that the poor is more likely to be picked than the rich are. In the tessera system, children
With a massive marketing campaign, it’s no wonder The Hunger Games quickly became a world-wide sensation. But, I believe its popularity isn’t due to marketing alone. In The Hunger Games we find important, if overly-dramatic, depictions of social conditions that weigh on the minds of young people today: an uneven distribution of wealth leading to massive and ever-growing class stratification; power in the hands of a few elite members; social control through widespread propaganda; and fierce competition among social classes for resources. Films like The Hunger Games are helpful for young people by teaching them a new way to see the world, through the lens of social theories such as Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory.
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 throughout the series is a 16-year-old girl from District 12 named Katniss Everdeen.
Summary: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins narrates the story of a dystopian society with a strict regime and corrupt government system. It all occurs in the futuristic country of Panem – old North America– which originally consists of thirteen districts; however, due to a rebellion the Capitol drops bombs on the thirteenth district destroying it completely. This uprising leads to the creation of the Hunger Games in order to instill fear in the population and prevent a second revolution. Twelve districts remain but appear divided not only by physical fences but also emotional barriers, wealth, and power. The Capitol serves as the Mecca where individuals with major monetary income reside and so does the President. Even though Districts 1 and
What the author is trying to explain is that we do have problems, and now a days its not a game. We have people struggling, she's trying to tell everyone that it's not easy to survive in this crisis. There are people across the world that would eat the food we don't like or hate. They will be happy just to have any type of food they can get.
This is clearly seen in the way class systems in The Hunger Games work: the miners, the hunters, the gatherers, the fishers, and the very providers of Panem are deprived of a sustainable way of life. It is a paradox; the convenience and indulgence catered by the consumer culture inside the Capitol comes at a price, which can be defined as helplessness to “sustain itself and its way of life, draining,” instead, “the human life and labor” of those in the Districts. As such, the way the concept of materialism comes into play is through a stark contrast between the desperate need for basic necessities in the Districts and an excessive luster of luxuries that only “assuages terror by the splendour of the scene” and is merely “a feast for the eyes and senses” to those in the grandiose and flamboyant Capitol (Parks 2015).
Love reminds you that nothing else matters, all you need is love, and love is what makes the world go round. I never really knew that such short, common phrases could be so harmful. Because it seems like today everyone’s just throwing around the idea that love is a Band Aid and will heal all your wounds, or that love is the one thing in life that really truly matters. Due to this, certain people can feel incomplete, and in some cases, depressed.