Hunger Games Poverty

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

who are eligible for the hunger games have the opportunity to enter their names an additional time in exchange for food and oil. This proves that the poor are treated unfairly compared to the rich when kids from wealthy families would not have to enter their names additional times because their families would not need the food or the oil when they have enough money to buy that themselves. Also, the rich tributes or the career tributes, as Katniss calls them, have been training for the hunger games. This gives them an advantage over the poor tributes because they are better prepared. For the Career Tributes, it is an honor to participate in the hunger games, but for the poor tributes, it can be seen as more of a death sentence.
Like in reality, The Hunger Games shows how far money and power can take you. The more money and power you have, the more “luck” you have, and in the novel the citizens have no power over their lives or what the government will do. The hunger games is a display to show the power of the government to the citizens, and to show the citizens how bad life will be if they decide to rebel. In a sense, the games are meant to keep the citizens feeling hopeless. When Katniss refuses to follow the rules in the games, such as refusing to kill Peeta, she is subtly rebelling against the capital. The capital is exempt from the games, but the wealthier districts still have the upper hand. I think the lack of wealth symbolizes the loss of rights, and in the story, the capital has taken away the rights of the citizens. Also if a poor person rebels, they then become an Avox, which is a servant who has their tongue cut out so that they are unable to speak or they will be killed. I believe this also symbolize the loss of rights and how the capital holds control and has the power. The wealthy are also seen as eating until they are full and then vomiting it up so they can eat more, meanwhile the poor is starving and have to focus on just surviving. I also believe that food is a metaphor in the story for another kind of sustenance.

The sustenance provides an inner look on a person’s own worth and integrity. The need to be one’s self is a basic need and want of life, but it is also very difficult in achieving. That is why it is so important for Katniss to simulate the theatricality made by the capital, and give the people what they want, which is for the stimulated to be real. The question of reality is raised by Peeta, who realized that his fear is that, after all his memories were replaced and has been through physical and psychological torture, that he is still himself. We also know that the last time that he had asked this question was in the cave with Katniss in the first hunger games. It is because of the wealth of the capital that they have control over the 12 districts. Also in the game it is said that the higher the district you are, the poorer you are, and the lesser the advantage you have over the other tributes. This proving that the Capital controls the wealth of the districts and uses it against the districts. Even in the games, the rich battle against the poor because in the games, tributes from districts 1 to 4 team up against

the weaker tributes as their survival strategy. Although, with the hardships that Katniss had in her life while growing up, she has been able to keep up with trained Career Tributes, which even gives her an advantage over them. She also uses a bow and arrows, which does allow her to overtake her other opponents,, whereas she would not be able to do that if she had to take them on hand on hand. During the training, Katniss notices that because of her hunting she has been able to keep herself healthy, whereas the other tributes from the poorer districts were not able to hunt and therefore looked sick. She also realized that the tributes from the richer districts did not hunt and had food bought for them so they would not know about poisonous food. This gives the poor tributes the advantage over the rich for once, but nonetheless money was not involved nor power, just actual skill. Peeta as well has advantages over the other tributes such as excellent strength, good at hand on hand combat, and is adapt at camouflage. These are some attributes that the richer tributes do not acquire because they have everything given to them. This shows that you do not have to be high in power and have lots of money to have the upper hand to the rich. Sooner or later though, Katniss realizes this and starts her own rebellion, even if she did not realize she did at first. This is what Katniss sacrifices in order to keep her family safe in the end because her family is what means the most to her and is the only reason she was in the hunger games, to save her family.