The Hunger for Control A main theme that surrounds young adults today is the feeling of a lack of control. Once you turn sixteen you can drive a car, get a job, and gain other responsibilities. But you are still bound to many rules, you still have to go to school, live with your parents or guardian, and follow their rules. A taste of freedom is given, but quickly taken away. This makes the transition into being an adult very hard for many young adults. That is why the book The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins appeals to young adult readers so much more than others. The main character, Katniss, has no control over her life, but soon she gets the chance to gain that control whether the powers above her like it or not. The rebellion of Katniss …show more content…
draws the reader in wishing that they could accomplish their goals just like she has. The story starts off with a teenage Katniss going out to hunt for food for her family. This is against the law, but she sees it as a fact of life. Where most of the people in her home of district twelve die from starvation, Katniss sees little punishment for hunting, and it is better than death for her and her mother and sister. It may be a small form of rebellion, but it is all she dares to do in order to take care of her family. While hunting she meets a fellow hunter and friend, Gale, and they talk about the upcoming reaping.
Katniss lives in a world where people live in twelve different districts. Each district preforms some task to help keep the capitol up and running, Katniss lives in district twelve where coal is mined to power the capitol city and other districts. Each district is poorer than the last with twelve being the last. This is another form of a lack of control in Katniss’s life. The capitol keeps a very strong grip on the districts so no one gets out of line and rebels. The biggest way they do this is by having a reaping once a year where one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen from each district to fight to the death in the hunger …show more content…
games. While talking to Gale Katniss voices her worry for her younger sister who has her name in the pot to be picked for the hunger games. Even though the chances of her little sisters named being picked is very unlikely it ends up happening. The shock is too overwhelming for Katniss and her does something very rash and unheard of. She volunteers to take her sister's place in the games. This is an act that has never happened before in district twelve. The people of this district are so beaten down by the powers above them that they take and accept the way they are treated. But Katniss showed something her district has not seen for a very long time. An act of defiance against the capitol. Katniss is soon joined by one of the last people she wanted to be picked for the hunger games, a boy named Peeta, the local baker’s son.
Katniss remembers how before she started hunting her family was starving because her father had died in a mining accident. This was the first major feeling when having no control hit Katniss. With her father gone Katniss mother went into a deep depression, making Katniss have to grow up and take the place of her father in taking care of the family. But this job was much harder than Katniss had expected and soon she was starving and about to die. She sat under a tree by the baker’s shop where Peeta saw the starving Katniss and burned some bread that would get sent to the trash. Even though he had never spoken to her Peeta did this so Katniss and her family could eat. Katniss was grateful for this kindness, but was not happy, she saw this as her being weak and did her best to not look that way to anyone else
again. Soon Katniss is in the capitol where life is very different. Appearance is key as well as drama which her mentor Haymitch uses by making it look like Katniss and Peeta have feelings for each other. This makes the sponsors of the games more likely to bet and root for the pair to win. But Katniss sees this as another form of weakness. In the capitol Katniss has even less control over herself than she did back home, that is until the games start. Once the hunger games start Katniss has a lot more control over what happens to her life and she grabs this chance quickly. With everyone trying to kill each other to win the games to bring food and more to their districts it is seen as surprising that Katniss is working to survive and not kill at all if she can help it. She soon gets an ally in the form of the youngest tribute to the games, Rue from district 11. But this friendship quickly ends when Rue is killed and control is ripped out of Katniss’s fingers. With the loss of Rue it is hard to see why Katniss would want to keep going on with the games until it is announced that she and Peeta can win the game together because they come from the same district. Katniss soon finds the boy who once saved her and saves him and the two soon end up being the last tributes in the game. But the capitol changes the rules again, saying that only one can win so one must die. But Katniss and Peeta choose to no longer follow the rules of the capitol and plan to kill themselves so no one will win. With the threat of rioting the capitol quickly changes its rules back to letting the two both win. But did Peeta and Katniss really win? The two are now under the powerful glare of the capitol who is not happy at being bested at their own game be a pair of teenagers. Soon Katniss discovers that life outside of the arena is a lot more complicated. With a constant rush of new post-apocalyptic books to choose from The Hunger Games seems similar to many other books in this genre, but it holds something that other books do not have. A chance to take control of a seemingly control less situation. Katniss is told what to do and how to act where ever she goes. But in the hunger games she has a lot more control than she does outside of the games. But with that chance at freedom comes with her fighting for her life. This story reaches out to teen readers today because they too feel a lack of control over their own lives and are constantly seeking out a way to gain some control. The Hunger Games teach them that it is possible to gain control in their lives, but they may have to play the games of the ones around them first to earn that control.
Katniss volunteered because her sister’s name was randomly chosen on the day of the reaping, the day each year when one known as a tribute is chosen for the Hunger Games. Prim was the minimum age of 12 when she was picked. The author, Suzanna Collins, states “… in District 12 … the word tribute is pretty much synonymous in the word corpse” (Collins 22). Katniss wanted to spare her sister’s life. “Prim … is the only person in the world I’m certain I love” (Collins 10). In the end Katniss not only survives the Hunger Games, but helps her teammate, Peeta Mellark, survive as well. Katniss was motivated to survive because she wanted to get home. “The train begins moving and we’re plunged into night until we clear the tunnel and I take my first free breath since the reaping … I begin to think of home. Of Prim and my mother … I begin transforming back into myself. Katniss Everdeen” (Collins
In today’s society several powerful influences use trickery and deception to manipulate others, benefit from their losses and to attain the upper hand in a scenario. There is, undoubtedly, a clear correlation between trickery and deception however there is a slight difference that sets them apart. Deception is a set of actions fabricated to delude someone into believing a lie while trickery is the art of disguising oneself. In the novel, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins trickery and deception play an integral role through the influences of media, the perception of others and through the power of the capital.
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
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.
A hero is someone who is admired for their qualities, someone who can get through arduous circumstances. In the novel, The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins demonstrates the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, as a hero. This is evident as she displays courage and determination.
The residents of the districts in The Hunger Games are cruelly treated by the ruling Capitol. In the poorest districts, their labor as miners (District 12) or farmers (District 11) is exploited for the good of the rich while they slowly starve or are injured or killed by their dangerous work. This is very clearly a tale of capitalism run amok: the wealth disparity between the rich (the Capitol), the poor (most of the districts), and the “middle class” (the districts with Career tributes, 1 and 2) mirrors that of contemporary American society. Katniss is a vocal critic of this structure throughout the novel, often thinking things like “What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by? What do they do all day, th...
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
The movie The Hunger Games, originally based on a book by Suzanne Collins, is about a place called Panem, which is ruled by the Capitol and has 12 districts within it. These 12 districts are separated founded on their economic statuses, meaning the higher the district, the more impoverished the residents are. There are 2 tributes that are chosen to participate, forcibly, in The Hunger Games each year. Each competitor is instructed to eliminate one another in order to survive and come out on top. There is only one tribute allowed to come out of the arena alive. Katniss lives in District 12, which is the most impoverished district of them all, and she volunteers as tribute in “the Reaping” when her sister is chosen to participate. She and the other tribute from her district, Peeta, make it into the arena with the hopes that one of them comes out the winner and above all else, alive (Ross, 2012). I will refrain from going any further just in case you have not read the book or have not seen the movie. In terms of soci...
As an impoverished resident of District 12, the priorities that have shaped Katniss’ identity are those of survival. Whether is it in hunting the fields with her trusty bow and arrow, or trading her catch at the illegal hub, Katniss’ society has enabled her to hold many attributes and attitudes that would traditionally be considered as masculine. Her characteristic plait is done so for functional rather than fashionable purposes; she is a surrogate father over her sister Prim since his death in the coal mines; she is the main provider for her family; and her ‘romantic attachment’ to Gale has developed through his respect for stubborn and resilient nature rather that her looks or dependence upon
In this scene Katniss is at the annual reaping which is an event that take place in every district before each Hunger Games. This is where they choose the tributes that are going to be in that years Games. To qualify for the reaping one must be at least 12.
Katniss Everdeen is a young girl that lives in district 12 of the country panem with her mother and sister Prim. She is a really good hunter and supplies her family with food from her hunts. Every year the capitol of Panem hosts an event called the Hunger Games which requires two tributes, A boy and a girl. Two tributes are taken from each of the 12 districts and the two from district 12 are Katniss’s little sister and a boy named Peeta. Katniss doesn’t want her little sister to go so she volunteers to take her little sister’s place. The hunger game is an event where tributes from each district fight to they’re death until one opponent is left.
Civil disobedience is described as the refusal to comply with certain laws as a form of political protest. Civil disobedience is commonly thought of as being nonviolent resistance, however that is not always true. The protesters standing up for what they believe in are often legally punished, but morally accept their punishment because they know what they are doing is not right. Thoreau explains the importance of speaking out and rebelling against unjust laws in his piece, Civil Disobedience. Another author that does this is Suzanne Collins. She is the author of The Hunger Games trilogy and does a great job of showing rebellion in her books. Collin’s idea to add civil disobedience in her novels encourages her readers to stand up for what they believe in, and to speak their mind instead of just going with the flow. Thoreau and Collins both have similar ways to express civil disobedience in their writing.
Dystopian fiction has a great effect on teenagers because it causes us to look at the world differently. Anthem and The Hunger Games are great examples of what its like to live in a dystopian world and be a dystopian protagonist. I think teenagers can learn a lot through reading novels like this or watching the
The Hunger Games, a film based off of a novel written by Susan Collins, was released in March of 2012. The film, and the book it was based on, chronicles the struggles of a girl named Katniss Everdeen, a girl who lives in a poverty stricken province or “District”, until untimely circumstances forces her to play in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial like contest where children between the ages of 12 and 18 are forced to fight to the death. A contest that was set up by an oppressive and authoritarian government, and has thus far been sustained via the forced obedience of the rebellious Districts, the brainwashing and conditioning of Districts 1 and 2, and the conditioning of the residents of its Capitol. The movie has a variety of messages, most especially in regards toward social control and social conditioning. With these ideas in mind, a case could very well be made that The Hunger Games, throughout its two hour long run time, shows a very realistic look at a socially conditioned society and what humanity can become with the right amount of conditioning and control by an authoritarian force.
The main character, Katniss, volunteers as tribute for her district to save her sister from having to be tribute. Upon arriving in the Capitol for the games, she sees just how vast the gap between the Capitol and districts are. To fight against this class struggle, she begins to revolt. At first this comes in the form of small things, like shooting an arrow at a pig feast of Capitol higher-ups and refusing to kill her friend in the games, resulting in the first ever co-victors of the Hunger Games. Katniss’ actions soon lead to full blown rebellion in the districts, starting a revolutionary war between them and the Capitol. At one point Katniss remarks: “My ongoing struggle against the Capitol, which has so often felt like a solitary journey, has not been undertaken alone. I have had thousands upon thousands of people from the districts at my side.” (Catching Fire 90). In true Marxist fashion the working class needed to use a violent revolution to confront the class struggle against the ruling