What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
In The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, we see a number of themes pop out throughout the book. There are themes of love, hate, survival, and power, just to name a few. It tells a story of survival, in which a sixteen year old is forced away from her family and thrown into a battlefield to fight to the end.
The setting takes place in a nation known as Panem, sometime in the future. The once thriving United States no longer thrives and a form of government cruel to its people has arisen. People are separated and put into districts, where they are limited of food, water, and shelter. Young children are sent out to provide food for their families, as is the situation of the main character Katniss, and failing in doing so can result in starvation for the whole family.
Power is obviously the main theme of the book. After putting down a rebellion put forth by the thirteen separate districts of Panem (and destroying the thirteenth district), the Capitol created the Hunger Games to take place each year. How the Hunger Games works is that they choose one boy and one girl from each district (both children) from a box full of names. The result is a number of twenty-four children put in an arena to fight to the death until one is left. The reasoning behind the games is to remind the people of the districts how powerful the Capitol is and how they can kill them in an instant by taking their children away. It works because the Games have put enormous fear upon the people of Panem and even though the games take place once a year, the fear it brings is present year round.
The government has made the situation into an Olympic like scenario, in which they hold festivals for the Hunger Games when truly, the people of Panem despise of it. Unfortunately, any word of resentment coming out of the mouths of the people of Panem and they will be immediately executed publicly, to set an example of what can happen to others:
In The Hunger Games, the main character Katniss stands out not only because she is also the narrator of the book but because of the distinctive and unique characteristics she exemplifies throughout the Hunger Games. Katniss was a key part in giving hope to not only her twelfth district, but to all of the people of Panem. Her diminutive acts of rebellion against the Capitol that started ever since she volunteered for the Hunger Games to take the place of her weak younger sibling, Prim, play key to what can eventually lead to a second rebellion against the Capitol.
Katniss also demonstrates many characteristics not seen by any ordinary sixteen year old. She demonstrates leadership and self-perseverance that plays an important role to her and her family’s survival. When her father was killed by a land mine set up by the cruel government of Panem, Katniss’s family seemed hopeless to survive without him. Her mother was no longer the same; soulless and in grief, she knows she doesn’t have what it takes to take care of Katniss and her younger sister. Luckily, Katniss steps up and takes up the role of keeping the family together. Like her father, Katniss was an extraordinary hunter with her bow and arrow, something that will benefit her in the hunger games that take place later into the book.
Yes, this quote was simple but it summarized Katniss, the sixteen year old who was able to withstand the wrath of twenty three other kids all looking to kill her if the chance was given. Extraordinarily, she outsmarts all of them, including the creators of the Hunger Games: the Capital.
Though a thrilling book, The Hunger Games was not without its weaknesses. One weakness I think stood out of the book was the symbolization of the mocking jay. The mocking jay is located in a number of Suzanne Collins books dealing with the Hunger Games but it doesn’t seem to do a good job of explaining it. In my opinion, I think the mocking jay symbolized hope and rebellion. Mocking jays were hybrids created by the government to be used to their advantage to spy on people. Instead, it backfired and mocking jays memorized harmonic melodies and would sing throughout the districts.
Another weakness, in my opinion, was the failure of the author in giving background information about what exactly occurred before the Hunger Games was set up. This leaves a big question mark in the readers’ mind since the book was about the government’s response to the rebellion that occurred and committed by the thirteen districts of Panem against their government. This weakness leaves the reader with unanswered questions by the time they finish reading the book. Unless the rebellion is discussed in the next two books to the Hunger Games trilogy, there are mysteries that will remain unsolved.
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
In The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, we see a number of themes pop out throughout the book. There are themes of love, hate, survival, and power, just to name a few. It tells a story of survival, in which a sixteen year old is forced away from her family and thrown into a battlefield to fight to the end.
The setting takes place in a nation known as Panem, sometime in the future. The once thriving United States no longer thrives and a form of government cruel to its people has arisen. People are separated and put into districts, where they are limited of food, water, and shelter. Young children are sent out to provide food for their families, as is the situation of the main character Katniss, and failing in doing so can result in starvation for the whole family.
Power is obviously the main theme of the book. After putting down a rebellion put forth by the thirteen separate districts of Panem (and destroying the thirteenth district), the Capitol created the Hunger Games to take place each year. How the Hunger Games works is that they choose one boy and one girl from each district (both children) from a box full of names. The result is a number of twenty-four children put in an arena to fight to the death until one is left. The reasoning behind the games is to remind the people of the districts how powerful the Capitol is and how they can kill them in an instant by taking their children away. It works because the Games have put enormous fear upon the people of Panem and even though the games take place once a year, the fear it brings is present year round.
The government has made the situation into an Olympic like scenario, in which they hold festivals for the Hunger Games when truly, the people of Panem despise of it. Unfortunately, any word of resentment coming out of the mouths of the people of Panem and they will be immediately executed publicly, to set an example of what can happen to others:
“Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch - this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion” (pg. 18).
In The Hunger Games, the main character Katniss stands out not only because she is also the narrator of the book but because of the distinctive and unique characteristics she exemplifies throughout the Hunger Games. Katniss was a key part in giving hope to not only her twelfth district, but to all of the people of Panem. Her diminutive acts of rebellion against the Capitol that started ever since she volunteered for the Hunger Games to take the place of her weak younger sibling, Prim, play key to what can eventually lead to a second rebellion against the Capitol.
Katniss also demonstrates many characteristics not seen by any ordinary sixteen year old. She demonstrates leadership and self-perseverance that plays an important role to her and her family’s survival. When her father was killed by a land mine set up by the cruel government of Panem, Katniss’s family seemed hopeless to survive without him. Her mother was no longer the same; soulless and in grief, she knows she doesn’t have what it takes to take care of Katniss and her younger sister. Luckily, Katniss steps up and takes up the role of keeping the family together. Like her father, Katniss was an extraordinary hunter with her bow and arrow, something that will benefit her in the hunger games that take place later into the book.
“Katniss, the girl who was on fire” (139).
Yes, this quote was simple but it summarized Katniss, the sixteen year old who was able to withstand the wrath of twenty three other kids all looking to kill her if the chance was given. Extraordinarily, she outsmarts all of them, including the creators of the Hunger Games: the Capital.
Though a thrilling book, The Hunger Games was not without its weaknesses. One weakness I think stood out of the book was the symbolization of the mocking jay. The mocking jay is located in a number of Suzanne Collins books dealing with the Hunger Games but it doesn’t seem to do a good job of explaining it. In my opinion, I think the mocking jay symbolized hope and rebellion. Mocking jays were hybrids created by the government to be used to their advantage to spy on people. Instead, it backfired and mocking jays memorized harmonic melodies and would sing throughout the districts.
Another weakness, in my opinion, was the failure of the author in giving background information about what exactly occurred before the Hunger Games was set up. This leaves a big question mark in the readers’ mind since the book was about the government’s response to the rebellion that occurred and committed by the thirteen districts of Panem against their government. This weakness leaves the reader with unanswered questions by the time they finish reading the book. Unless the rebellion is discussed in the next two books to the Hunger Games trilogy, there are mysteries that will remain unsolved.
In conclusion, The Hunger Games was a book about survival, power, and corruption. The book was meant to show what can happen in the future to our beloved democracy, which eventually might not even exist. Katniss, the main characters of the book, was able to save not only herself in the Hunger Games, but she was also able to outsmart the Capital (the government) and maybe lead to hints of a possible second revolution. There are some weaknesses in The Hunger Games but like every book, there are weaknesses. Hopefully, the next book in the Hunger Games trilogy exemplifies similar themes and picks off from where it left off because the ending surely does leaves readers hanging.
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