Dustin Schafbuch

Drs. Lorenz and Osheim

Cluster
12/6/14
The Hunger Games
Imagine you live in a world where only the elite and leaders of the world live in luxury
while the rest of humanity is oppressed and exploited. This world is depicted in the book The
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The main character, Katniss, is who the story centers on
while she lives her life in the country of Panem. As a reader, one can identify Katnisss sense of
identity in her community as well as what her belief is in a good life. As the novel progresses we
can see what most of the country believes in to have a good life. Today we can see similar trends
of what is going on in our modern world to what is happening in The Hunger Games. Some of
these parallels can be related to most world issues today.
The setting in The Hunger Games is in a post-apocalyptic world set on the North
American continent. From the disaster from storms and rising sea levels, a new society arose and
thus Panem was created (Collins 18). This new country was founded with a central head called
the Capitol surrounded by thirteen districts. The Capitol claimed to have brought peace and
prosperity to the districts which was not true. Each district was exploited to make goods for the
Capitol so that it may live in riches while the districts suffer oppression from the powerful
Capitol (Collins 18).
With the oppression that the Capitol brought came the Dark Days (Collins). These days
were when the thirteen districts had an uprising against the Capitol, which started a civil war.
Twelve of the districts were defeated while the thirteenth was destroyed by the Capitol (Collins
18). Because of this uprising the Capitol put in place a Treaty of Treason to ensure peace would

be kept so that there would never be another uprising again. In this treaty was the institution of
the Hunger Games (Collins 18).
The Hunger Games were to be punishment for the districts and the rules are simple. Each
year these games are held, and each district must offer up a male and a female between the ages
of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death in the games (Collins 16, 18). The twenty four are
sent to the Capitol to play in an arena there while the whole event is broadcasted across the
whole country of Panem, and the districts are forced to watch (Collins 18). In the end there is
only one victor, and that person brings pride to their district, and with this the Capitol gives more
resources to the district such as food (Collins 19). The hope is that since these games happen,
there will be no uprising for fear of what the Capitol would do. The games show the supreme
authority the Capitol has over the districts and that the districts are there to serve the Capitol
(Collins 19).
In District 12, there is a girl named Katniss who this story centers around. Katniss lives in
the poorest district, and there main production is coal mining in what used to be known as
Appalachia. Katniss has a younger sister named Primrose that she is very protective over. Her
mother suffers from depression from the death of her husband, who was Katnisss father who she
so adored. Katnisss relationship with her mother is not the best because she feels like their
mother abandoned them in their time of need. They needed to be provided for which her mother
was not doing, so Katniss had to take on that role of a parent like her father. Katniss learned
everything from her father. He taught her how to hunt and survive in the wild. She is extremely
skilled in using a bow and arrow to hunt. She usually hunts with her friend, Gale who she has a
love interest in. Katniss is now the caretaker of the family she is a part of, as well as the

community. She is a strong and independent young woman who is also extremely stubborn and
hard headed (Collins 3-15).
The time at when the book is written is the annual seventy fourth Hunger Games. In the
beginning there is a ceremony called a reaping where a representative from the Capitol comes
and draws the names of the two young people who will be the tribute in the Hunger Games
(Collins 10). District 12s representative is Effie Trinket. She has no desire to be in District 12
because she is used to being in the Capitol with all of its riches, and she does not see the actual
poverty and oppression going on in the Capitol (Collins 19).
Effie is the one who draws the names at the reaping, and Primrose Everdeen is the female
tribute who is Katnisss sister (Collins 20). Prim is only twelve, and this makes Katniss sick
because her whole life is spent protecting Prim. Katniss volunteers as tribute to play in the
Hunger Games with the male Peeta Mellark. Katniss and Peeta are taken away to say goodbye to
their families, and soon they are off to the Capitol for training (Collins 34-47).
Katniss and Peeta go to the Capitol and see how excited the people are to see them there.
They are both overwhelmed with how the Capitol can live in such riches where there is more
than enough food for everyone and how much luxury they live in. It is extremely different from
the lives they live in District 12. While in the Capitol Katniss and Peeta train for two weeks to
prepare for the Hunger Games. They form a friendly relationship, and soon Katniss finds out that
Peeta likes her in a romantic way. This enrages Katniss, but later they both are fine after some
convincing to Katniss that this is a good thing (Collins 48-148).
Soon the two are in the arena, and the games begin. Katniss is on her own for most of the
games where she suffers from the obstacles that the Capitol puts in her place. She soon becomes

friends with a girl from District 11 names Rue. Rue reminds Katniss of her sister, Prim, and the
two get along very well and form an alliance. Later on, Rue is attacked, and she is killed in the
games (Collins 234-237). This devastates Katniss because she cannot imagine losing Prim like
she just did with Rue. The two had a sister like relationship (Collins 237-243).
Soon in the games a Captiol member comes on the speaker and says that if there are two
people from each district left, and they are the only two, then they can both win the games
together. Katniss immediately searches out Peeta. She finds him in horrible condition with a gash
in his leg that is slowly killing him. Soon Katniss nurses Peeta back to health while leading him
on and putting on a show for the Capitol and the rest of the country so that they have a chance of
survival. At the end, Peeta and Katniss fight one more person that is still living. Soon he dies,
and the only two left in the arena are Peeta and Katniss. They think they have won, but the
Capitol changes the rules on them again and says that there can only be one winner. One of them
has to die, even though they have become such great friends (and lovers in Peetas eyes). Peeta
wants to sacrifice himself, but Katniss does not let him. She takes poisonous berries and says
they both need to commit suicide so that the Capitol can have no winner. They both put the
berries in their mouths, and soon the Capitol comes on in a panic saying that they both won.
They spit the berries out and go on to be crowned the victors (Collins 247-374).
This act of defiance against the Capitol sparks fear in the president and gives hope to the
rest of the country that they can all take down the oppressive system. Katniss started a spark that
will soon grow into a fire of revolution within Panem that later unfolds in the later books.
Katniss has a certain identity in her community and her family as I have mentioned
before. She take care of her mother and her sister by providing them with the food that she hunts.

She hunts with her friend Gale, who is in the same situation as her with providing for their
families (Collins 7). Being a hunter for Katnisss family is her identity as it is said by her in the
book, It was slow-going at first, but I was determined to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught
fish in nets, sometimes managed to shoot a squirrel or rabbit for stew, and gathered the various
plants that sprung up beneath my feet. Plants are tricky. Many are edible, but one false mouthful
and youre dead. I checked and double-checked the plants I harvested with my fathers pictures. I
kept us alive (Collins 51). She had the duty to her family to keep them alive. This was all she
ever knew growing up because she had to take on such a big role as being a parent figure for her
sister as well as her mother.
Also, Katniss helps her community, which helps her. When she hunts, she tries to get
extra game so that she can trade it in District 12 (Collins 52). In the book, Katniss goes to the
Hob, which is the underground market in District 12 (Collins 11). She is helping the community
because she knows what it is like to go hungry and have the gnawing feeling of hunger in a
persons stomach. Katniss goes on to say, I began to trade at the HobI also sold at the back
doors of the wealthier clients in town (Collins 52). This goes to show that even though she is
still trying to survive, she takes care of the community by bringing in extra food that the Capitol
does not supply. Without Katniss, some may go even hungrier than what they already are.
While Katniss is in the Capitol, she wonders what life may be like if she did not have to
worry about food. What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the
press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for
sustenance if it were so easy to come by? (Collins 65). Katniss starts to question the identity of
the others around her, and entertains the thought of her identity changing if she did not have to
worry about providing for everyone.

I drew on this theme of identity with The Plague and Dr. Rieuxs identity within his
community. Dr. Rieux is an atheist that believes it is the duty of him and his community to take
on the plague that has stricken Oran (Camus 65). He is the caretaker of his community, Oran, in
that he provides care for those stricken with the plague (Camus 13). Since plague became in this
way some men's duty, it revealed itself as what it really was; that is, the concern of all (Camus
65). Rieux feels as if it is necessary that everyone should take care of each other during times of
crisis such as that of the plague. He feels as if this is his duty to care for the people because he
does not believe in God, and while he has the time here he believes people have to care for other
people. Rieux also takes in Tarrou at the end of the novel and cares for him until his death
(Camus 289).
Both Katniss and Rieux have the identity of caring for people in their lives. Rieux cares
for his community as well as Tarrou, and Katniss cares for her family and community by hunting
to keep them alive. They both have trouble with things as well. Katniss has trouble with the fact
that she cant take care of her family while she is in the games (Collins 36). Rieux struggles with
the fact that he can barely help Tarrou while he is dying (Camus 290). Both of them have the
identity of caregivers, and both have their struggles with not being able to help, which is very
bothersome to them because they cannot just stand by and watch. It pains them to do so.
With identity being an individual feeling, the belief of a good life is also subject to
interpretation. Karl Marx would absolutely hate the world that Katniss lives in because the
economic system is extremely unfair. Each district in Panem has one specialty or product they
produce for the Capitol. The closer the district to the Capitol, the better the living conditions and
the better the products they produce for the Capitol. For example, District 1 makes luxury items

for the Capitol and District 12 mines for coal. Some districts are favored more by the Capitol as
well. This is unfair and unequal which Marx does not like.
Since the Capitol lives in luxury and most districts in poverty, the districts are alienated
from their work. The alienation of the worker in his product means not only that his labor
becomes an object, an external existence, but that it exists outside him, independently, as
something alien to him, and that it becomes a power of its own confronting him (Marx 58).
The products that the districts make are not familiar to them. Therefore, they are alienated from
their work and production. The districts never see their products they make because they are sent
to the Capitol so that they might live in riches and luxury. This is something Marx argues against.
The Capitol is like the bourgeoisie and the districts like the proletariats. The modern
bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with clash
antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of
struggle in place of the old ones (Marx 336). Marx is talking about how the bourgeoisie has
created this kind of system to keep the proletariats in their place. This is similar to the districts
situation. The Capitol keeps the districts oppressed with fear.
Katniss is also relatable to Keenan in his virtues. Katniss has the virtue of fidelity in that
she is loyal and faithful to providing for her family. Fidelity is the virtue that nurtures and
sustains the bonds of those special relationships that humans enjoy (Keenan 147). Katniss
displays this through her caring and willingness to sacrifice herself for her sister by volunteering
in the games.
In The Hunger Games we get the sense that Katniss wants a good life where everyone is
equal and that there is no class difference just like Marxs ideas. Her good life is one where they

are equal and not oppressed. This virtue is justice. in justice we believe that each person is
accorded the same basic fair treatment. (Keenan 147). Katniss wants this kind of fair and just
treatment for her people and the people of the Capitol.
The last virtue of Keenan is that of self-care. Keenans definition of self-care is, I
consider the most important task of self-care to be the formation of ones conscience (Keenan
147). Katniss displays this form of forming her conscience by being exposed to the world of the
Capitol which is so foreign to her. She develops a conscience that tells her that none of what she
is seeing is right, and that it cant possibly be the good life.
Today we can see some parallels of The Hunger Games in our world. At the end of
The Hunger Games Katniss sparks a revolution that later progresses in an all-out uprising against
the Capitol. The districts start fighting for freedom and equality instead of oppression and
exploitation. We can see this today with the movement Occupy Wall Street.
In Occupy Wall Street, the people of the United States had the lower Manhattan streets
filled with enraged citizens because of the economic state the country was in (Dean 12). The
United States middle class citizens say they are the ninety nine percent while the extremely
wealthy are the one percent (Dean 13). This can be drawn to the Capitol being the wealthy while
the rest of the country are the districts serving the rich. There is a huge wage gap within the
United States that this movement is trying to eliminate (Dean 13). About twenty five years ago
the wage gap was twelve to thirty three percent in the country compared to todays ninety nine to
one percent (Dean 13). The people are fed up and started their mini revolution against the
government and corporate America just like Katniss started the spark of revolution in Panem
(Dean 13). The injustice that is going on in both worlds should be stopped, and the only way to

do this is to get the attention of the government and people. There is power in numbers. The
whole idea behind Occupy Wall Street was that we, the people, would go to the iconic center of
global capitalism, which is Wall Street, and we would take it over. (Middlewood 32). The
movement of Occupy Wall Street was started by a little spark just like the uprising in Panem. The
people wanted their country back.
After reviewing The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, we can see that there is a theme
of what the good life is. In this novel the good life is that of attaining equality and doing away
with oppression of people. The good life is overcoming the injustices that everyone sees in the
world, and the only way to overcome it is to spark an interest in changing the system just like the
Occupy Wall Street movement. The Hunger Games may not be so different than what we are
living today.

Works Cited

Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York: Modern Library, 1948. Print.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.
Dean, Amy. "Occupy Wall Street." Harvard International Review 33.4 (2012): 12-15. Business
Source Elite. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
Keenan, James F. Moral Wisdom: Lessons and Texts from the Catholic Tradition. Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Print.
Marx, Karl. "Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844." Marx's Economic and
Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
Middlewood, Erin. "The Spark For Occupy Wall Street." Progressive 76.3 (2012): 32-34.
Corporate ResourceNet. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.