The Hunger Games By Susan Collins

Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games, imagines a world where people are divided by district just like the real world does with the high, middle, low classes. This book is full of themes, literary devices and also talks about how the government — in this case the Capitol — oppresses their citizens.

Social stratification is a concept used within sociology that explains the divisions and social inequalities of large groups of people within a particular society. The Hunger Games (2012) is a film that demonstrates this through amplifying how the power of the rich members in a polarised society are taking control of the poor and separating them in different districts which create specific social rankings. This essay will use the perspective of conflict theory to examine how Australian society is also effected by social stratification and therefore divided in social classes which effects their access to social equalities.

Social inequality comes in many forms including things such as income, race, gender, and wealth. It is something we can see in everyday life, yet there are some people that don’t seem to think it exists, or it at least isn’t anything that they need to be concerned about because they’re doing just fine. I believe that they are wrong and that inequality affects us all in one way or another. It is something that we need to come to grips with and deal with as a society and is not a problem that can be solved on an individual basis.

Katniss Everdeen fought for her family's survival to the point where she was facing imminent death daily. Fara Ahmedi lived in harsh conditions with her mom. Alex wanted to save himself and 13 others. The situations couldn’t be more different, nevertheless, all three are determined to survive and live a better life.

The ‘Careers’ from richer districts “project arrogance and brutality” (p. 116), while the poorer tributes “have never been fed properly. You can see it in their bones, their skin, the hollow look in their eyes.” (p. 115) Koenig describes them as “those who must physically bear the memory of the districts’ past.” (Koenig, 2012, p. 43) In contrast, Katniss is not only equipped with physical survival skills in the Games but an understanding of how she must ‘play her part’, though her strong sense of moral duty means she struggles not to rebel. As Hanlon states, “The suffering and deprivation of her youth initially make Katniss a rebel in a brutal, oppressive society.” (Hanlon, 2012, p.

Suzanne Collins wrote her dystopian fiction novel, The Hunger Games, in 2008, portraying heroic qualities through the characters and themes within. A hero is defined as a person that is admired for their courage, achievements or noble qualities. Collins’ bestselling novel follows protagonist Katniss Everdeen, as she endures many trials, conflicts and challenges throughout her journey, illustrating heroic qualities, evident through her resilience and determination. Collins also utilises the characterisation of Peeta Mellark, Katniss’s love interest, as a heroic young man, maintaining his values, integrity and kind nature. The Hunger Games presents these various aspects through characterisation, expressing various heroic qualities, ranging from strength to compassion, qualities are all imperative in a hero.

The Hunger Games is a 2008 science fiction book by Suzanne Collins. The main character Katniss Everdeen, is a sixteen -year- old girl who hunts and gathers fruits to fend for her mother and her little sister Prim (Collins 2). She has a best friend, Gale who also like Katniss, has to look for food for his siblings. Katniss loves her sister to an extend she volunteers in taking her place a tribute girl in the reaping festival. She dislikes the regime in District 12 and the killer festivities. She later on meets Paate Mellark who is a boy tribute and was torn between him and Gale.

The novel 1984 by George Orwell is based in a totalitarian society where the inner party controls the rest of Oceania. This storyline is very similar to the modern day story of The Hunger Games. Themes in 1984 such as Big Brother, the Inner Party, Telescreens, Thought Police, and Rebels are all also portrayed in The Hunger Games. Both stories follow the journey of the main character that is also the rebel in the story. There are many modern day stories that model the dystopian society that was first depicted in 1984, but The Hunger Games is one of the most effective to deliver the same message that was originally delivered in 1984.

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” is an exciting conclusion to the Hunger Games series about a war between the evil Capitol and the Districts who were once under their rule. Katniss Everdeen is given the title of “Mockingjay” in which her job is to give the Districts hope of a victory over the Capitol. The job seems simple enough, all she has to do is shoot commercials to help the war rebel war effort, but it becomes much more dangerous than that later. The theme of Mockingjay is to always stay hopeful, even in tough situations. This theme was developed through the characters, setting, and plot.

In the novel The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, the main character Katniss is place to compete against twenty three other kids both boys and girls in order to survive. Katniss is a strong sixteen year old girl, who is far more mature than her age. Katniss is the provider in her family, which consist of herself, her mother and her little sister Prim. She is very protective over her sister and volunteers to take her place in the hunger games. Katniss is the person her family depends on for everything, but in a game like the hunger games, where life is at stake, and someone has to compete against others in order to survive, it is hard to survive without the help of others in some way. Katniss is able to survive the Hunger Games because of a

Suzanne Collins is an American author she is a television scriptwriter and a novelist. She was born in Hartford Connecticut, August 10, 1962. Her book genres are Fantasy Science fiction childrens literature and young adult fiction. Her greatest novel was The Hunger Games Mocking Jay.

Have you ever wonder what people have to go through every day in their lives or what struggles or maybe what they do with their life? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is about, a girl, Katniss Everdeen, that volunteers to fight in the Games against other tributes that are from the other 11 districts. The tributes in the Games fight to survive and they have to save themselves from dying and some people are taking a lot of sacrifices when there in the games. Families and the Capitol have different feelings about The Hunger Games, the families think it’s horrifying that people die for no reason and the Capitol thinks it’s fun and exciting watching people getting killed and just watching them suffer. As the book progresses the reader learns

“And if we burn, you burn with us,” Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games author, wrote (Suzanne Collins, Goodreads). Truth be told, she’s right. In my mind, I take this quote as, “You took away our rights, now we’ll take away yours.” All over the world, people rebel for things they cherish and want to protect. Even if I believe there are more civilized ways to make a statement, I would rebel for women’s rights, farming, and writing.

For example, in the novel, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins the leaders from the Capitol show dehumanization on a grand scale with a callous disregard for the value of its citizen’s lives. The annual Hunger Games consist of twenty-four children ages twelve to eighteen, two from each of the twelve districts, who have to fight to the death. These Games occur in an arena which the game makers of the Capitol control with technology. The game makers design the arena to entertain the masses as well as to destroy the teenagers, both physically and psychologically. While the possibility of a scenario like the hyperbolic fictitious world of The Hunger Games is unlikely to happen, especially at such an extreme scale in today’s society, the conditions present in the book are, in fact, prevalent and exist in today’s society. Like her predecessors, Collins dystopian novel serves to warn today’s society. The unjust social hierarchy, the danger of abusive powers and the destructive force of humans stem or lead to dehumanization. In the games, the entire nation of Panem, which make up the twelve districts and the Capitol, watch as these kids fight each other to the death until only one victor is victorious. Leaders that reside in the wealthy Capitol, the body of elites that makes up the government, use the games to flaunt and strengthen their power over the districts by means of oppression and dehumanization to keep them in line.

The novel Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins and the motion picture In Time; both embraces the functionalist perspective, where they’re contributing to the stability of their nation of a whole by intimidating their citizens, by keeping the districts/time zones isolated from one another to prevent them from rallying together against an authoritative leadership, that consist of the Capitol being ruled by President Snow (Hunger Games) and New Greenwich (In Time). In both the novel and film, each district and time zones, the leadership’s uses characteristic of Weber’s Model of Bureaucracy where within the nations they have absolute control of every aspect of life, where they attempt to give districts solidarity through mechanical solidary unique to each district, where each serves through a division of labor. Both accentuates conformity to its demands and values, and to keep them from going against the leadership they maintain a constant police presence with peacekeepers (Hunger Games) and timekeepers (In Time).