Poverty In The Hunger Games

The dystopia presents problems faced in reality in a way that allows readers of all backgrounds to connect to struggles faced by the protagonist. Collins chooses to highlight specifically the cyclical nature of poverty and the government’s abuse of power. Poverty is represented in two ways in the novel, both literally by depicting actual poverty and lack of necessary supplies, and figuratively through the Hunger Games and explanation of the predicted winners. Quite literally, Katniss and her family live in a state of poverty. The depiction of the bed with the “rough canvas cover” and the description of District 12 with its “squat gray houses” and “abandoned warehouse” gives the reader the impression that Katniss is not wealthy by any definition

of the word (Collins 1, 11). This desolate district is then compared to the Capitol where the description Katniss heard had “not quite captured the magnificence of the glistening buildings in a rainbow of hues that tower into the air, the shiny cars that roll down the wide paved streets, the oddly dressed people with bizarre hair and painted faces who have never missed a meal” (Collins 59). The “grandeur” of the Capitol truly captures large discrepancy in wealth between the upper and lower class (Collins 59).

Yet, this only depicts what poverty is; the Hunger Games figuratively depict the cyclical nature of poverty. Every year twenty-four tributes are chosen at random, two from each of the twelve districts to compete in the Hunger Games; yet in the wealthier districts, some children chose to train and later, volunteer to compete. Since these children have an advantage – training – they are more likely to win and gain recognition amongst their district (Collins 94); the new generation of children of competing age then look up to the past victors of their district and want to train to compete and win like them. Meanwhile, those in the poorer districts who do not train are more likely to lose; having so few victors to train the new tributes hinders their progress and likelihood to win. This cycle continues because those who are prepared for the task will do better than those unprepared; once a district has an advantage, it hard for those without the same resources to compete with them. This can be extended to poverty; people who have money are able to invest and make more while those with little are only able to cover the basic survival

needs. It mirrors the aphorism, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The Hunger Games is not only a figurative criticism on poverty but a literal criticism on the government’s corruption. The corruption of the government is not hard to notice throughout the novel; when readers are faced with a government that takes “kids from [the] districts, forcing them to kill one another” to demonstrate how the masses are “totally at [the Capitol’s] mercy,” the readers should be outraged at the Capitol’s complete abuse of power (Collins 18). Readers are familiar with a government defined as being “by the people” and “for the people” (Lincoln). Or in other words, a government should listen to its constituents and make policy and laws for their best interest. The Capitol, which does not listen to its masses, makes the reader reflect on how their government is failing them. In today’s society, this might be an outrage against the lack of change in gun laws following recent school shootings. While highlighting the government’s failings and the cyclical nature of poverty in a dystopian setting allows the reader to connect to the protagonist and the struggles she faces throughout the novel, the reader can also relate to the protagonist through the first-person point of view used in the novel.
The first-person perspective allows the reader to more fully place themselves into the novel’s action. The opening of the novel, Katniss awakes and “I prop myself up on one elbow” (Collins 3). The reader is immediately transported to District 12. The reader must now interpret the novel from Katniss’ perspective; there is no distancing themselves from the action. Most novels use an omniscient third person narrator so that a reader gets a larger of picture of what each character is thinking and doing. The use of a first-person perspective makes the novel more relatable; similar to a first-person point of view shooter game such as Call of Duty, the player only knows where they are and what weapons they have. Katniss only knows her situation and no one else’s; the reader gets a more realistic approach on the Hunger Games. It’s not necessarily the violence that draws people into the novel; it’s the release of these “pent-up emotion and impulses” that draws us in (Konnikova). In a study completed by the Intelligent Sensing and Systems Laboratory at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the experience of playing a first-person video game was analyzed and compared to playing a video game not in first person. The final comparison showed that playing a not first-person video game “didn’t show the same absorption, the same engagement [...] that we have in first person” (Konnikova). This conclusion can be mapped to first-person perspective novels; the reader gets more absorbed, more invested in the storyline when it is written in first-person. Yet, the reader will not be invested if they disagree with an action or actions taken by the protagonist; for this reason, the protagonist must take action which promotes justice.
The novel has a protagonist that fights for what is right which reflects how most readers want to believe that is what they would do. Katniss fights the Capitol because of its unjust treatment of the poorer districts. She has first-hand experience of living in one of the disadvantaged districts where they are lucky “to get two or three hours of electricity in the evenings” (Collins 5). Katniss’ fight for justice begins somewhat indirectly but grows into a direct rebellion against the Capitol which is more prominently featured in the sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Katniss passively defies the government in the beginning of the novel when she is depicted climbing under a fence, going into the woods which are deemed restricted by the government, and hunting for food (Collins 5). She justifies her actions as a means for survival while understanding if she were to be caught by the Peacekeepers , she would face execution for “inciting a rebellion” (Collins 5). The logic she follows is similar to that of a person who has no money for food and therefore resorts to stealing food. They are not stealing the food because it’s fun or they want to; they are stealing the food because they need something to eat. While most readers probably have not experienced hunger to that extreme, this detail allows the reader to see not only how horribly the government treats it people but also the lengths the citizens must go to in order to simply survive. Katniss passively defies the government for her family’s lives; her more directly defiant acts are seen in the arena where she is fighting for her own life. Her ultimate moment of rebellion can be seen in the arena when only Peeta and her are contemplating who should win the Hunger Games; Katniss suggests they both eat poisonous berries so that there is no victor (Collins 344). In this moment, Katniss recognizes how vital it is that the government have a victor. Without a victor, the Hunger Games serve no purpose; the Hunger Games were installed to show complete mercy to the Capitol but without a winner, there is no game, only slaughter of innocent children. Katniss makes a “calculated and deliberate act” which instigates the rebellion detailed in the sequels (Scherzer). Her growth throughout the novel allowed her to move from a passive to a more active defiance of the government in an effort to promote justice for all.
Striving for justice in a dystopian society, Katniss Everdeen connects to the readers through the problems she faces and through the first-person perspective of the novel. Young adults praised The Hunger Games at the time of its release and it is still known as one of the most popular young adult dystopian novels. It became this popular because it provided its readers with action and adventure while still being comparable in certain aspects to reality; it’s an escape that still remains comparable to reality. Suzanne Collins plays with the delicate balance of distinctly different and similar substance to reality in order to write a successful dystopian novel with two equally popular sequels.