More handpicked essays just for you.
Sociological themes in the hunger games
Sociological themes in the hunger games
Sociological themes in the hunger games
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Sociological themes in the hunger games
Unlike fahrenheit 451 the hunger games actually pay the people that go to the arena or the tributes. “The victor of the hunger games receives riches for life. panem is a place of nightmare, but it’s also a place we can understand, with its intractable injustices and its fine line between reality and “reality” as created for a broadcast. It's like the world as we know it gone terribly wrong” (collins). Even though you may get payed riches for the rest of your life money doesn't always help. You have those scars from killing all of those people for the rest of your life.
Before any of this even happened towards the beginning of the book both of the main characters agreed and liked their government but that was until they figured out that they
Yamato, Jen. Burning Questions.“The Hunger Games and Real World Parallels: “Can kids all become Katniss Everdeen”. Movie Line. March 13, 2012. Web. May 04, 2012
In most stories we enjoy, may it be from childhood or something more recent there is many times a theme that shows a clear hero and a clear villain. But ordinarily this is not the case in real life, there are few times that this is quite that simple. There are many sides to each story, and sometimes people turn a blind eye to, or ignore the opposing side’s argument. But if we look at both sides of a situation in the stories we can more clearly understand what is going on, moreover the villains in the book or play would seem more real, instead of a horrible person being evil for no reason, these two people have their own agenda may it be a ruthless vengeance or misplaced trust.
To say this novel is even remotely similar to anything being read in my high school classes would be an outright lie. The philosophical themes of existential dread, nihilism, absurdism and general apathy are unlike those found in any novel. Thus, it is fortunately unlike a great number of books and ripe for comparisons. “Fahrenheit 451” and “Huckleberry Finn” come to mind, as those books have plots centered around active rebellious tendencies and great adventures. In the book “Fahrenheit 451” the protagonist Guy Montag, when presented with great danger, makes an incredible escape in order to pursue his life and his curiosity. In stark contrast to Guy Montag’s exciting escape from his inanimate doom, the narrator (his name is Meursault, left out in some translations) accepts his death sentence as an implication of the inevitable. He does not know whether his is guilty or not of his crime, only that he has been sentenced to the guillotine and that an attempt to prolong his existence is
Fahrenheit 451 and the Hunger Games are both intertwined with a futuristic version of human entertainment and a society absent of religion. Both societies are subjected to gruesome and brutal activities as a form of enjoyment. The desire for a thrill and an adrenaline rush dominates the minds of most people. In Fahrenheit 451, it’s very likely that many people succumb to their deaths from accidents but can easily replaced by members of the parlor family who they accept as their own. In the same way, The Hunger Games consists of exactly what the title suggests. They are annual games, which include starving and murder and serve as society’s primary source of entertainment. Most people don’t enjoy watching the games but, the Capitol forces the districts to watch for it believes they are a good source of entertainment. Seeing how the Hunger Games are basically murdering each other until the last child is standing, it relates closely with the kind of entertainment that the society of Fahrenheit 451 provides with the adrenaline and thrill of the same kind. The people in Fahrenheit 451 like their source of entertainment in the way they approach it but the instances of conformity remains the same. This is unlike that of the people of the districts in The Hunger Games. There is indeed a difference between the two societies yet, in the Hunger Games there is less time for many because so many people are working toward survival, while in Fahrenheit 451, entertainment is something that people do daily. The existence of adrenaline entertainment is similar in both societies. Yet they differ in whether or not the people actually like the entertainment.
Happiness: an idea so abstract and intangible that it requires one usually a lifetime to discover. Many quantify happiness to their monetary wealth, their materialistic empire, or time spent in relationships. However, others qualify happiness as a humble campaign to escape the squalor and dilapidation of oppressive societies, to educate oneself on the anatomy of the human soul, and to locate oneself in a world where being happy dissolves from a number to spiritual existence. Correspondingly, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Krakauer’s Into the Wild illuminate the struggles of contentment through protagonists which venture against norms in their dystopian or dissatisfying societies to find the virtuous refuge of happiness. Manifestly, societal
The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451 are both great examples of dystopian fiction. A dystopia is a fictional world that takes place in the future that is supposed to be perceived as a perfect society, but it’s actually the opposite. Other things that a dystopian society might display are citizens both living in a dehumanized state and feeling like they’re constantly watched by a higher power. Dystopias are places where society is backwards or unfair, and they are usually are controlled by the government, technology, or a particular religion. The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451 are both in the dystopian fiction genre because the societies within them show the traits of a dystopia. Both of them also have characters that go against the flow of the normal world.
Power corruption and rebellion are interconnected. Abusive power tends to arouse opposing forces due to unfairness and struggle for control. Both authorities in Fahrenheit 451 and Catching Fire seek maintenance of power by constructing inimical social beliefs and harsh rules into the society. The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, authored by Ray Bradbury, depicts how the Capital sustains its authority though mental manipulation and exploitation of technology. Whereas the party in Catching Fire directed by Francis Lawrence manipulates people through coercion and extreme violence. In spite of different schemes, both central characters develop rebellious spirit and place themselves opposition to the dictatorial law. Hence, in Fahrenheit
The book The Hunger Games is full of critical scenes. A critical scene is a type of scene that is necessary for the book to have a story. One very important critical scene is when Prim was chosen at the reaping. When she was chosen Katniss decided to take her place as a tribute. Why did Katniss take her place? What could have happened if she didn't take her place?
... 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 to 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.
From a structural perspective, movies and novels appear as polar opposites. A film uses actors, scripts, and a set in order to create a visual that can grab and keep the attention of their viewers. However, an author strives to incorporate deeper meaning into their books. Despite these differences in media, 1984 and The Hunger Games present unique, yet similar ideas.
A dystopian society can be defined as “a society characterized by human misery”. 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury both demonstrate dystopian societies. However, that does not mean they do not their differences. In each society the government has different ways of controlling and limiting its citizens for doing only what they want them to do. In 1984, violators are brainwashed into loving and following Big Brother as if they never knew the truth and return back to their everyday lives. Fahrenheit 451 also punishes violators in a way that makes them regret and scared to ever do it again instead of making them forget.
Mahatma Gandhi once said “Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.” Power is something that a lot of people tend to misuse. Power can be great at times, but most the time it can make bad things happen. People think just because they have the power to do something means they should do it, when really that is not the case. In the movie “The Hunger Games” power is used to abuse everyone and everything around.
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...
Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.
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.