The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins Introduction to the Novel
Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of a group?
Do you think the government should expect citizens to selfsacrifice? If so, to what degree?
Imagine competing in a live televised reality show in which the winner is showered with gifts such as
a new home, money for life, and a career mentoring new opponents each year?
But if you LOSE You pay with your LIFE.
Still want to play? What if you didn t have a choice?
Sixteen-year old Katniss Everdeen doesn t have to imagine. This is her reality.
The Hunger Games trilogy is written by Suzanne Collins. She began writing for children s television shows before writing her first novel. She is also the author of The Underland Chronicles.
She was inspired to write The Hunger Games after she had been channel surfing between watching live coverage of the Iraq war and a reality TV show.
She was also influenced by mythology, especially the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Roman gladiator battles as entertainment for the masses contributed, as well.
Dystopia is a fictional society characterized by human misery, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. The government is usually totalitarian: one that exercises control over the freedom, will, or thought of others. Utopia is an imaginary place that is ideally perfect: free from poverty and suffering.
It is many years in the future, and the world is not the same world we live in today. Katniss lives in what used to be North America, but is now known as Panem.
Panem is made up of 12 different districts. Each of these districts has a particular industry and each is representative of a Dystopian society.
The Capitol is a Utopian society.
The Capitol District 12 The land mass represents what would be left of North America if the sea levels were to rise 100 feet.
After the last uprising, The Capitol destroyed District 13 to squash the rebellion. Now, District 12 is the farthest out from the Capitol, tucked away in the heart of the Appalachia. The Appalachian mountain range is one of the oldest in the world and dates back more than 480 million years.
The Appalachian region is known for its natural resources and the mining industries. District 12 provides The Capitol with mined coal. Coal is crucial to the energy supply of the city, though it is considered dirty and lowly to be a miner. Without the coal, The Capitol would not be able to continue on the way it is.
Katniss s father died in a mine explosion when she was 11 and her younger sister, Prim, just eight years old. Her mother became depressed, leaving Katniss to fend for her family.
She turned to the woods--the forbidden area outside the district 12 fence--and began hunting and gathering in order to feed her sister, mother, and herself.
Seventy four years ago, the thirteen districts rebelled against the Capitol
but they lost...
As punishment for the rebellion against the Capitol, the district citizens are forced into a life of poverty, starvation, and hard labor
while the Capitol citizens enjoy a life of luxury and ease.
To further repress the district citizens, the Capitol required all children aged 12-18 to enter their names into a lottery or reaping to see who will compete in the annual Hunger Games competition.
Every district child aged 12 to 18 MUST enter their name into the reaping.
Each year in the Hunger Games, twenty-four district children enter the arena to fight to the death. Only one will survive and be crowned the victor.
The Capitol forces all citizens to watch The Hunger Games competition on live TV. It was created by the Capitol to remind the district citizens of their past wrongs. Watching their children die is the district citizens repentance for the rebellion.
If, however, they wanted food for themselves and their families, they could sign up for tesserae (which provided grain and oil for one person for a year). The catch? Their names would be entered into the reaping multiple times for each family member who needs food.
Therefore, the poorest and hungriest children with their names in the most are most likely to have their names called. But not always
And that is where the story begins Read the first two chapters before proceeding.