Archetypes In The Hunger Games

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You are perfect, you have no defects, and you can defeat foes with ease by hand. Who are you, you ask? Well, an archetypal hero. These heroes are archetypal, because what you see is what you get, there is no depth or nuance to the character. We have all seen at least one hero like this, and what do we think of them and why are they just so ludicrous? No one can relate to these heroes, they are the people we dream to be, but never will, they give us hope, but never fail, these heroes truly aren’t effective in literature and film of today. We need more, a lot more, someone who puts themselves first, risking their life, to save a person they barely know, someone that we can relate to, someone who is flawed, wounded. These are the traits heroes need to have, this is what makes …show more content…

We want to be able to feel this person’s pain, connect with him/her. We can see this in an example with Katniss Everdeen ‘The Hunger Games’. Katniss will do anything in her power to help her family, she puts family above anything else. This is shown when Katniss’ volunteer’s offers herself instead of her sister as District 12’s tribute where she states “I volunteer as tribute” (2.5-6). Here, she is making a double sacrifice, one for her sister, and the other for her community. This is also the moment which thrust Katniss into becoming a hero. We as a community want to heroes who are motivated not some dopey guy fighting crime left right and centre. A hero of a story becomes less effective when their motivation is unclear. Not once, do we see Katniss not being motivated, she chose to become a hero for prim, she fights in the hunger games, for prim, for the people of her district. This is why we can relate to Katniss so much we as humans aren’t perfect, we all have flaws. This is why heroes need to be more than archetypal, to be effective. (this ending sounds really

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