In The Hunger Game, Suzanne Collins introduces many characters throughout the story. Each character provides a link to a different theme in her book. The author characterized Foxface, a girl from the fifth district in Panem, using the theme of survival. With her face and hair resembling a fox, she also took on many of the traits of her animal counterpart. She is clever, observational, and quick. Her diverse character traits advance the theme of survival in The Hunger Games.
Foxface’s observational strategies aid in her survival. When the Careers had removed the mines from around the starting blocks, she obviously knew what was happening. Had she not noticed them and subsequently avoided them, she surely would have perished. Katniss says about her, “Foxface has confirmed what I’d already guessed.” Foxface’s knowledge of the mines revealed to Katniss what was being hidden neat the pyramid of supplies.
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Observational skills are important to the survival of a person. An observational person has the advantage of finding weak spots and also finding where they themselves might falter; they take in an understanding of what is around them. Foxface’s observation of other tributes led other tributes, like Katniss, to think of ways to replicate her skill. “I’m genuinely thinking of trying to re-create Foxface’s trip up to the pyramid in hopes of finding a new means of destruction,” Katniss tells. A tribute needs this skill for survival in the Games, and many do not have it. Observation gives an edge over the other tributes. One can keep a watchful eye on what the other tributes are doing. This can either lead them towards the action or help them to stay away from it. After observing, one must decide how to act. Cleverness and sly thinking are important to one’s survival. Foxface and the remaining tributes are told about the feast the day before it happens. She hides out in the cornucopia the night before, staying sheltered and ready to pounce once the feast began. This action showed that she was quick-witted and adaptable. In fact, she planned it in such a way that the other tributes were in no position to chase after her, since she took no other’s bag, and the tributes could not risk losing their own. This strategy led to her prolonged survival in the Games. Her ingenuity gave her an edge over her competitors. The other tributes wished that they were as astute as Foxface. “Leave it to her to come up with such a clever and risky idea... That should have been my strategy!” Katniss observes enviously. She leaves the other tributes scrambling for ideas to get rid of her, but they cannot. Quick wits are important to a survivor. A person who thinks on their feet is adept at acclimating to their environmental constraints more quickly and efficiently. Foxface tries to find a position that gives her an advantage over the others. This strategy leads to continued survival through cunning. However, she is not only quick-witted. Foxface’s physical trait that helps her survive is her speed.
She is easily able to outrun the other tributes and their weapons. Her clever distraction and her speed cost Katniss time she could have used to kill her. “By the lime I’ve worked through the emotions of surprise, admiration, anger, jealousy, and frustration, I’m watching that reddish mane of hair disappear into the trees well out of shooting range.” The other tributes would not be fast enough to both grab their bag and pursue Foxface afterward. Her speed gives her a definite advantage to other tributes, big and small. Some tributes, like Thresh, are too large to gain speed enough to catch her. Not even Katniss’s arrows could fly far enough to catch her once she got going a high speed. Her speed is the physical attribute that continues her life in the Hunger Games. She was quick enough to both keep away from the action but also know about it. She came very close to winning the Hunger Games because she could escape from anyone that found her. Her speed was the edge she needed to be able to
survive. Though Foxface did not seem to have proficiency with weapons nor did she possess a large amount of strength, but she could outsmart and outrun any other tribute in the games. However, even her own skills and lack of knowledge of plants led to her downfall from the nightlock berries Peeta possessed. Though her plan to take them was clever, Peeta’s lack of knowledge of plants carried on to her resulting in her death. Quick and sly as a fox, Foxface was a significant competitor in the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games.
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
Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Hunger Games Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. .
Science fiction writers create a particular setting not only to entertain readers but to give clues on lessons they believe human beings are struggling to understand. In both books, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are introduced as the main characters to project the criticisms made by the author. Susan Collins creates a Dystopian society ruled by the Capital. Different areas of their country, named Panem, are separated into different districts. Two kids from each of the twelve districts are chosen at random to fight in an arena until 1 tribute is left, this is called The Hunger Games Both Peeta and Katniss fight together during the hunger games as a team from District 12. Between the two books, Collins portrays the idea that humans tend to be disrespectful and insulting, depending on another's wealth and/or authority and power. Both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire connect with readers but also indicated the problem with certain human behaviors that most people don't notice or fail to
Fox, a Greek slave, tutors Psyche and Orual in philosophy and the fundamentals of life. The trio develops a strong bond. Their joy is tempered by the troublesome, meddling middle sister Redival, but even more so as Glome falls under the spell of sickness and poverty and the ever-looming attack of a neighboring kingdom.
The Hunger Games follows the structure of monomyths closely. Katniss, the byronic heroine, volunteers to take her sister’s place in the annual Hunger Games, where tributes fight to death to entertain the totalitarian Capitol. At the beginning of the Game, Katniss identifies herself a girl from the seam, which provides her with a stoic strength. However, as the hunt progresses, Katniss questions this identity. As she observes the brutality of the Hunger Game, Katniss grows indignant. Ultimately, the heroine appears empathetic and distains causing sufferings as opposed to being a stoic girl.
As human beings, we thrive to find the meaning of our existence and also the truth. In the books and movies, The Hunger Games trilogy, the very heroic character Katniss Everdeen is on a quest to find truth. As she peels back the layers of lies that swaddle her world, she finds truth within herself and everything around her. To reflect on the novels and films, we must look at the principles of axiology and also examine the plot, characters and how they react to each situation; for reflecting on “the girl on fire” we must study the grounds of epistemology with her own identity. The whole story starts off with the day of the reaping when Prim, Katniss’ sister is selected to enter the Hunger Games, a game created by the government at the time to keep the society scared. One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by an annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants must fight to the death in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one individual remains.
Katniss is the main character in the novel, The Hunger Games. The author of this book is Suzanna Collins. Katniss is a 16 year old who has been chosen with 23 other tributes. In my class we have studied themes and key ideas such as Power of the Capitol, Competition against other tributes and Sacrifice for what Katniss acts and does in the Hunger Games. There are many themes but I have chosen these 3 because they show the most emotions and power.
It has often been said that there is nothing new under the sun. In this vein, authors across all literary genres often borrow themes and plot from the stories of long ago. Many of those authors choose to borrow from the rich mythology of the ancient Greeks. Suzanne Collins has been asked on numerous occasions where the idea for The Hunger Games originated. She readily admits that the characters and plot come from Greek mythology and more specifically, from Theseus and the Minotaur (Margolis 30). One familiar with both both stories can easily recognize the identical framework upon which each of these stories are built. Both Theseus and Katniss Everdeen, Collins’ heroine, volunteer to go into battle for their respective homelands, they both fight beasts of strange origin, and they are both brave in battle and emerge victorious, but it is the uniqueness of the characters that makes each story appropriate for the time period and audience to which it belongs. Collins modernizes the classic hero of Theseus by changing his gender, his motivations and altering his selfish personality, and by doing these things she creates a heroine that better resonates with today's audience of young adults.
When Phoenix is walking early in the morning she is amongst the pine trees that seems to engulf her, she shows her determination as she lumbers along the trail. With the motion in her step going from side to side in a manner that would sagest the pace that she is keeping, although is a slow in general, may be a little quicker then she would normally be maintaining. This would be so that she could return before the sun goes down with the medicine for her little grandson. She knows this trail very well and walks with confidence, persistently taping the ground with her cane, possible not even looking at where it is her feet are landing. Upon the way she stops to scold and warn the foxes, and other small animals she was visualizing to stay out of her way that she had a far walk and that she must be getting on her way. She says this with a tone in her voice which I imagine to be a voice that a older women uses when they mean business and must finish what they set out to do. Phoenix waves her cane much like someone would at a horse, to persuade it to continue on the path.
Writing a story is pretty difficult. Writing a short story is even harder, there is so much that has to be accomplished; in both commercial and literary fiction! The plot, the structure, whether it has a happy, unhappy, or indeterminate ending. There must be artistic unity, chance, coincidence, rising action, climax, falling action. Most importantly there must be characterization. Characters make the story! “anyone can summarize what a person in a story has done, but a writer needs considerable skill and insight into human beings to describe convincingly who a person is” [page 168]
Phoenix's precarious journey may seem dangerous, but her determination is what carries her through the obstacles she faces as she makes her way through the woods. Phoenix makes her way across the worn path and discovers many active opponents. She continues forward over barriers that would not even be considered a hindrance for the young. The long hill that she takes tires her, the thornbrush attempts to catch her clothes, the log that Phoenix goes across endangers her balance as she walks across it, and the barbed-wire fence threatens to puncture her skin. All of these impediments that Phoenix endures apparently do not affect her because she is determined that nothing will stop her on her journey. She keeps proceeding onward letting nothing deter her determination. ?The hunter(tm)s attempt to instill fear in Phoenix, a fear she disposed of years ago as she came to terms with her plight in society, fail (Sykes 151). She ?realizes that the importance of the trip far exceeds the possible harm that can be done to her brittle ...
In our Society when you don't follow the rules, you become an outcast to the rest of the society. Suzanne Collins’ novel series, The Hunger Games criticizes our society and its demands for people of specific genders to act in certain ways and become certain things. Stereotypes concerning gender are prevalent in our society and all over the world. However, The Hunger Games gives a very refreshing tone of “mockery” to these stereotypes. Katniss Everdeen isn’t your typical 16 year old girl, and neither is Peeta Mellark a typical 16 year old boy, especially when they are fighting everyday just to survive. The Hunger Games is a work of social commentary, used to convince us that there can’t and shouldn’t be any defined “roles” based on gender. A mixture of “stereo-typical” gender roles within a person and their actions is what people need just to survive in our world that is changing every day.
Not all of the characters, or circumstances are the way they first appear to Scout. In reality a person may look dangerous, and mean but can have a sweet soul deep down. The people in an individual's life can hold surprises about who they really are and sometimes situations are depicting. The author, Harper Lee of "To Kill A Mockingbird", expresses the contrast between appearance and reality through the eyes of Scout. People look different to others than how they truly are. Appearances lie, but the truth only lies within.
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
Murty, Govindini. "Decoding the Influences in "The Hunger Games"" The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.