The Hunger Games: Unequal Distribution Of Wealth

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ brilliant adventure novel, highlights the unequal distribution of wealth and the effects on the citizens of Panem. In her depiction of the “haves” and “have nots” of Panem, Collins sheds light on the wealth gap in American culture and the “blind eye” cast upon the poor by the wealthy.

In the novel, Collins distinguishes the wealth gap between the capitol and the lower districts. The citizens in the capitol are unaware that the wealth they have is coming from the suffering of the poor. The citizens seem to think that the hunger games are simply an entertaining event, they do not think what is happening is real. One of Katniss’ workers on her fashion team told her story of when someone died, “I was still in bed! I had just had my eyebrows dyed! I swear I nearly fainted!" (354). The way

she tells this story shows that she only cares about herself and does not realize that a young, innocent child just died a violent, unjust death. Realistically, the games are a twisted, extreme way of keeping people in line and the capitol citizens do not understand the severity of the situation. As Katniss walks on the train, in awe of her surroundings, she gets ready for dinner. When Effie call her for supper, she comes in to see that Effie presses a button and a feast appears out of thin air. Katniss thinks, “What must it be like… 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?” (27). Effie does not realize how the districts live. She is familiar with a world where food comes out of nowhere without working for it. Katniss knows that it would take her days to prepare this meal and still not compare to the capitol version. Even a “basket of rolls they set before me would keep my family going for a week” (55). The way that the rich live is with an abundance of food is undesirable to Katniss. The capitol does not even acknowledge that the luxury they live in is because of the districts.
The Hunger Games provides an uncanny resemblance with the current modern American culture.

In the book, Collins shows the “blind eye” cast upon the poor by the wealthy. In the modern American culture, an elite few are rich and they are the ones who rule the country. The wealthiest people in the country have the same amount of wealth as the rest of the citizens. On the earth, “just 62 people in the world have the same wealth as… 3.6 billion people.” This shows how many people suffer everyday but a select few get to live like kings. The “haves” of the American society do not realize how many people are poor and do not have jobs to provide for themselves. Daniel Goleman, a New York Times reporter, has a different approach,“Reducing the economic gap may be impossible without also addressing the gap in empathy.” Goleman is trying to convince the wealthy to recognize the wealth gap and act on it. The gap between the poor and the moderate American family would significantly reduce if the rich truly cared about the poor. In the American culture we live in today, no cares for anyone but themselves, and to reduce the gap people have to come together and

care.
The relationship Collins demonstrates by writing this novel is the wealth gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”. She saw this error in our American culture and wrote a book on the same idea but showed what it would be like if we took it too far. This is an error that needs to be fixed and it will only be repaired if there is desire from the “haves”.