Dystopia In The Hunger Games

After reading “The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins, I believe that The Hunger Games world is an extreme dystopian society. According to ReadWriteThink, a dystopian society, which is an “imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control,” exists when some characteristics exist (Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics). Collins used many of these characteristics mentioned in the ReadWriteThink paper to show that citizens of Panem live in a dystopia, and these characteristics are the restricted information, constant surveillance, dehumanized people and total control. Through the novel, the readers can

As mentioned before, the Capitol wanted to know what people say or do. Therefore, the put people of Panem under surveillance the whole time. It is shown in the novel many times. In addition, people are always scared that the government could hear them, even if people know that they are not under surveillance now. However, a strong example is when Effie Trinket was eating with Katniss, Peeta and the rest of the team; she said, “It’s their job to pay attention to you. And just because you come from District Twelve is no excuse to ignore you.” Then Katniss says that her “eyes dart around as if she’s said something totally outrageous,”(107) then she apologized to no one in particular. This proves that Effie is scared that someone might overheard her, so she apologized. Again, Gale 's example in the woods shows how everyone is scared that the Capitol might overhear them, and if they do, they turn them into an Avox. The Avox is also a strong example of both, restricted information and complete surveillance. The Capitol wants to scare people by making the “traitors” live but in a humiliating way. Cutting their tongues and making them slaves sends a message to all citizens of

Starting when Katniss’ team was preparing her to see Cinna, they looked at her as a monster at first. After they cleaned her, they said that she “almost look[s] like a human being now!,” which proves the point that they are inhumane. A human does not judge a girl and describe her as an animal in front of her just because she had hair. These dehumanized people only care about the looks and fashion, not what is inside a person. Moreover, the whole idea of watching kids die and kill each other in a game just to entertain themselves is very inhumane. In the districts, everyone is forced to watch The Games, but no one likes watching it, while the Capitol people like and enjoy watching The Games. If the audience in the Capitol does not like it, the sponsors will not give money to the tributes, and this will make The Game boring. As a result, The Game will lose its effect on Panem, which might lead to stop The Hunger Games. The dehumanized people of Panem ironically feel excited about a love story, but does not give sympathy to those who are being killed each year. In addition, Katniss’ team proves this point again after the games when Katniss mentioned how they described the games. They were telling their own story, “what they were they doing or how they felt when a specific event occurred,” (354) not the story of the games or the boys and girls who were forced to fight to death to send a message to the districts and