The Comparison of The Hunger Games’ Panem and 1984’s Oceania Because of the difference in the time periods during which 1984 and The Hunger Games were written, one would not suspect that each novel shares a vast number of commonalities with the other. 1984 focuses on the development of Winston Smith, a Party member who slowly starts to question the actions and rulings of Oceania’s leader, “Big Brother.” Winston eventually wishes to break free of this beyond-controlling government and to join a group of underground forces to fight against Big Brother. Similarly in The Hunger Games, the novel centers on the life of Katniss Everdeen as she participates in the annual Hunger Games which her country, Panem, and the Capitol force children to enter …show more content…
Winston’s description of Hate Week includes an overproduction of slogans and songs to worship Big Brother. He also says, “Working hours had been drastically increased in anticipation of Hate Week” which goes to show the importance of this event to the Inner Party (Orwell, 138). In this introduction, readers learn all about the societal structure of Oceania. Big Brother, the main political figure / leader of the nation, holds all of the power to alter the past, present, and future. He does this with assistance from the Inner Party, the group especially dedicated to overseeing the actions of the less “in-the-loop” Party members and the lower class proles. The proles usually refrain from any participation in Oceania and they vastly outnumber all other members of society. Special police forces, known as the Thought Police, monitor the conversations and actions of all citizens through the use of telescreens and concealed …show more content…
In the country of Panem, 12 districts surround the Capitol, the very influential city responsible for many of the government’s rulings. The Capitol mirrors the Inner Party of 1984 because both groups are very close to the leaders of their nations. Several districts have close ties with the Capitol such as Districts 1, 2, and 4 which resemble the Party members of Oceania. The rest of the 9 districts sit on the outside of governmental favoritism and are characterized by more poverty-stricken conditions. The government of Panem usually leaves these districts alone since they stay out of trouble, but their police system, known as the Peacekeepers, patrol the factions occasionally. This obviously coincides with Oceania’s situation with the proles and the Thought Police, but to a much lesser degree. Each of these countries consist of their own version of overbearing government structures, but when details are stripped away, they reveal almost an identical skeletal
Another blaring difference between the two societies in Fahrenheit 451 and the Hunger Games is that of their government. The form of government in Fahrenheit 451 consists of a democracy whereas the Hunger Games government is corrupt and resembles nothing of a democracy. Even though we may see the world of Fahrenheit 451 as strange and bad there is still a democracy, which we consider to be fair. A similarity between the two governments systems would be how they both suppress things much like it is today, that each government believes could hurt the stability of society. The Hunger Games government suppresses interaction between districts to instill conformity because they know if there was interaction it could cause unhappiness and take away from the level of cooperation between the people and the government.
Suzanne Collins has, through her writings, used great imagery to expose the meaningful side of ‘The Hunger Games’, the side that is not all about what takes place in the arena. The Capitol’s rule over the districts, the reality-show part of the Hunger Games and the Mockingjay pin are all fragments of deeper meanings that create the basis of all that the story is. Suzanne Collins has depicted the country of Panem as a place overruled by a large city, known as the Capitol. The Hunger Games is apparently a means to keep peace and a fair punishment for the rebellion of the districts, where district 13 was obliterated in the mess. However, Collins has spun this interpretation around and unveiled a different perspective – that The Hunger Games is
Panem is the country were the Hunger Games is set and represents a dystopian United States as it is divided into thirteen districts under the power of the Capitol. As in America, which began with thirteen colonies ruled by a colonising country: England. Here, there is a very clear difference between the lives of the rich and the poor. In fact, all the richness is concentrated in the Capitol, the wealthiest district, or in other certain districts. Most people in the districts are sevearly underfed, creating discontent within the population, leading to rebellion. An example of this is when Katniss Everdeen hunts illegally in the forest past her district, to be able to bring her family some food: “The woods became our saviour (...) it was slow going at first, but I was determined to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught fish in nets, sometimes managed to shoot a squirrel or rabbit”. The sixteen year old, being one of the tributes, experien...
The class struggle is all too real in Panem, drawing parallels to our Society’s unequal distribution of rewards and opportunity, by way of institutional discrimination and brute force. Katniss Everdeen resides in one of the 12 Districts forming Panem, District 12, a destitute coal mining district. Here, the only options for food are tightly regulated Tesserae, tokens worth a meager year's supply of grain and oil for one person, and equipped with the risk of being selected as a Hunger Games tribute. For
Thus, it is with these three key points that the government of Panem has been able to keep the Games going on for so long, without the system collapsing in on itself. Furthermore, The Hunger Games also shows us just what we as a species could become with the right about of social influence and conditioning by an authoritarian force. The peoples of the Capitol and Districts have been taught and conditioned for decades to accept the Hunger Games, especially so in the case of the Capitol, where its citizens applaud and enjoy the Hunger Games, much like many Romans enjoyed the Colosseum in ancient times. It is a rather frightening, but realistic, look at what any of us could become with the right social influences and conditioning.
In both books they share some traits, even though they may not look anything alike they are. both of these novels are dystopian novels and many characters share similarity’s.
Imagine being in a game where everyone dies except for one victor, and you have to risk your life to save your little sister’s life. Also imagine not being able to speak freely in your own home. These are some examples of how dystopian governments take control of the people in the societies in dystopian novels. The governments of 1984 and The Hunger Games share the dystopian goal of dehumanizing their citizens in order to maintain and win control over the citizens. The Party and the Capitol are after power, and whoever has control of the people in a society has has all the power.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
The pyramids of power found in both series are extremely similar. Snow represents the “president” of the capitol. He makes all of the major decisions and tells the lower inhabitants what they should or shouldn’t do. Just below him are the citizens of the capitol. They represent the doctors, lawyers, and other professionals of modern day America. Individuals who complete these tasks appear to belong to the upper class and hold a majority of the wealth for a nation. Next, the higher districts in The Hunger Games hold the jobs that are essential for the society to thrive, yet do not hold a substantial amount of wealth. I compare these people to the middle class of our society. Lastly, the final few districts in The Hunger Games handle the down and dirty tasks, similar to the lower class. 1984 portrays big brother and the inner party as the heads of their hierarchy. The outer party exists just outside of big brother and the inner party, handling the important jobs. These include, but are not limited to, erasing previous history, manufacturing important materials, and finding the people who go against big brother. Lastly, the proles are given the worst of the worst. Their jobs are dirty and fit the level they retain in
The people of Oceania are divided into two classes, the members of the Party and the proletariat. The Party members are like machines that do the jobs of the government. In this world, never has anyone thought any different of his or her place in society. Due to this authority that attempts to control the human train of thought, paranoia among the people became common. Nobody would talk to each other. Bonds between one another were broken, and it was never thought to be any different than before. To hold on to what makes you human - emotions and the ability to speak freely - was considered a crime against Big Brother. Of course, with authority comes punishment. To break from traditional views essentially asks for some form of retribution. For Winston, this resulted
They both take place in a dark and futuristic world and have a leader or leaders that they must follow and if not, there must be extreme consequences...even death. As Equality and Liberty fall in love, so do Katniss and Peeta. In my opinion, a dystopian society is a lot like our world today, just at a more drastic level. Dystopian literature is basically giving us advice through another teenagers perspective. It is an indirect form of advice that could be anything to with love, conflicts with other people, or even things like school. We learn a lot about oppression in both of these stories which causes us to really think about it and makes us look into the future to see what it will be like in reality.
One main belief that defines Dystopian society is the development of a “hierarchical society” (“Dystopia”). A hierarchical society plays a big part in the story that outlines the whole plot. For example, the Capitol is wealthier than all the districts. Some districts are more privileged than others. The Careers, being tributes from districts one to three, were prepared and trained for years before the games.
The glory of Panem, at least on sociological perspective, is that each of its’ 13 districts are divided by area as what they are required to produce as suited for their climate. Being divided as such has allowed each district to form very deep-set morals and values that have been unchanged and will continue to be unchanged through their lack of ability to communicate with other districts (2008). This is at most the best example of a “pluralistic society” (Henslin, 2003) that can be made.
The Hunger Games- “a futuristic dystopian society [Panem] where an overpowering government controls the lives and resources in twelve different districts” (The Hunger Games). The overpowering government lives in the Capitol of Panem and from there controls the citizens of the twelve districts through propaganda and other means. The Capitol has all of the economic and political power in Panem; they have complete control. The leader of the capitol is the harsh, dictator-like figure, President Snow. President Snow’s methods for keeping order in the districts are through Peacekeepers and the annual Hunger Games. The Peacekeepers are an army that monitors each district. Any sign of rebellion, and the Peacekeepers take care of it, usually by killing the rebel in some way. The annual Hunger Games are used to remind all of the citizens of Panem about the uprising in the now obliterated District 13. The Hunger Games, in a way, brainwashes all of the citizens, but a select few such as Katniss Everdeen, to believe that an uprising would be horrible and is not necessary and that the Capitol does what is best for all of the citizens. In
The Capitol, which rules over the districts of Panem, is representative of the bourgeoisie. It has a small population and is incredibly wealthy, reaping the benefits of the districts. Each district must send food, materials, and sometimes labor to the Capitol depending on what their specified district’s role is. In this dynamic the districts represent the proletariat. The Capitol dress lavishly and feast on excessive amounts of food while the districts work hard to maintain life at the poverty line. The Capitol claims to provide “protection” (which is an ideology created by the Capitol) and small amounts of goods in exchange for the work being done by the districts. This relationship also points to another Marxist theme, the alienation of labor, which is the buying and selling of labor as a