Hunger Games and How I Live Now

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In a global age where the artillery of warfare has advanced beyond guns, it's not hard to see why the depiction of dystopian futures in literature is ever prominent. These progressions seem to increase the concern of worldwide crisis. The prospect of no freedom is terrifying and that's probably why it’s such an appealing subject to explore. Once a person becomes aware of these threats, the thoughts of 'what if?', are most likely to follow. These thought are more prominent in adults as they have a conscious understanding of the potential of these threats. Children however are sheltered and ignorant of global threats because they haven't yet developed the ability to comprehend the nature of these threats to their future. And the majority of young adults may simply just not care. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff are examples of books based on an adults desire to educate youth about the world around them and shape the readers thoughts by making them aware of the futures that they so fear. In her novel, Collins perceives a potential post-apocalyptic future in which the roles of adults and children are inverted, hunger is used as a weapon and identity is lost. The totalitarian Capitol subjugates the districts by targeting the most innocent citizens of Panem; the children. Thereby striking their Achilles heel and rendering the adults useless in the fight for control. And in extension to that, in order for the adults to ensure their survival they have to comply in offering up children as a sacrifice. . To further manipulate the citizens of Panem, the Capitol utalises starvation, under the guise as a punishment, as a weapon. A 'tesserae' of grain and oil is offered to the citizens in exchange for a c... ... middle of paper ... ...Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and How I live Now by Meg Rosoff is to express innate fears of an unknown and uncertain future that are influenced by the current state of society. They both take this fear as a tool to express desire for change and influence that desire onto people. The Hunger Games has less success at portraying this as the world in which it is set is, although possible, further from home. Whereas Daisy and her world, identifies more closely with the mindset of modern youth and the way they view society. Although the themes in The Hunger Games are taken to the extreme, they still are based on contemporary concerns that do affect the readers. Although the plots may differ, in the case of these two novels, the fears and desires of adults are significant in a motivation to influence youth and children to avoid living in fear of or even in dystopia.

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