24/08/2017
Book Review: The Hunger Games
Natasha
3rd Semester,
2017
ZEST-The English Society,DDUC
“District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety.” is the world that Suzanne Collins creates in her well-acclaimed novels: The Hunger Games Trilogy. Set in the future, it portrays a dystopia in Panem, a country, with a better-off Capitol and twelve poverty stricken districts. The Capitol organises an annual televised competition called ‘The Hunger Games’ wherein children from the districts must mandatorily participate. It is in this backdrop that one gets to see the protagonist: Katniss Everdeen.
The first book of the trilogy introduces us to the infamous Hunger Games. It is a punishment in response of the uprising that the districts did against the Capitol. Therefore, each year two people between the age of twelve to eighteen are chosen from each district as tributes to participate in the games. Hence, twenty four tributes have to battle against each other until there is a lone survivor. The Capital is totalitarian which brutally expresses its power over its people. One gets to feel the panic, stress and oppression of the Capitol along with the characters. This is because Suzanne Collins creates this tension with the use of language which constantly evokes imagery in the novel. Moreover, there is a first person narrative and thus one can deeply connect with the emotions, fears and sarcasm of the protagonist against the Capitol.
First of all, we have got to admire the strong character that Suzanne Collins has brought to life through her writing. Katniss Everdeen, sixteen years old, is a mentally strong girl who becomes the caretaker of the family at the mere age of eleven. Hence, the onus of keeping her family fed with whatever she can find by foraging and hunting. She has become insensitive towards death and has mastered the art of hiding her emotions in the dystopian environment she is forced to live in. Therefore, she is a hunter, fighter and a survivor. Later in the novel Katniss is known by the epithet “The girl who was on fire” becoming the symbol of defiance against the Capitol.
The Hunger Games presents the anguishes of the tributes as a source of mass entertainment. The suffering of the tributes is what determines the success of the games. It has been mentioned that the recurring feature in all the successful games is the slow death of the tributes with all the gory and gruesome spectacle of it. The games remind us of the gladiator games in Ancient Rome which were also part of entertainment then wherein people volunteered or were even forced into the arena to either kill or be killed. One can also draw a parallel between the Hunger Games and the reality shows of today. The famous reality show where people are locked in the house and have to try to survive offering their real lives to be televised for mass entertainment. Though, they are not violent as the Hunger Games, they portray the same essence of the games where people are objectified and valued in terms of how much entertainment they can provide.
All in all, The Hunger Games is a book that will appeal to the young adults. It has a plot that will compel the reader to finish the book at a rapid pace. Not only does it explore the themes of government power, sacrifices, individual freedom but also about being defiant against the authoritarian control and to retain one’s own identity. A must read novel, so go delve into the world of The Hunger Games and “May the odds be ever in your favor!”
