Speaking of Taste: The Hunger Game Trilogy
The bestselling trilogy series by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, is considered as trash and reading it indicates bad taste for serious moral and ethical questions and controversial debates it has raised. And is was listed as the No.5 most frequently challenged book in 2013, according to American Library Association. “Challenged” here is defined by American Library Association as official requests to schools and libraries to remove the book. This essay is aimed at analysing key elements of typical critical responses to this book. They are schadenfreude, feminism and violence as listed below.
To begin with, “schadenfreude”, by its definition, means pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. In The Hunger Games, we see schadenfreude in its extreme form and the book is dismissed as it presents tributes’ suffering as mass entertainment. (Galek) In the battle, mostly by fighting
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And the dressing here is related to feminine beauty norms. Katniss has to appear beautiful so as to gain support from patrons to get life-saving resources in the games. So here, The Hunger Games “convey messages about the importance of feminine beauty not only by making 'beauties' prominent...but also in demonstrating how beauty gets its rewards”. (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 722) In the novel, Katniss's appearance as a heteronormative object of desire, with how she looks and is desired often viewed as more important than who she is (Woloshyn et al. 155), actually reinforces emphasized feminity. The contrary ways Katniss is characterized, as heroic or say feminine yet a sexual object submissive to male norms actually reveals “the transformational and yet deeply conservative character of American ideals of feminine strength, sexuality, and agency" (Hager 62). And that is the overwhelming ideological values in modern
Rees Brennan, Sarah. “Why so hungry for the Hunger Games”. Hunger Games Down with the Capitol. http://hungergamesdwtc.net/2011/05/read-along-why-so-hungry-for-the-hunger-games-what-draws-readers-into-the-series/.. Web. May 04, 2012
Love and hope, together are a timeless literary thematic duo, which continue to inspire countless variations and sub-genres of romance literature. For the last many centuries, romance as a genre, is arguably the most popular of all narratives. However, the theme of love often takes presentences and overarches other thematic interpretation of stories. So why then are people seeking romance in the literature they ready? Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games with the intent to introduce her young adult readership to a number of politically charged themes. Although Collins's work is acknowledged for successfully presenting themes of sacrifice, versions of reality, and power, her audience conversely identifies with the debatable sub-them of love. Social forums, such as the Official Hunger Games Facebook Website exposes an insider's perspective of sort, which reveals public perceptions and interpretations of Collins's work. Even though the purpose for the fan-website built around The Hunger games is to provide a discussion space. Participant's discussions however, unintentionally reveal a...
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
As human beings, we thrive to find the meaning of our existence and also the truth. In the books and movies, The Hunger Games trilogy, the very heroic character Katniss Everdeen is on a quest to find truth. As she peels back the layers of lies that swaddle her world, she finds truth within herself and everything around her. To reflect on the novels and films, we must look at the principles of axiology and also examine the plot, characters and how they react to each situation; for reflecting on “the girl on fire” we must study the grounds of epistemology with her own identity. The whole story starts off with the day of the reaping when Prim, Katniss’ sister is selected to enter the Hunger Games, a game created by the government at the time to keep the society scared. One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by an annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants must fight to the death in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one individual remains.
Collins has embedded a very strong moral behind her writings, which she has made quite clear through the morals of Panem and its Capitol. The Hunger Games could be described as a massive, national television show with a little – well, big – twist. Like reality television in our day and age, it is extremely popular with plenty of drama; except, perhaps the drama is a little too dramatic, involving the brutal murder of tributes and the literal back-stabbing of fellow ‘allies’. Essentially, the Hunger Games is a large sport and source of entertainment, where the tributes must face atrocious perils such as fireballs, mutated, dogs, along with tracker-jackers – wasps genetically modified to create hallucinations and kill with merely a few painful stings. Although this is a bit too extreme for our reality television, there are still many similarities.
What makes the “The Lottery” and the popular movie “The Hunger Games” similar? What makes them different? The way these two stories provide insignificant or significant information, demonstrates a short story and/or novel. With this said how do the readers/watchers really pay attention? “The Hunger Games” and “The Lottery” have similar ideas but differ with plot, characters development, the final outcome, and which draws more attention to the reader.
One reason I believe the hunger games series access should not be limited to 9th grades is the idea that 9th grader should be more mature. People challenge this book because they think that the hunger games is to too violent kids or that it could cause nightmares. And I agree with that if we are talking about little kids. But we are not talking about little kids we are speaking about 9th graders who are in high school. That idea that a high school student who is not allowed to read this book because the school district says it too violent is preposterous. The truth is teen are exposed to more things worst then the book. Due to video game movies and the web. In fact younger kids can say they have played a violent game that has nudity, death or gun violence. In parts of the hunger games book Suzan Collins uses a part of a story to give a better idea of what cattiness feels. Like in chapter 18 of the hunger game “Rue's death has forced me to confront my own fury against the cruelty, the injustice they inflict upon us--------, I feel my impotence. There's no way to take revenge on the Capitol. Is there?"(Collins, 236) and another example is when k...
Appearance and fashion are important factors that drive our societies today. We live in a world where people are judged by the way they look, dress and carry themselves. This phenomenon is display by Suzanne Collins in her New York Times bestseller trilogy the “Hunger Games”. In this book, Collins presents a dystopian world, a world that is awful and terrible. The different themes used in this book are violence, corruption, obsession, inequality and physical appearance and they somehow related to our world. She compared Panem with our world. The goal of the book is to warn people that if we don’t used resources efficiently, if we don’t help each other, if we still obsessed with money we will end up killing each other. During the games, look and appearance were surprisingly one way to win. Like the Hunger Games, people nowadays are giving too much importance in their look because society has leaded them to. It may seems unexpected to compare the Hunger games to our world but unfortunately, look became an important factor of decisions. Suzanne Collins does an amazing job in her book by warning us of how the future could be if we do not change our behavior, but what are the links and signs to our actual world and how is that a danger for societies?.
Murty, Govindini. "Decoding the Influences in "The Hunger Games"" The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Every year a male and female tribute between the ages of twelve and eighteen are selected from every district in a ceremony called the reaping. They are then forced to fight to the death in the hunger games while all of Panem watches on screen until there is one left standing, the victor. The hunger games were created as a means of which to restore order after the “Dark Days”, a rebellion that happened decades ago. The people must watch their young be slaughtered on screen to pay for the rebellion.
The author Suzanne Collins demonstrates this when she portrays the Career tributes as “districts, in which winning the reaping is such a great honor, people [Career tributes] are eager to risk their lives” (Collins 22). The people of the Career districts trained their whole for the chance and opportunity to take part in the Hunger Games based on the false reality of what they see on the television. The false reality that the television provides conceals the viewers from learning the true reality/ harshness of the Hunger Games and influences people such as the Career tributes to actually pursue their goal of taking part in this dangerous battle. The deception of the television in the novel, Hunger Games, influences and manipulates the way some people wish to lead their lives. Suzanne Collins
Since she is the female victor from district 12, she is in the 74th Hunger Games. She sees how painful and scary it is and so she tries to stop the capital which is who is controlling everything. She doesn’t want that to happen to anyone else. She rebels against President Snow in plan of eventually killing him to take over the capital and change the world. Teens can relate to this because a lot of the time we feel controlled. It might be by a parent, teacher, grandparent or someone else but all of us are controlled by someone. A lot of teenagers end up rebelling because they feel as if they have no choices. They go against the rules of who they are rebelling against. That persons rules and values are not necessarily right. Who decides what is right? It seems as if we have entered into a state time where there is no right and wrong. Katniss breaks free of that control and does her own thing. Another way teens can relate to the hunger games is through the love triangle. Some of us might have a similar situation of where we might like two people. In the movie it says, “What I need is not Gales fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can
In a not-too-distant, some 74 years, into the future the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 13 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games; these children are referred to as tributes (Collins, 2008). The Games are meant to be viewed as entertainment, but every citizen knows their purpose, as brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts. The televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eradicate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. The main character throughout the series is a 16-year-old girl from District 12 named Katniss Everdeen.
Summary: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins narrates the story of a dystopian society with a strict regime and corrupt government system. It all occurs in the futuristic country of Panem – old North America– which originally consists of thirteen districts; however, due to a rebellion the Capitol drops bombs on the thirteenth district destroying it completely. This uprising leads to the creation of the Hunger Games in order to instill fear in the population and prevent a second revolution. Twelve districts remain but appear divided not only by physical fences but also emotional barriers, wealth, and power. The Capitol serves as the Mecca where individuals with major monetary income reside and so does the President. Even though Districts 1 and
These books established the niche of dystopia in the literary world by introducing unusual themes such as totalitarian control and freedom deprivation. World Wars I & II were said to have strongly influenced these plots. Environmental issues, the Cold War and identity politics, on the other hand, were the inspirations of the second batch of dystopian authors. Titles from Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale to Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, were part of this group of books that talked mostly about trust issues to the government and anxieties regarding the human body. The third and last group of books have been a combination of pubescence issues, vapidity of pop cultures and all the other issues tackled by the first two waves of dystopian literature (Hintz 255). Targeted mostly to teenage audiences, this includes Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, Abby Condie’s Matched, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium, Veronica Roth’s Divergent and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games