I absolutely loved reading The Hunger Games. It is a futuristic fictional novel set in a country named Panem, which once was North America. The main character is a sixteen year old girl named Katniss Everdeen. She lives in district twelve, one of thirteen districts in Panem. Katniss’ father is dead and she lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim. The people of district twelve are very poor and survive on the meager portions given to them by the government of Panem and whatever they are able to illegally hunt and gather on their own.
Panem is ruled by the Capitol, which lies in the center of the thirteen districts. The country was the result of the demise of North America due to fires, droughts, and floods. The districts later rebelled against the Capitol, only to be defeated. District thirteen’s population was totally destroyed. As a consequence for the uprising, the Capitol began the Hunger Games to impose the government’s power on its citizens.
The Hunger Games required each district to select two people known as tributes between the ages of twelve and eighteen to compete in a contest. A reaping is held in each district to determine which two contestants will represent their district. The participants would be required to kill each other until only one person remained. The games were broadcast on live television as a sporting event. The winning contestant will be awarded with a life of ease back home and the winning district will be given gifts such as food for the next year.
Katniss’ district meets in the square to draw the names of its’ two contestants for the games. The first name drawn was Prim, Katniss’ little sister. Katniss knew Prim would have no chance surviving the games and immediately volunteered to take her place. The other contestant selected was a boy named Peeta Mellark, known by Katniss. After the selection, the tributes are taken into custody before the games. They are transported to the Capitol by train for the competition after saying goodbye to family and friends.
The contestants are escorted by two citizens from the district, Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy to help prepare the tributes for the games. The train has clothes, food and showers for the contestants. These are luxuries never experienced in district twelve which will be useful in preparation for the games.
Upon arrival at the Capitol the tributes are taken to a Remake Center for a complete makeover and hair styling. Each district has their own stylist responsible for making the tributes representative of its own district. Since district twelve is a coal mining area, their job is to reflect that area with the makeover and the costume worn to the opening ceremonies. Cinna, the stylist in charge of Katniss, decides to design a costume which will burn to signify the coal region of district twelve. The hope is the tributes will become popular with the viewers and may receive help from them as sponsors during the games.
In preparation of the games, the tributes are taken to the Training Center. Here they will be able to eat well and discuss their strategies for the competition. For three days the tributes train together and meet the tributes from other districts. Survival skills and fighting techniques are practiced as well. The Training Center gives the tributes the chance to size up the competition by observing them in the skills center. The Training Center session ends with tributes performing skills for the game makers.
Katniss and Peeta become known as “star-crossed lovers”. I thought that this relationship that develops in the midst of war was an unexpected twist. Katniss was such a strong female character who played the game very intelligently. I was disappointed to find that she was faking her love for Peeta because she knew it would appeal to viewers and supporters on television.
In the New York Times article, I thought that it was interesting that Suzanne Collins used to write for preschoolers television shows. This information caught me off guard because I would have never imagined that someone would who write such vivid descriptions of fighting and death could be the same person writing for Nick Jr. What a range of talent!
When I read that Suzanne Collins grew up moving from military base to military base, I understood where her knowledge and level of comfort with the topic of war had originated from. Collins’ father made sure to educate her on many aspects of war. The Hunger Games seemed to be the perfect way for Collins to educate young adults about the rigidness of war. Collins stated, “I don’t write about adolescence,” she said. “I write about war. For adolescents.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/magazine/mag-10collins-t.html?pagewanted=all Kay Sambell suggests that dystopian stories are warnings of what the future may hold unless changes are made. While reading the articles I thought that the connection made between high school and The Hunger Games, where the social hierarchy is evident and the participants are only concerned about their own well-being. I think that this connection could be made by many young adults and would make The Hunger Games an appealing book choice for them. I can also see why adults are drawn to this book. There is so much action packed into this book it is hard to put down. The possibility of a future such as the one Collins describes made my mind wander. I associate this thought process with people who go to see scary movies. Before you enter you set your self up for getting scared, you sort of want it to happen. I found myself more involved in the story when I slipped into the mindset of, “something like this could happen”. Great read! http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/06/14/100614crat_atlarge_miller?currentPage=all
Stacy Durham 
Stacy-
I am glad you enjoyed The Hunger Games. The social hierarchy is evident and the participants are only concerned with their own well-being. I can see now, even more so than before, on why this book would be a better choice for a young adult or an adult reader. I was upset that my students couldn’t read it as I thought it would strike up some interest, but through rereading and thinking more on the book I have realized it would be way above their head. They could read it, but I don’t think they would truly understand what was going on. If they were to understand, I am not sure if they would be mature enough for that content yet. I like your analogy with scary movies- it is exactly what I do. I go in scared before I have even watched the movie which makes it even scarier at times. Slipping into the mindset that something similar could possibly happen would get anyone more involved into the book just as the mindset of a scary movie. Great thought!
I thought the connection to the Hunger Games and High school was interesting point also. High school probably does not feel much different than the hunger games to some students. I also thought about the “this may happen to us one day too.”
First, I was also surprised to learn from that article that Suzanne Collins used to write for Nick Jr. and shows for preschoolers considering how different the nature of the material is in The Hunger Games. I agree that is just shows her wide range of talent.
I was interested in your comment about you being disappointed in Katniss faking her love for Peeta in order to get supporters. I agree that this seems beneath such a strong character, but I think that it just goes to show how committed Katniss was to making it out of the arena alive. I think that her need to get back to her family in order to once again be the provider and ensure her family’s survival is what led her to do whatever she needed to to make sure she was the one to survive the games. When Peeta said to her in the training center that he just wanted to die as himself, Katniss responded that she just couldn’t afford to think that way. Ultimately I think once the games said that there was a possibility that both she and Peeta could win the games – she was committed to doing anything she needed to get them out alive.
I’m glad you enjoyed The Hunger Games…when you have time you should try reading the sequels! I thought it was interesting how Collins purposely stated that her books were not intended to be metaphor for adolescence, they were intended to teach adolescents about war. However, like you said, it would be easy for teenagers to feel a connection to the book because they feel that it mirrors their own social world. I think it’s always interesting to see that we can all get something different from the same book. If high school students want to make a personal connection to the book in this way, why not let them? I think one of the joys of reading for pleasure is that we can take from it what we want and/or need. We’re not held in by guidelines.