Examples Of Normalization Of Violence In The Hunger Games

Normalization of Violence in the Hunger Games

Violent video games, violent movies, violence depicted in songs and music videos, violence in the news, violence in homes, schools and other public places; as individuals who live in today’s society, we encounter violence in almost every aspect of our lives. It is seeded in our mediums for entertainment and also in our general lives, whether we encounter it personally or from second hand information or experience. This is commonly referred to as the normalization of violence. Due to being regularly exposed to violence, we can become desensitized to its horrors and effects and see it part of the norm, some of us more than others. For example, while a 3 year old child who has never seen murder may

The state is the largest contributor to the normalization of violence in Panem because it also controls the other contributors, those being the individuals and the media. The main way the Capitol contributes and perpetuates violence and its normalization is through authoritative coercion and fear. It creates a legitimized violent social order. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines social order as “the totality of structured human interrelationships in a society” (Merriam-Webster). The Capitol structures human interrelationships in Panem divisively, using violence and fear, thus creating a divisive and violent social order. This violent social order is created using structural violence and that structural violence in turn normalizes violence in general. This occurs because “structural violence erases the history and consciousness of the social origins of poverty, sickness, hunger, and premature death so that they are simply taken for granted and naturalized so that no one is held accountable, except, perhaps, the poor themselves” (Scheper-Hughes 14). Since structural violence is so subtle to the point of invisibility that makes it easier for it to be accepted as the norm. In the Capitol’s instance, structural violence is depicted in how they force the poorest districts to be dependent on the rations they give them while also making sure to never give them enough. This is seen by how Katniss and Gale are forced into illegally hunting for food that their families direly need; by making hunting illegal-- even though the Capitol does not need or use the animals they hunt-- they keep the poor districts in poverty and dependency, which helps legitimize their violent actions in the Hunger Games and in the reapings. Structural violence is also showcased in the