Monday, April 9, 2012

The Hunger Games: Living in a Dystopian Society


A  dystopia would be defined as a society characterized by human misery, depression, disease, and overcrowding. I would say that Panem as a whole fits this definition to a t. President Snow and the Peacekeepers want everyone to "go with the grain" instead of rebelling and trying to do their own thing. Obviously, this would suck. Especially for Katniss who has no say when they try to take her 12 year old sister and throw her into an arena with 23 other hostile teenagers. Katniss proves to be the protagonist of this dystopian society throughout the series as she continues to fight against Snow's maniacal dictatorship. I suppose if I was living in a world where I couldn't think for myself I would probably rebel too.  The one small gesture that Katniss makes in the arena with the berries creates revolutions and makes the Capitol realize that they aren't the only ones who can control what happens in Panem. 

In a dystopian society, all of a person's freedoms are taken from them and everything is almost as if people are robotic and emotionless. I don't know if I anyone else thought of the reaping when I said that? Everyone is rounded up and they are dressed very similarly and they are completely quiet while Effie reads out the names of the tributes. No one seems to show any emotion but Katniss when her sister's name is called. All of the life has been sucked out of the people living in Panem, until they found their "Mockingjay" to start the revolution against what everyone knows is so wrong. No one else has rebelled until this point because they know that President Snow is merciless and rebelling would have only ended up in severe consequences.
   
On another note, let's talk about our world today. Personally, with the way our ecomony is going I can see a hunger-games scenario being very probable in the future. I could see the United States turning into districts being completely controlled by one leader in, say, the year 2075. Our world is so technologically advanced and so desperate for money that eventually everyone probably will be poor and we may have to kill each other off for food. But what do I know, I'm just a senior in high school. All I can say is that Suzanne Collins didn't seem very far off from reality when she wrote this series.  

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