Violence, struggling, death, and survival are all endless cycles which plague our everyday world. I bring this topic up because the book I am currently reading the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The book takes settting in a distant future North America where it is basically divided into separate districts. The government forces two teenagers, one girl and boy, from each district to fight to the death in the wilderness. They must hunt for their own food, water, and whatever other few supplies are available to them. They also have access to weapons in order to protect themselves. The government forces the children to fight against each other in order to show the public that they have control over everyone even the children. It is both horrible and sad to see how the children are pitted against each other. They are destroying their future and lives by going through this. I think that Suzanne Collins’ purpose in writing this book is open our eyes to the ugly side of life, the side of war.
When I think of war, I tend to think of men having an assault rifle and infiltrating a base and some other related thing, but the sad truth about war is that many children my age or just a little bit older get in the middle. In many nations, young men three or four years older than me are given training and are sent out to basically be slaughtered. This connects to the book because even though the children are not going into war with another nation they are still being used by the government. Either way many of them are going to die.
I would also like to say that this book touches upon the issue of governments having too much power over their people and exploiting them in certain ways. The topic of war and governments having too much power are closely related because often times when a government has too much power, another country steps in to fix this. A modern day example of this is how the US has gotten itself involved in Libya in order to kick out the president Ghadafi. Back to the book, an example where the government shows an over exertion of power is when they already have the teens in the hunger games, but they set up a perfect scenario for bloodshed, "When food is scarce, the game makers will invite players to a banquet, somewhere none to all like the cornucopia, as an inducement to gather and fight" (Collins 244). This quote portrays the image of how the government is corrupt and will exercise its immense power in order to strike fear into the public. It also demonstrates how the government does not seem to care about what the hell happens to the players the whole point of the banquet was to gather them up and to pit them against each other in a fight. This relates to war in general because troops are placed in specific areas on purpose because certain areas draw the attention of the enemy. Some troops are just used as a decoy or bait to draw out the enemy. It is sad but it is true. Another example of the government being corrupt is when the rules of the game are changed to where now two teenagers can survive, “The news sinks in. Two tributes can win this year, if they’re both in the same district. Both can live. Before I can stop myself, I call out Peeta’s name” (Collins 244). This demonstrates the sick and twisted minds of the government for as they have changed the rules just get more viewers. By having two tributes being able to survive, the audience would be able to feel more emotion. They won’t just hope for one survivor, they will hope for two, but that is not that case because at the end the government switches the rule again to where only one can survive. The two who are left, Katniss and Peeta, who initially thought they were both going to survive, but they must kill each other until one is left standing. This is a prime example of how corrupt governments manipulate the minds of their people in order to get what they want, when they want it. Overall the book expresses this theme multiple times throughout the story.
To the naked eye The Hunger Games may seem like your typical novel about survival and violence, but upon further analysis the book reveals a deeper meaning of war and corrupt governments. Much like war, the children are put through hell and the cycle of violence, death, and survival continues to spread and infect the world like an epidemic.
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