Synopsis:
Teenagers Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are chosen to represent District 12 in the Hunger Games, a game of survival against tributes selected from other districts. The Hunger Games are an annual televised event established by the Capitol to remind the districts of their defeat when they attempted to overthrow the Capitol and to make sure the districts remain humiliated and at the mercy of the Capitol. Katniss's and Peeta's victory will ultimately be the spark to get the fire of revolution burning again and bring about an all-out war in Panem against the intolerably cruel Capitol.
Comments:
Although the main characters in these books are teenagers, we found the storyline and characters appealing to all age groups. Suzanne Collins wrote about a very disturbing, yet thought provoking, subject matter: The idea that humanity could become so desensitized to the pain and death of others and/or so greedy for entertainment that they would find it amusing to watch children hunt and kill each other in an attempt to win the Hunger Games. The obvious comparison we found ourselves making was with the innocuous reality television show "Survivor" with their alliances, foreign arenas, and entertainment value for fans.
However, the most obvious comparisons were in the form of Roman history. The Roman influence throughout this story is strong. The author herself said, "...I read the story of Theseus. The myth told how in punishment for past deeds, Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete where they were thrown in the Labyrinth and devoured by the monstrous Minotaur. Even as a third grader, I could appreciate the ruthlessness of this message. ‘Mess with us and we’ll do something worse than kill you. We’ll kill your children." Crete had defeated Athens in battle; the tributes were to be a lasting reminder of Crete's power and success. So our first noted similarity is related to the youthful tributes being sent in to fight to their death in order to remind the citizens of their weakness and loss in battle.
Our second comparison was found in the Roman's love for gladiator fighting. The Hunger Games arena is very similar to the colosseum in Rome where gladiators would fight, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of the citizens of the Empire's capitol. In both arenas, citizens would place bets on their favorites and gladiators would have sponsors.
The third comparison we made was with Rome's taste for extravagant food and the over-indulgence of it. The Roman's held all-day and all-night feasts where they served odd delicacies like hummingbird tongue. When they became too full, the Romans would throw up the contents of their stomach to make room for more food. In Catching Fire, while at a party Katniss and Peeta discover that the citizens of the Capitol are using the same binge and purge routine. Octavia tells Peeta and Katniss, "Everyone does it, or how else would you have fun at a feast?" (p. 59)
The next comparison was the obvious use of Roman/Greek names such as Octavia, Cinna, Flavius, Castor, Pollux, Caesar, Portia, and Venia to name a few. Interestingly, Cinna was a politician involved in the assassination plot against Julius Caesar. This Cinna bears a strong resemblance to the book's Cinna who it appears was subtly, yet effectively, flaming the fire of rebellion through his artistic talents.
Lastly, Panem is Latin meaning "bread." Panem et circenses, meaning "bread and circuses," was a term used by the Roman Empire which referred to their method of keeping the population happy and peaceful with feasts and entertainment. It was an effective political strategy, too.
We noted the clever mutations of words by the author. The genetically altered animals used as weapons by the Capitol were called muttations or mutts for short. The drug we would call morphine was called morphling. The jabberjays who mated with the mockingbirds produced the mockingjay.
The physical alterations and surgical enhancements of the citizens of the Capitol were in some cases extreme, such as the dyeing of their skin and Tigris who made herself to look like an actual cat. However, we also realized that there are some folks who today are already at that stage of altering their bodies. We wondered just how much more of this type of physical altering will become mainstream. We appreciated Katniss's remark when she observed the extreme surgical altercations of the citizens of the Capitol: "In District 12, looking old is something of an achievement since so many people die early. You see an elderly person, you want to congratulate them on their longevity, ask the secret of survival....But here it is different. Wrinkles aren't desirable." (p.89 The Hunger Games)
We were a bit surprised that Gale and Katniss did not end up getting married. The relationship between Gale and Katniss underwent a major transformation from the first book to the end of the third book. In the first book they were partners in crime as they hunted for food to keep their families fed. They were best friends although it was apparent that Gale had stronger feelings for Katniss. In the second book there is some friction as Peeta has come into the picture and declared his love for Katniss to all of Panem. However, it is in the third book that we witnessed the cooling of their friendship. Gale's passion for killing the enemy cannot be tempered even by Katniss's dislike for it now that she has experienced so much killing and death through the two Hunger Games she survived. The one common activity which brough them together, killing, is the one element which tears them apart. Gale helps defeat the Capitol in the final battle, during which Katniss's sister, Prim, is killed. Gale was involved in the inner circle of rebellion planning and the suspicion that he knew what was planned would always keep Katniss from fully trusting and relying on her once best friend. His anger and bitterness towards the Capitol was stronger than his love for Katniss.
Most Memorable Quote:
"Now we're in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated," he [Plutarch] says. "But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction." (p. 274 Mockingjay)
This quote reminded us of the oft-repeated saying, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana)
FAB Rating:
Characters ***** (5 out of 5 stars)
We connected with Katniss and admired her resiliency. She was strong, resourceful, caring, and fair. We want to use the word courageous with her, but she showed such an extraordinary courage of which we have no experience and no words adequate to describe. We liked Peeta's character. He was so honest and genuine. It was difficult to see him transformed by the imprisonment and torture he received at the hands of Snow. We did not think he would be able to recover, so we were pleasantly surprised when he did and was able to marry his first love. It was fitting that he and Katniss ended up together as they had been through so much together and understood the nightmares and horrors that each of them would experience as they tried to heal and move on with their lives.
Ms. Collins did an excellent job of creating the characters of Effie, Snow, Haymitch, and so many others. It was easy for us to envision Effie's effervescent personality and 'southern' manners while still remaining emotionally detached from her tributes. Snow was instantly disliked and it created an olfactory reaction when reading about him!
Storyline ***** (5 out of 5 stars)
This series provided some great discussion with regards to the desensitizing of society. From the movies, to reality television shows, to realistically violent video games, to even watching news stations with live feeds of war and devastation, it appears as though we are entertained by human suffering. "How far or how low will our society go in the name of entertainment," we asked ourselves. We also remarked on the resemblance of the recent spate of tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, wildfires, and violence in other countries to the description of how North America was whittled down to those thirteen districts of Panem. "The country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal war for what little sustenance remained." (p. The Hunger Games) Maybe this storyline is not so far fetched and maybe that is why it intrigued us enough to change our original reading plan from just the first two books to reading the entire series in one month's time!
