Analysis of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Essay Example

11 April The Hunger Games The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins is a thrilling three part story about the Capitol, its twelve districts and the people that live within it, fighting for survival. The story revolves around the life of Katniss, a young woman, trying to feed her family and help them survive. She is the backbone of her family and the story displays her strong emotions as she gets through the days in order to fight against her toughest competitor, who by chance, also turns out to be her object of love and attraction as the two develop close relations amongst each other. The author has been able to portray a wonderful story of love, hate, well as unity and the guts to have fighting instincts and patience within an individual; all the qualities that help him assist his own family in surviving in the modern day as well. The trilogy incorporates three major themes, including independence, government control, and survival, to illustrate the post-apocalyptic world that lacks the foundation of the society. The Hunger Games is an excellent novel about the lives of those that have been forced to participate in the survival of the fittest. Every district must sacrifice one young boy or girl who can fight for them and help them win a repute for themselves. The story revolves aorund the life of Katniss, a braveheart, desperately trying to seek her identity along with doing her best to survive in the hunger games. Along with her mother and sister Prim, Katniss Everdeen lives in the twelfth district of Panem, and fights every single day in order to bring a square meal home to feed her family. She is a tough woman, with the mind and heart of a valiant man, but the emotions and feelings of a woman. On an annual basis an individual is selected from each district in order to participate in the Hunger Games; a pursuit for survival. Unfortunately for Katniss, her sister Prim gets selected, forcing her to take her place instead in order to protect her. In many ways thus, Katniss is like the man of the family, taking care of the pack, and feeding them in order to help them grow and develop day by day. Soon as she enters the Games, she meets with Peeta from another district, a young man whom she helps to survive. She teaches him all that she knows and develops intimate relations with him over time. As her feelings for him grow, she finds that survival does not only include satisfying hunger and clothing oneself, but also helping oneself mature by understanding emotions and feelings. The characters within the story itself are very compelling; they provide for a gripping novel which leaves the reader from doing nothing but turning the pages. Innumerable instances have been provided within the book which talk about the stability of the region that they were living in, and how the thought process of the characters participating in the games are affected by the harsh ruling over the Capitol. Katniss is a strong youg woman and provides for her family; she has accepted her fate at birth and tries her best to assist them in living a substantiate lifestyle. This is clear when she says, “It was slow-going at first, but I was determined to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught fish in nets, sometimes managed to shoot a squirrel or rabbit for stew, and gathered the various plants that sprung up beneath my feet. Plants are tricky. Many are edible, but one false mouthful and you're dead. I checked and double-checked the plants I harvested with my father's pictures. I kept us alive.” (Collins, Suzanne 4.19) She has truly been portrayed as the rock of her family, helping to send out a moral message to all young women about their inner strength and conduct towards society and family. Despite this however, the main theme that the novel revolves around is survival of the fittest; this means that every individual needs to keep that fighting spirit alive within them in order to rebel against the imposition of oppression of the Capitol. The main purpose of the Games was to ensure that a lot of hostility erupted among the participants from different districts, thus creating a great amount of confusion and strife within the districts itself, so that they would destroy themselves and have to live under the power of the Capitol for the rest of their existence. This has been one of the main ways of any government trying to overthrow its people in order to gain more support and muster enough encouragement for them to go on as the ‘harbinger of welfare’ for the people that it is supposed to serve. (Suzanne 296) Katniss is also a survivor and this causes her to become a celebrity. According to the story, she is only concerned with one aspect of life; how to stay alive; whether or not she is in the worst of situations, her main aim is to make sure that her survival instinct never dies. This trait also makes her not so sentimental and she is able to control her emotions and take situations within her stride. However, within the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are able to develop a wonderful relationship among themselves, helping to foster and care for each other as they understand different ways of surviving. Thus, they learn to become independent on their own as well as within their relationship. Despite this however, Katniss does not let herself fall into the trap of loving Peeta so deeply that she would be distracted from her other duties of staying alive and helping her family. Furthermore, according to the games, they are supposed to kill each other – whoever kills the other wins, and thus they are faced with another dilemma of how to handle the circumstance that they have chanced upon. Katniss thus faces the confusion of being a woman and handling her mind and her heart at the same time, which proves to be difficult for her. At this point, she is seen breaking down at times, not knowing what to give into. However, she still manages to handle the problem with a steadfast frame of mind and emerges victorious through her efforts. Therefore, even though the Capitol has its eyes on the various districts and tries to control them through the powers and functions that it has established for itself, Katniss and Peeta are able to break that bond by helping the other districts know that if they come together and spread love and affection amongst themselves then they will be able to survive in a much better manner. Even though they maintained feelings of hostility towards one another in the beginning, they understand these feelings that the government was trying to instil within them and come to terms with the fact that working in tandem with one another is the best way to go about winning the Hunger Games. Finally, the two are able to reconcile, despite having to face each other in the final battle of eating poisonous berries; they learn to overthrow each other by giving into each other in such a manner that there is no winner or loser; in this manner, the various districts understand that a winner will only emerge when they work together against the unfair government and overthrow it. That is ultimately their biggest challenge, and not defeating each other, which is merely a trap lay down by the Capitol. Works Cited Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholatic Press. Print. "Katniss Everdeen." Shmoop. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . "Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins." The Parchment Girl. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . "The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins Book Summary." The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins CliffsNotes. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . "Hunger Games; An Apocalyptic Future." Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . Read More