ANALYSIS
Though it's easy to classify The Hunger Games as an adventure story, its implications are far deeper. Clear from the very beginning of the novel is the biting criticism of our society and economic divisions. But equally important is the complexity of the narrator's characterization, which will develop to sustain growth and increasing conflict over the course of the novel and two sequels as well.
Katniss's character conflicts are the most immediate, since she is the story's narrator. She narrates in the present tense, an effective choice since that leaves the reader uncertain whether she will survive the Games intact. Were the story narrated in past tense, it would indicate to us that she must have survived since she is telling the tale. The narration is also effective in providing dramatic irony throughout the novel, as we can infer much about Katniss both from what she chooses to tell us and how she chooses to tell it.
Katniss is an example of a stoic hero – she is well aware of the unfairness of the world around her, having had to grow up so quickly to provide for her mother and Prim. However, she has quashed both her emotional responses to her totalitarian society as well as her childish identity so that she can maintain the hardness necessary to be an effective hunter and provider. A contemporary definition of a stoic is one who does not show his or her emotions, but the tradition of stoicism, going back to the Greeks, is much deeper. In the classical philosophies, a stoic is one who steels himself to lose everything in order to find true freedom. Katniss will, through the novel, come to accept this philosophy while simultaneously realizing that she does have a deeply empathetic emotional side.
But in Chapter One, she has chosen to adopt an "indifferent mask" so as to avoid becoming the woman her mother became after her husband's death – an emotionally overcome person who was incapable of providing for her family. In fact, it seems that she has eschewed passion and tenderness ever since her father's demise. Katniss forces herself not to consider any romantic feelings for Gale, though the reader sees right away that this is somewhat disingenuous. She also has no playfulness in her life. As strong as she is, we should never forget that she is 16 years old. Instead of allowing herself the joys of childhood, she has transferred all hopes for childish innocence to her sister Prim, who serves as a personification of innocence for her. She not only refuses to allow Prim to hunt, but is also convinced she will spare her sister whatever hardships are possible. So while Prim gets to stay an innocent, Katniss has become an adult, trading in the Hob, acting as provider, and throwing away childish things. All of these elements are set up in Chapter 1 to be challenged throughout her adventure.
Katniss is the reader's way into the story, but the story has implications far greater than she could ever know. The Hunger Games can easily be viewed through a Marxist lens, since at its core is a vicious criticism of how class divisions are maintained not merely through the threat of punishment, but also through spectacle, used to divert the masses from confronting the true injustice in their world.
The social class divisions are extreme in Panem. Not only is the divide between the wealthy (who we don't see up close until the Capitol in Chapter 4) and the poor enormous, but it is openly acknowledged by the use of Districts. Gone is the "rugged individualism" that historically is associated with North America, where a citizen could work hard and do whatever he or she wants through intelligence, skill, and force of will. Instead, the Capitol has created a system where each district is forced to commit to one industry. It is not accident that the social mobility we associate with the United States has been traded for what resembles a medieval guild system, where children have no choice but to enter the occupation of their parents. What's more, the workers of each district are unable to reap the benefits of their work. This is apparent because District 12, which provides coal, an energy source, is nevertheless deprived of continual electricity. Materials are produced by a working class, but are then appropriated by a higher authority. Thus, there is no possibility that District 12 will ever grow more prosperous, even though it bears the acknowledged low spot on the social ladder.
Even within District 12, the class divisions are apparent – Katniss is the poorest of the poor, living in "the Seam." Some resentments surface through the chapter, especially when she and Gale confront the Mayor's daughter. And finally, the most severe indicator of class divisions in Panem is the use of tesserae, the system of trading extra entries in the lottery for food supplies. This system is a blatant "poor tax," ensuring that the poor can never crawl from their poverty and in fact punishing them for it. It calls to mind Harlem Renaissance writer James Baldwin's famous saying: "Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor."
The severity of the injustice raises the question why the society does not revolt, especially since they are a population capable of revolution. They rebelled once and lost, but things seem to have only gotten worse. It is from this question that the novel's most extreme social statement becomes apparent, a statement that indicts not only the brutal Capitol for Panem's injustice, but in fact all of society itself. It is a great irony that Panem civilization is maintained through the use of such an uncivilized practice as the Hunger Games. Yet the Capitol is so proficient at shrouding the Games in ritual and tradition – see the ceremony of the reaping for myriad examples – that this brutality becomes the linking social force. The population, forced to watch these games, nevertheless revels in them to the point that they no longer question the brutality. Katniss, our hero, who otherwise is full of such deep love for her family and friend Gale, never seems to question the Games in this Chapter. The criticism in here derives from the theory of the "spectacle," the idea that the masses of our society are distracted by ubiquitous entertainment so that we do not realize the truly terrible injustices being perpetrated. In other words, though the poor in our world are a powerful force in numbers, they are kept from rebelling through a world built on commodities, on vacuous television entertainment, and on traditions that they do not question. This is very much the case in the Hunger Games, where the games have the air of an extremely popular reality television show. Collins suggests that we allow ourselves to be distracted by vacuous, uncivilized entertainments that only suggest the lower qualities of humanity, while the world is growing more unjust by the day, the wealth gap increases, atrocities are committed in the name of justice, and lies are spoon-fed to the population through these very entertainments. Our very fascination with the details of the Games - which Collins will voyeuristically describes for us through the remainder of the novels - is a reflection of our own willingness to allow ourselves to be enraptured by such spectacle.
Finally, it is worth considering the influence of Greek and Roman history and literature on the novel, all of which is set up in the first chapter.
The first is the connection between the Hunger Games and Roman gladiator fights. Though gladiator fights are often portrayed as heroic in our popular entertainments, the truth is they were horrific and violent events, where lower rungs of society were put in a ring to battle to the death while thousands of people watched complacently, unaware of the ironic separation between the great civilization of Rome and the uncivilized brutality they were sponsoring. The games in Rome grew progressively more frequent and violent with growing unemployment as the Roman empire expanded, bringing more slaves in for labor and hence taking jobs from citizens. In order to keep its ever-growing lower classes from revolt, Roman emperors sold the games as a great Roman tradition, in effect orchestrating a "spectacle" to keep people in line. Another Roman connection is in the tradition of the Stoic. Roman tragedian Seneca is connected with the school of stoicism, particularly the idea that by being willing to give up everything, one can find freedom and greatness. This concept, very much tied to Katniss, is a final connection to Rome. The end of the first chapter, when Katniss effectively gives her own life for Prim's, is the first step towards this form of stoic heroism. A character named Seneca also provides an important realization of her stoicism at the end of the novel.
Names are also carefully chosen for significance. The generic name for katniss the plant, for which Katniss Everdeen was named, is Sagittaria, from "sagitta," the Latin word for "arrow." Sagittarius is a Zodiac sign which is associated both with archery and with fire. In later chapters, fire will become Katniss's symbol in the Games. Panem is the name of the country in which the story takes place, and while the name evokes a corruption of Pan-American, "panem" is also the Latin for bread. This is a reference to the expression "panem et circenses," or "bread and circuses." In the waning days of the Roman empire, the increasingly stratified population was manipulated into submission through the provision of cheap food and distracting spectacle - much like the citizens of Panem. Finally, the "tesserae" of ancient Roman times was a token exchanged for grain, and was also used as a theater ticket and as dice.
Buy Study Guide Cite this page
Next Section
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 2-4
Previous Section
Quotes and Analysis
STUDY GUIDE SECTIONS
The Hunger Games Summary
About The Hunger Games
Character List
Glossary
Themes
Quotes and Analysi
ANALYSIS
Though it's easy to classify The Hunger Games as an adventure story, its implications are far deeper. Clear from the very beginning of the novel is the biting criticism of our society and economic divisions. But equally important is the complexity of the narrator's characterization, which will develop to sustain growth and increasing conflict over the course of the novel and two sequels as well.
Katniss's character conflicts are the most immediate, since she is the story's narrator. She narrates in the present tense, an effective choice since that leaves the reader uncertain whether she will survive the Games intact. Were the story narrated in past tense, it would indicate to us that she must have survived since she is telling the tale. The narration is also effective in providing dramatic irony throughout the novel, as we can infer much about Katniss both from what she chooses to tell us and how she chooses to tell it.
Katniss is an example of a stoic hero – she is well aware of the unfairness of the world around her, having had to grow up so quickly to provide for her mother and Prim. However, she has quashed both her emotional responses to her totalitarian society as well as her childish identity so that she can maintain the hardness necessary to be an effective hunter and provider. A contemporary definition of a stoic is one who does not show his or her emotions, but the tradition of stoicism, going back to the Greeks, is much deeper. In the classical philosophies, a stoic is one who steels himself to lose everything in order to find true freedom. Katniss will, through the novel, come to accept this philosophy while simultaneously realizing that she does have a deeply empathetic emotional side.
But in Chapter One, she has chosen to adopt an "indifferent mask" so as to avoid becoming the woman her mother became after her husband's death – an emotionally overcome person who was incapable of providing for her family. In fact, it seems that she has eschewed passion and tenderness ever since her father's demise. Katniss forces herself not to consider any romantic feelings for Gale, though the reader sees right away that this is somewhat disingenuous. She also has no playfulness in her life. As strong as she is, we should never forget that she is 16 years old. Instead of allowing herself the joys of childhood, she has transferred all hopes for childish innocence to her sister Prim, who serves as a personification of innocence for her. She not only refuses to allow Prim to hunt, but is also convinced she will spare her sister whatever hardships are possible. So while Prim gets to stay an innocent, Katniss has become an adult, trading in the Hob, acting as provider, and throwing away childish things. All of these elements are set up in Chapter 1 to be challenged throughout her adventure.
Katniss is the reader's way into the story, but the story has implications far greater than she could ever know. The Hunger Games can easily be viewed through a Marxist lens, since at its core is a vicious criticism of how class divisions are maintained not merely through the threat of punishment, but also through spectacle, used to divert the masses from confronting the true injustice in their world.
The social class divisions are extreme in Panem. Not only is the divide between the wealthy (who we don't see up close until the Capitol in Chapter 4) and the poor enormous, but it is openly acknowledged by the use of Districts. Gone is the "rugged individualism" that historically is associated with North America, where a citizen could work hard and do whatever he or she wants through intelligence, skill, and force of will. Instead, the Capitol has created a system where each district is forced to commit to one industry. It is not accident that the social mobility we associate with the United States has been traded for what resembles a medieval guild system, where children have no choice but to enter the occupation of their parents. What's more, the workers of each district are unable to reap the benefits of their work. This is apparent because District 12, which provides coal, an energy source, is nevertheless deprived of continual electricity. Materials are produced by a working class, but are then appropriated by a higher authority. Thus, there is no possibility that District 12 will ever grow more prosperous, even though it bears the acknowledged low spot on the social ladder.
Even within District 12, the class divisions are apparent – Katniss is the poorest of the poor, living in "the Seam." Some resentments surface through the chapter, especially when she and Gale confront the Mayor's daughter. And finally, the most severe indicator of class divisions in Panem is the use of tesserae, the system of trading extra entries in the lottery for food supplies. This system is a blatant "poor tax," ensuring that the poor can never crawl from their poverty and in fact punishing them for it. It calls to mind Harlem Renaissance writer James Baldwin's famous saying: "Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor."
The severity of the injustice raises the question why the society does not revolt, especially since they are a population capable of revolution. They rebelled once and lost, but things seem to have only gotten worse. It is from this question that the novel's most extreme social statement becomes apparent, a statement that indicts not only the brutal Capitol for Panem's injustice, but in fact all of society itself. It is a great irony that Panem civilization is maintained through the use of such an uncivilized practice as the Hunger Games. Yet the Capitol is so proficient at shrouding the Games in ritual and tradition – see the ceremony of the reaping for myriad examples – that this brutality becomes the linking social force. The population, forced to watch these games, nevertheless revels in them to the point that they no longer question the brutality. Katniss, our hero, who otherwise is full of such deep love for her family and friend Gale, never seems to question the Games in this Chapter. The criticism in here derives from the theory of the "spectacle," the idea that the masses of our society are distracted by ubiquitous entertainment so that we do not realize the truly terrible injustices being perpetrated. In other words, though the poor in our world are a powerful force in numbers, they are kept from rebelling through a world built on commodities, on vacuous television entertainment, and on traditions that they do not question. This is very much the case in the Hunger Games, where the games have the air of an extremely popular reality television show. Collins suggests that we allow ourselves to be distracted by vacuous, uncivilized entertainments that only suggest the lower qualities of humanity, while the world is growing more unjust by the day, the wealth gap increases, atrocities are committed in the name of justice, and lies are spoon-fed to the population through these very entertainments. Our very fascination with the details of the Games - which Collins will voyeuristically describes for us through the remainder of the novels - is a reflection of our own willingness to allow ourselves to be enraptured by such spectacle.
Finally, it is worth considering the influence of Greek and Roman history and literature on the novel, all of which is set up in the first chapter.
The first is the connection between the Hunger Games and Roman gladiator fights. Though gladiator fights are often portrayed as heroic in our popular entertainments, the truth is they were horrific and violent events, where lower rungs of society were put in a ring to battle to the death while thousands of people watched complacently, unaware of the ironic separation between the great civilization of Rome and the uncivilized brutality they were sponsoring. The games in Rome grew progressively more frequent and violent with growing unemployment as the Roman empire expanded, bringing more slaves in for labor and hence taking jobs from citizens. In order to keep its ever-growing lower classes from revolt, Roman emperors sold the games as a great Roman tradition, in effect orchestrating a "spectacle" to keep people in line. Another Roman connection is in the tradition of the Stoic. Roman tragedian Seneca is connected with the school of stoicism, particularly the idea that by being willing to give up everything, one can find freedom and greatness. This concept, very much tied to Katniss, is a final connection to Rome. The end of the first chapter, when Katniss effectively gives her own life for Prim's, is the first step towards this form of stoic heroism. A character named Seneca also provides an important realization of her stoicism at the end of the novel.
Names are also carefully chosen for significance. The generic name for katniss the plant, for which Katniss Everdeen was named, is Sagittaria, from "sagitta," the Latin word for "arrow." Sagittarius is a Zodiac sign which is associated both with archery and with fire. In later chapters, fire will become Katniss's symbol in the Games. Panem is the name of the country in which the story takes place, and while the name evokes a corruption of Pan-American, "panem" is also the Latin for bread. This is a reference to the expression "panem et circenses," or "bread and circuses." In the waning days of the Roman empire, the increasingly stratified population was manipulated into submission through the provision of cheap food and distracting spectacle - much like the citizens of Panem. Finally, the "tesserae" of ancient Roman times was a token exchanged for grain, and was also used as a theater ticket and as dice.
Buy Study Guide Cite this page
Next Section
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 2-4
Previous Section
Quotes and Analysis
STUDY GUIDE SECTIONS
The Hunger Games Summary
About The Hunger Games
Character List
Glossary
Themes
Quotes and Analysi
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..