Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

In Suzanna Collins The Hunger Games, the distopian country of Panem is broken into twelve colonies in which two participants from each district must participate in a brutal game of survival.  This is televised to the capital and determines which district gets supplies for the next year. 

The main characters are Katniss, a hunter from district twelve and Peeta, also from district twelve.  Katniss and Peeta have a brief past in which after her father’s death Peet helps Katniss’ family survive with food.  A former Hunger Games winner and drunk, Haymitch is their spokesperson, trying to secure resources for Katmiss and Peeta once the Hunger Games begin.  

Before the Hunger Games begin, there is press and preparation.  During this period Katniss and Peeta are introduced to other participants in the games and primped for the television audience.  Also, Peeta either legitimately or illegitimately asserts that he has romantic feelings for Katniss.  This plays out as a love narrative that the sponsors and audience will eat up and ultimately play to their advantage. 

Once the games begin, the each player is killed off with a dwindling amount of contestants remaining.  After the death of her friend and partner, Rue, and a rule change saying there can be two winners instead of one, Katniss eventually teams back up with Peeta.  Katniss is a wise player and uses her intelligence, romantic acting skills, archery and luck to stay alive. 

With only three participants left, the capital creates and uses a genetic dog/wolf mutation of the dead contestants to attack the remaining people.  Cato, is ripped to shreds with only Peeta and Katniss remaining.  They have won the Hunger Games, however the capital changes the rules so that only one person can win. This means they will have to fight to the death. 

Katniss and Peeta decide that it’s all or none and begin to consume poisonous berries.  The capital, realizing this would be a public relations disaster if no one won, changes the rules again so that two can win. 

After the conclusion of the games, the victory lap to the media begins.  It is revealed that Peeta really loved Katniss and Katniss thought it was all a ploy to advance in the games.  Katniss begins to feel stronger feelings for her hunting friend, Gale, back in district twelve. 

Peeta is hurt by this, but realizes he is lucky to have survived the hunger games.  Katniss and him decide to play out the love narrative until the media blitz is over and then go on with their separate lives. 

I found The Hunger Games to be perfectly suited for adolescent readers.  The emotional volatility and action-oriented plot lends itself to pull in girls and boys.  The length of the book supported the fact that it was for older readers, as a younger student wouldn’t have enough stamina or patience to continue reading.  The story follows a largely chronological order and also has rules that guide its plot and outcome.  For a reader to comprehend this, he or she would have to be at least twelve or about sixth and seventh grade. 

Evaluating the text, I found the characters facing realistic issues through survival, family, pride and love.  These are issues that face all of us regardless of age and whether we’re in real life or a reality show focused on killing.  The characters involved in these problems overcome them in a realistic way, albeit in a fantasy setting.  The one common thread I found relating to survival was being opportunistic.  Whether it be fibbing the truth to get necessary goods from the capital or using your natural archery skills to hurt the enemy, characters used the resources available to survive as long as they could. 

When looking at the characters, I found them to be multi-sided and emotional.  Katniss has a family which she sticks up for, taking Prim’s spot in the Hunger games, she is a talented marksman, has possible feelings for her friend Gale back in district twelve and takes a fellow contestant, Rue, under her wing.  Petta has strong feelings of love for Katniss and has a conflict of who he should create an alliance with: Katniss or the career tributes.  These examples are relatable to the average teen by virtue of finding a comfortable social circle and forming friendships or allegiances with people who they can trust. 

While reading Hunger Games, I noticed that there was no weaknesses based on sex and race was never clarified on any of the participants.  For a game so brutal and draconian, I was a bit surprised the issue of race and gender were not brought up.  The only strengths and weaknesses present were related to a character’s personality or intelligence, which did not correspond with their gender or race. 

Through these observations, and putting myself in the perspective of an adolescent reader I would have been inspired to be the smartest and most physically capable person I could be.  Intelligence and strength along with love (to a certain extent) are rewarded through the hunger games.  These virtues are highly regarded in society and often rewarded. 

Three literary elements I found present in the text was setting as an antagonist with contestants and their environment being pitted against each other.  In the plot, there were strong representations of person against society (contestants vs. the capital), person against person (hunger games participant vs. hunger games participant), person vs. nature (hunger game participant vs. the created environment) and person vs. self (Katniss doubting her feelings for Peeta and volunteering herself for the games over Prim). 

A mini-lesson that could be developed from The Hunger Games is having a student write in their journals about three things they would bring with them if they were in the hunger games and why they would bring them.  The students would then explain in an open classroom forum what they think would be their most useful tool/object.  Throughout the class there could be no repeated answers from one student to another.  The student responses/answers would be put on the board and we would have a discussion about what would be most advantageous to bring to the hunger games and why.  Just like the Hunger Games there would be a dwindling amount of choices.  When there were four tools remaining, we would vote, as a class, to determine which object or tool would be best to bring to the games.