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Literary analysis on the hunger games
The hunger games sociological perspectives and theories
Literary analysis on the hunger games
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Imagine the sight of an open blue sky, trees growing, and warm dry grass moving briskly by the air. And, in front of this scene, there is a wonderful endless pit, stained by blood and some partial limbs. The whole world has just decided to jump off a cliff, because why not escape the dark gripping fears that life holds? Society has darred and pushed each other off to this dark encasing hole. Sure it will hurt, but only for a little bit, right?
Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience.
Power is best understood as pursuing freely chosen ends, towards which our actions are oriented and are then commanding the necessary means towards the pursuit of those ends. Power, therefore, is an enabling capacity. The more power one has, the wider is their range of choices that they may realistically pursue (Bauman & May 2001). Bauman & May notes, “To have power, among other things, means to be able to decide what is not important and what should not matter or concern” (120). This definition of power by Zygmunt Bauman and Tim May was chosen because it best relates to the circumstances in The Hunger Games, in which President Coriolanus Snow possesses power over the Capitol and other districts.
Simon met his fate, getting dismembered, Cato was cruelly devoured while Katniss watched, Rue was stabbed fatally, Ralph was ruthlessly hunted. These events all have exactly one thing in common, the brutality of children. Throughout the books Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games, many ideas about human nature have been brought forth, they have been shown through characters, like Ralph and Katniss, through objects, like the representation of fire, and through events, like the degradation of civility throughout the books. So, what is being said about human nature?
Watching people suffer is an astonishing action that people love to see. This happens all throughout the world, with movies, shows, and even in schools. In the film, The Hunger Games, the world is similar in a creepy way. It shows people suffering, while others sit back and enjoy watching people suffer. The Hunger Games is trying to warn people around the world about segregation reoccurring, entertainment of suffering, and the effects of poverty on young people.
Imagine your world is divided by the color of your blood. Red and Silver. Imagine your best friend is taken away to an arena of death because their name was pulled from a bowl of others names that just narrowly escaped death. Wouldn’t you want change? In King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard, the world is divided by blood type.
How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.
The Hunger Games is a film series that was based off the novels written by Suzanne Collins. It stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne. The Hunger Games (2012) was the first movie in the series followed by Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), and then ending with Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015). The Hunger Games is the 15th highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over US$2.9 billion worldwide. This film is an American dystopian science fiction adventure (The Hunger Games (film)).
Wayne Dyer, an American philosopher, once said, “Problems in relationships occur because each person is concentrating on what is missing in the other person.” This is the protagonist 's main source of conflict in the book, the Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini. Amir and Hassan appeared to have a brotherly friendship. Even though they grew up together, it was intriguing how Hassan develops a brotherly bond with Amir while Amir does not reciprocate the love. By concentrating on what is missing in Hassan, it causes Amir to become separated from the relationship because Amir values social class over his friendship with Hassan, and stems from his jealousy that comes from an idea that Baba favors Hassan.
The Hunger Games is a fairly popular and typical tale that includes a heroine, courage, and bravery. This story can be read or watched through many different lenses such as a Marxist lens, feminist lens, or even an archetypal lens. Through these lenses one can see as a reader or viewer that this is not just a story that fits into one category, but one that can fit into many. Using the Marxist and feminist lenses a viewer can gain a great depth of knowledge into The Hunger Games story itself.
There are several themes in the book, each one has a significant meaning to the storyline. The first symbol that describes the theme of abuse of power is government control. The reason that they hold the Hunger Games is because it is a dystopian society and most of the districts are poor and the capitol likes it because it keeps them entertained just because they believe that they are superior to everyone else who lives outside the capitol. To explain this more into detail, the government controls all the districts and all the districts have to follow the rules or else there is a serious punishment.
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well.
All of these factors are presented in the novel throughout the experience of Katniss Everdeen in the games. Katniss is a 16 years old teenager from District-12, one of the districts where families suffer to put a something in their empty stomach. Her bad luck leads her to become a tribute in the hunger games, which is an undebatable evidence that the "Hunger Games" novel is a dystopia. To begin with, the hunger games are created by the government of Panem. So basically it is an annual competition where 2 kids - a girl and a boy- between the age of twelve and eighteen, are chosen from
The famous Roman orator and senator Publius Tacitus once wrote that “the more the laws, the more corrupt the government.” A corrupt system always tries to put restrictions and create laws in order to ensure that their power as an authority is not in danger of being disregarded. In Suzanne Collins’ renowned novel The Hunger Games, the Capitol is a corrupt system in Panem because it abuses its powers to control the citizens. It does so by forcing restrictions on the freedom of the people, favoring the rich and imposing harsh punishments.
Feminist literary criticism’s primary argument is that female characters have always been presented from a male’s viewpoint. According to Connell, in most literary works, female characters often play minor roles which emphasize their domestic roles, subservience and physical beauty while males are always the protagonists who are strong, heroic and dominant (qtd. in Woloshyn et al.150). This means that the women are perceived as weak and are supposed to be under the control of men. Gill and Sellers say that feminist literary criticism’s approach involves identifying with female characters in order to challenge any male centred outlook.
