Wool And The Hunger Games Synthesis Essay

Wool and The Hunger Games are novels written by Suzanne Collins and Hugh Howey. The Hunger Games is an adventurous novel based in the future. It follows a girl called Katniss and how she survives The Hunger Games. Collin’s novel has won several awards and the series has currently made over $275 million dollars. Wool is based on a women named Jule’s, she experiences severe situation which changes the Silo, the only place she has known. Sunday Times suggests the novel is the next Hunger Games as its New York Times bestseller.
Collins and Howey use flashbacks, imagery and mood to make comments on the societies within the texts.

A flashback occurring in Wool is, “She remembered the trouble when she’d been caught cutting a plastic tie from an electrical board”. This indicates that resources are valuable. Society told not to dispose of useful materials and therefore follow the rules. This shows the conformity of Wools society and how they are

resourceful.
A flashback in The Hunger Games is, “She’s coming to drive me away with a stick”. This occurred when Katniss was 11 attempting to gather food for her family. She scavenged the bakers bin and the baker’s wife caught and verbally abused her. This literary technique displays the society where Katniss lives. Resources are scarce in District 12 Katniss’s hometown and she’s limited in ways she support her family. Society doesn’t want to help her as they don’t have the resources to be wasting.
Flashbacks present in both novels are similar to how they portray the society. Wool and The Hunger Game’s societies don’t have resources which can be wasted. Although, types of resources vary per novel. For example, lack resources Katniss’s society experiences is food. Only the rich can surpass this problem. Wool’s society has food, however, technology and common goods are in low supply.

“Men and women with hunched shoulders, swollen knuckles, [many stopped] trying to scrub the coal dust out of their broken nails and the lines of their sunken faces”. The sentence is visually descriptive and creates the image of poor, hard working men and women. This displays the society in Katniss’s home town District 12. Majority worked in coal mines to gain food stamps. The imagery displayed the society's work ethic and effort it takes to survive.
“The lowering of his old and tired body into the deep soil where it would decompose and feed the root”.

This quote from Wool displays imagery as the words create images. An old man’s body lowering into soil is the image the author portrays. The quote is another example of the resourceful society exhibited in Wool. Instead of disregarding the body elsewhere, society created a social norm and decided it was acceptable to place bodies in the garden to feed plants. Everything has a purpose in Wool’s society.
The literary technique displays similarities between both novels. Both the societies are portrayed as hardworking and independent. Another similarity is the resourcefulness of both societies, working in the mine to gain food stamps and using a decomposing body as food for plants. However, although both societies are similar they work hard for different reasons. Jule’s worked for hours every day as she enjoyed what she was accomplishing. However, majority from District 12 worked because they needed food put on the

table.

The mood of a book can reflect on its society. The Hunger Games acquires a suspenseful mood. Therefore, the majority of the society is hard working and conforms to rules. If societies disobey the social norm they are punished and therefore the atmosphere is suspenseful. District 12’s society displays the most suspense. Nothing negative can be spoken about the ruling city, The Capital or there’s punishments.
Wool has a claustrophobic mood present. You can’t escape the Silo without dying, Wool’s society must stay within the walls. Therefore, society starts questioning and wonders about the outside world. People travel to the top floor to view the outdoors which is displayed through a camera. This is where the claustrophobic mood occurs.
The mood of Wool also displayed suspense similar to The Hunger Games. After the society started questioning the Silo, laws were created to ensure negativity is kept silent. Therefore, suspense was present to keep questions silent. Wool’s punishments are more severe when compared to The Hunger Games. For example, if questions arise in Wool, the individual is sent outside where they will suffocate. The society in The Hunger Games are whipped by The Capital soldiers as their punishment.

In conclusion, the authors of The Hunger Games and Wool utilize various language techniques to make comments on society. For example, the authors explored the dystopian and utopian societies. Life is perceived as perfect however in the depths of society people believe opposite. The societies have proven to be similar when compared. Collins and Howey use flashbacks, imagery and mood to make comments on the societies within the texts.