The Hunger Games

I recently finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and I have to say that it was an excellent series by Suzanne Collins. I do not wish to divulge the plot, but imagine a futuristic environment run by a sadistic tyrannical government and a teenage girl becoming the symbol of a revolution. It sounds like such a simple soup, but add to it the fact that entire communities must sacrifice two of their children in a sick sport that forces them to fight to the death, and a society that makes the rich richer, and the poor silent.


The injustice of the society is enough to make anyone keep reading. Never mind that the heroine is not only emotionally unstable, but fiercely determined, caring, and simple. In other words, realistic.


It echoes The Giver by Lois Lowry, where there is one person in the society who is responsible for knowing the horrors and truths of their reality. Or perhaps The Lottery  by Shirley Jackson, in which a community draws names for who will be stoned to death. The oppression of the government in these stories is suffocating, and while it comforts us that our government is not rationing our food, or enforcing a curfew, or assigning us jobs, it does make us fear for the loss of basic civil liberties. There must always be a willingness to stand in resolve and fight.


The interesting thing I did not see coming from The Hunger Games trilogy was the stark representation of what I would consider city and country life. I haven't flattened all the corners on the paper I'm uncovering, but here's the start to my mental thesis. Those of the Capitol were dyed, tattooed, well fed, and had names like Glimmer, Gloss, Cashmere, Marvel, . The people of the poorer districts had names that displayed their relationship to nature:
The girls named after plants - Primrose and Katniss
The baker boy named Peeta (Pita) an ancient slightly leavened bread which has recipes dating back to antiquity
Gale - A stong wind
Countless obvious others: Tigris, Boggs, Hazelle, Seeder, Mason, Clove


Some other interesting names of note are:
Lavinia - a girl turned into an Avox is a interesting reference to Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. They were both stripped of the ability to speak and left unable to name their enemies or the atrocities committed to them.


Rue - "to feel sorrow over; repent of; regret bitterly: to rue the loss of opportunities." Foreshadowing, and also that Rue was a main catalyst for Katniss. In other words, her sorrow (Rue) was her strength. 


Snow - the main antagonist, but wait! This is more of a nature term right? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the other nature-names relate to heat, passion, or spring. Katniss was the girl on fire, so who is her most likely adversary? Snow. Nice Collins, very nice. Simple, succinct, and obvious without being pretentious.


The story is wonderful, powerful, and made me feel like I needed to start training for a marathon, because if the world fell apart I would wish I had.  But, beneath the obvious call to action and to open our eyes, was the ingenious word play that kept catching my eye and made me read all three books in a matter of days. There was a great quote which I will paraphrase (because I can't find it at the moment):

The people of Panem traded their civil liberties for the promise of full bellies and security.

It makes sense that people will forego their own happiness in order to see the safety of their loved ones and children, but Collins poses the question of the limit of acceptance. Will you allow your children to risk a greater chance at death games to feed your family? To fight in games that are supposed to remind you what life was like without the current government?

I appreciate Collins' ability to make this more than a political thriller, it's smart. Katniss is relate-able, because you can appreciate her indecision, her depression, her sorrow, and her power. She was not born a leader, she was made one through her desire to 'do the right thing.' Her conviction is absolute and sometimes slow coming, but whether her actions result in the death of thousands, or the redemption of mankind, the display of her internal struggle is realistic, even when her situation is not.

There's so much to these books, and I greatly enjoyed reading them. If you haven't I would definitely recommend it, you won't be able to put it down.