My book, the Hunger Games, is about the American government in the future and how it changed from a democratic government into a dictatorial government. The Nation went through another Civil War with the “Capitol” on one side, and everything else on the other. The other side was a group of 13 districts. In the end, the capitol won, and the opposing forces were defeated, with the 13th district being obliterated. The Capitol then assumed total control over the affairs of every district, taxed them heavily due to their defection, and created something called the Hunger Games as a punishment. The Hunger Games were an event where every district had to offer up 2 tributes, 1 male, and 1 female, every year in a fight to the death. This was a way to show the districts that the Capitol still had overwhelming power and could destroy any district, like they did to district 13, if they disobeyed.
There are a lot of themes in this book, and the author may have had a lot of different purposes or reasons to include all of the things that she had in the book, such as some hidden messages or hidden themes that she wanted readers to find out. One of the things that I found interesting was the theme of genetic engineering, and a foreshadowing of the future of a nation.
Her book could be talking about how power can corrupt a person/government. I think that the authors purpose in writing this book was to talk about what might happen in the world if the government had too much power over their people, and what happens when the governments has absolute and unquestioned control over the citizens of their country. They could endue famines and economic downfalls just to control their citizens. This book may also show what may happen when there are TOO many scientific breakthroughs in life, such as in genetic engineering and genetic modification, as shown in the books creatures which do not exist in real life, and only exist because they have been genetically engineering into the world by scientists who have experimented with to much animal DNA. This is also shown by the “tracker jackers” in the book. They were created by genetically modifying the DNA of bees were turned into weapons to use in a war.
Another point that I find it brings up is whether or not it is ethical to genetically engineer new species into the world. It is a controversial topic because human beings are torn on the issue of whether or not we have the right to “play god” in a sense and bring new species into the world.It also shows the government is manipulative, and how cruel they can be just to put on a show to their citizens, and to prove their superiority over others.
When food is scarce, the game makers will invite players to a banquet, somewhere known to all like the cornucopia, as an inducement to gather and fight. (Pg. 244)
The game makers purposefully go make an even where they try an gather people and make them fight, just to produce more fights or to produce more deaths and meaningless suffering. There is no other reason for them to do this except to prove their superiority to the citizens of the country, and to remind them of the fact that this could happen to every single one of them if they misbehaved.
This is a dictatorial government, and it is nothing like the government that we have presently. This book could also have been written to talk about the government that we have right now, the US government. The author could be implying that, even though our government may not be perfect, at least it is not like the government in the book, at least we still have the right to vote our officials into office and they do not rule our county with an iron fist.
The news sinks in. Two tributes can win this year. If they’re both from the same district. Both can live. Both of us can live. Before i can stop myself, I call out Peeta’s name. (Pg. 244)
This part shows how the Capitol, the government, manipulates the emotions of people just to try and make their point. This was when they changed the rules to draw out more love and other emotions from Katniss, but later on, they try to reverse this rule when it is fulfilled. They try to crush the hopes of Katniss trying to go back home with her “boyfriend”, and then, they suddenly have to kill each other. They purposely make new rules up and go back on them just to draw a reaction out of the crowd, and to crush any hopes of escaping together and to destroy the spirit of Katniss and Peeta. They play on the emotions of people just to prove their superiority, which may be a part of the authors message, that the government may eventually have too much power over the lives of citizens, and that the government begins to give little thought to the worth of human lives.
There are many interesting themes in this book that not a lot of people may have thought about deeply or have discussed about with other people. There may also be a lot of hidden messages in the book that not a lot of people can see or catch, and there are also a lot of hidden messages that may have not been left purposely in the book, but were caught or made up by readers that dived a little deeper into the book. The themes and other things that I have talked about, such as the genetic engineering and the possibility that the book may be foreshadowing the future were themes that the author may or may not have purposefully put into the book. These themes however, were included in the book, and a book is made to be interpreted by everyone in different ways.
