The Impact and Treatment of Security Threats in the Hunger Games - Essay Example

Introduction The Hunger Games, a science fiction novel produced in 2008 by Suzanne Collins, an American writer, revolves around sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen’s life. She lives in the American north in a post-apocalyptic state named Panem. The state is highly advanced, ruling above all others in the entire United States. The title, hunger games, arises from an annual event held in the state annually in which every state in the nation produces a girl and a boy in their teenage years who are put to fight in a televised battle, only ending in death. Katniss, was not a victim of the axe falling on her to represent District 12 at the hunger games, rather, she took to the risk in place of her younger sister who had been the chosen one. Out of sisterly love, she volunteered to stand in for her. Together with her male counterpart from District 12, Peeta Mellark, they plunge into the challenge which apart from seeing them form a coalition in fighting against the brutal system binds them in a romantic relationship. The book presents many themes of a typical human society, but of the most outstanding themes is security; how its threats impact human society, and what the human race does in addressing such. This discussion text will assess the impact and treatment of security threats as highlighted in the novel The Hunger Games. Henshaw (n.p.) feels that The Hunger Games novel portrays two main concerns of human security breaches; personal rights insecurity and economic insecurity. On the note of personal rights, Henshaw states that the hunger games themselves are the main icons of human rights insecurity as they are overly breached in the novel. One, the Panem state is autocratically ruled by one president Snow, and it emerged after a brutal civil war had wrecked the entire states, in which Panem trampled over all the other states. After the end of the civil war, the individual districts were segregated apart from each other, each being placed under heavy surveillance by government monitors applying much controlled movements of the civilians. This is not the worst part to it as compared to the hunger games events which are made to remind Panem of the civil war. For one, the participants are forcefully selected from the 12 districts, not being allowed any freedom of choice or expression. Again, the selection process is not genuine as is seen in the selection process where it is seen that some teenagers’ names are repeatedly entered to keep their chances of not featuring in the events at zero, and to our understanding, it is a means of punishing them for offenses committed, some of them being as petty as going for extra food rations (Collins 20). The bad side of the punishment is that the only way that one can survive is by sacrificing their human nature and going for the other person’s throat, killing them instantly at their first chance. Failure to kill means that one stands being killed by the other hunger game participant. This is a brutal breach of human dignity as one is forced to be a killer, and as such, every potential participant living in Panem feels that the security of their lives is threatened “…everyone is supposed to celebrate. And a lot of people do, out of relief that their children have been spared for another year” (Collins 16). The right of freedom in movement and privacy is also denied as is seen in Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark‘s lives after they are selected for the hunger games. From these two are earmarked as the participants, their lives are no longer free or private again; they are separated from their families and taken to the Capitol where they are controlled to execute public tributes, preparation exercises, involuntary public appearances and extreme makeovers. It these makeovers that contribute to the aspect of privacy breach in that the costumes provided by the administrators are seen as provocative in a sexual manner and as Henshaw defines this, “…costumes are deliberately provocative and tributes are coached to appear desirable”. Economic insecurity is also dominant in The Hunger Games as is evident in some districts like Katniss’s district of origin, District 12. District 12’s dwellers are destitute and have no governmental or other support as is the case with the capital which is overly lavish and much supportive to its dwellers. For instance, the workers have abundant incomes, the place has excellent transport facilities, and we also understand that food quantity and variety is in abundance. Katniss’s life exposes the life at District 12 where the lack of basic supplies, food security and a supportive economy pushes the villagers to engage in coal mining which is not sufficient to satisfy their daily demands. This is evident with Gale Hawthorne who works for six days every week in the mines but is still unable to meet his daily demands. The issue of food insecurity as resulting from the government’s ignorance and neglect is also evident in that the districts execute the heaviest economic tasks such as the coal mining and agriculture upon which the resources produced are exported to the Capitol. It seems that the excessive control by the government renders the civilians voiceless as they cannot air their grievances of being rewarded inappropriately for their efforts. This is the reason why the districts remain poor while the Capitol seems to be full of wealthy people, who have all they desire to the extent of squandering it. This is seen in the case where Katniss and Peeta while at the capital are offered a special drink which enables one to eat food, vomit it, and then taste some different type of food. This is overly mean and unfair since the people in the districts have almost nothing to eat, in addition to that the districts are the ones that produce the food but do not have any to eat, in addition to that the same government could harbor under it two parities of starving and belching people. In addition to being an inadequate wage provider, the coal mines are endangering human life as is the case with Katniss’s father who died in an accident while working at a coal mine (Collins 9). The insecurities further push the poor and desperate district dwellers to engage in illegal activities such as poaching and other backdoor [black market] activities, all in effort to try and survive. In short, Collins was in support of Anderson’s (113) notion of food availability that it is a basic right and not a reserve for only those with the power to purchase food. In addition, food insecurity is not always an individual’s manifestation of laziness or punishment, but can result from sociopolitical reasons. Although the government’s security strategies seemed to be advanced and almost impossible to breach, the Districts did not have sufficient or even effective security. Referring to Katniss’s District 12 for instance, there was a perimeter wall meant to keep the dwellers in and the predators out but one that Katniss always bypassed since she was a child. We understand that it was her father, who introduced her to the act, teaching her to gather, hunt, and telling between what was friendly and what was dangerous. To the government, hunting, fishing and foraging are illegal since all natural resources belong to the government, but this is what the food insecurity and lack of adequate means of survival has pushed her into (Collins 9). Even after her father’s death, she continued with the trespassing, furthering her hunting, gathering and survival skills on her own. Katniss reveals that while the perimeter fencing was supposed to be electrified, it was never live, a state she attributed to the fact that owing to the government’s ignorance and neglect to the Districts, there was no electricity supply in District 12. It was for this reason that she referred to the fence as “always safe to touch” (Wilson, n.p.). This revelation has two aspects to it; one being that the government had failed or was ignorant in its mandate of providing security to its citizens while putting up dummy fences to create the notion that it was concerned with its people’s security while in real sense, the people were not secure. The second aspect to it is that while the insecurity was supposed to harm the citizen’s it impacted positively on Katniss who as is seen here developed her wit and survival skills from being able to bypass the measure intended to provide security to her District. The forest environment further enabled her to easily navigate and come out of the games which had a forest setting; all thanks to the government’s lagging in provision of food and territorial security. As earlier highlighted, the hunger games are a reminder of the government to its citizens of the past civil war which in addition to the much violence that the government uses in the novel is a means of providing security. Weird as it may sound, (Troyer, n.p.) supports this notion of using manipulation, fear, hate, despair and betrayal in the novel is in fact a mode of creating and maintaining the Districts’ security. The games constitute brutal fighting and killing amongst teenagers, and as nature would have it, it is overly unethical and inhumane to subject children to such atrocities. However, the government seemingly uses its autocracy to subject the Districts to such horrific events in a bid to warn of any traitors or disrupters of order in the larger society mainstream. The violence in the movie includes teens taking other teens lives by smashing heads with rocks, spearing by spears, snapping each other’s heads, and to some extent some are chewed on by rabid dogs. Troyer supports the use of violence as a security measure by stating that the hunger games “pacify the districts and leave the population feeling righteous, superior, and safe”. This it defines as dominant violence as it adds, “… dominant violence whether in daily life or the artificial setting of the games is justified because it offers protection”. This weird security strategy ends up attracting a major reaction from the citizens led by Katniss. Sandwiched between poverty and the deadly arena which is used as an entertainment base by the authorities, Katniss realizes that this cycle will always recur if something is not done to put an end to it. Her realization is what brings real security to the participants of the hunger games, and the entire Panem fraternity. Together with other participants, they device means of weakening the capitol’s power systems which they succeed in doing such as the bomb trap hey set. A bomb is set that hurts one of the soldiers, attracting more soldiers to the scene, after which another bomb goes killing all of them. The final blow hits when she targets the entire system but not individuals, and “accidentally” shoots the wrong president. This last arrow shot marks the end of the autotrophic rule, putting to an end the hunger games, which may mean the restoration of security for all who would have been potential participants in the hunger games of death, restoring security for the poor districts, and also restoring food security for Panem. Concisely, the true security measures triumphed over forced or ironical fabricated security; the system designed its own downfall. Conclusion From the novel’s characters, plot and development, there are numerous outstanding themes which are actual occurrence in today’s world. Key amongst these is the issue of security as the above discussion text highlighted. However, security has two aspects to it in this context; one, the government’s failure in providing economical, food and territorial security, and two, providing security in means that create room for more insecurity. For example, the main event of the novel, the hunger games themselves, were used as a strategy to enhance security by instilling fear in the citizens but they were also a source of insecurity. Those in the teen bracket lived in fear of being picked through the lottery selection process to be representatives of their districts in the death game. Again, the preparations for the games were perceived of as being explicit, breaching their privacy and security. Things however take a turn for the worse after the main character, Katniss, comes to the realization that what the system has actually been doing is humiliating while using them as murder agents, which to the human race is inhumane and unacceptable. She further realizes that the government’s system is bias as was the case between the districts and the capital. Upon this realization, she, Peeta, and the other participants picked for the event teamed up against the system, applying tactics that eventually saw the system come crashing to the ground. This marked the onset of the real insecurity because restoration of power to the people meant the end of economic insecurity, restoration of food security, and most of all restoration of security to all those who would have been potential contenders in the hunger games. Works Cited Anderson, Molly. “Beyond Food Security to Realizing Food Rights in the US.” Journal of Rural Studies 29 (2013): 113-122. Web. 19 March 2014. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games, n.d. Web. 19 March 2014. Henshaw, Alexis. The Hunger Games and Human Security, E-International, 2013. Web. 19 March 2014. Troyer, Marty. The Hunger Games is an Indictment of Violence, Chron, 2013. Web. 19 March 2014. Wilson, Jonathon. The Hunger Games: Five Things That Helped to Bring the Capitol Down, Artifice, 2014. Web. 19 March 2014. Read More