The Hunger Games
The setting of The Hunger Games book is in a predictable future expected to be characterised by the suffering of the human beings. The setting features oppressive regimes of government that put children at risk of death by the requirement of playing and competing for the game of last man standing ability of survival. The future setting happens after the existence of natural disaster, diseases, war and famine that destroys the entire society. The writer states that the nation of Panem rises from the ruins of North America. Panem is made of powerful and strong Capitol oppressively ruling more than thirteen districts in the surrounding. The districts rise up together in the rebellion of the oppressive regime.
The results of the rebellion are catastrophic since the Capitol stops the uprising and take total control. The Capitol, therefore, creates Hunger Games as a punishment to the Districts in their rebellion. This is whereby each District is required to send one boy and one girl to the Capitol as tributes each year. The boys and girls should be aged between twelve and thirteen. They boys and girls, or rather tributes are then required to fight each other to death until one of them remains standing. The Capitol puts in place all measures to guarantee that the fights take place regardless of the weather and terrain of the landscapes. It is striking that the fights are even televised in the entire Panem nation as entertainment to the Capitol and pain to the Districts. The games, therefore, instill fear to the Districts never to rise up again in the rebellion of the ruling regime. The writer says, “Look at what we can do; take your children and make them kill another as you watch. And you cannot stop us.” This supports the evidence of an oppressive regime.
The chances of children being selected for the system of reaping lottery increases with increase in age. The book starts on the seventy-fourth day of reaping for The Hunger Games. We have one character called Katniss Everdeen who is a daughter of a coal miner and her father died about five years ago in an explosion. Katniss, therefore, takes care of her family. She hunts and forages illegally in the forest, sells and trades fruits from the forest to the black market of the town, its officials and other tradespeople. Katniss enters the lottery about twenty times as at sixteen years old. Contrary to the guarantee that the chances of selection increase with age, it does not work out for Katniss since her sister is selected at only twelve years old. Katniss believes that there must have been a mistake during the selection process. She fights hard to the point of offering herself as a volunteer which surprises people from the twelve districts. The writer also points out that district twelve in the poorest, hungriest and losers in the history of Hunger Games. Therefore, Katniss’s will to survive the fight cannot be comprehended by anyone.
According to the Hunger Game book, there is a great rift between the poor and the rich or rather the highest social elite. District 12 supplies coal to the Capitol but the two have a big contrast in terms of property ownership. The Capitol has everything in excess. For instance, Katniss lives a hungry life surviving on squirrels, roots and barks of pine trees. However, in the Capitol, one can easily access any kind of food by simply pushing a button. On the other hand, Katniss demonstrates her smart and clever character. The skills she obtains in hunting and foraging is an advantage in the Hunger Games. Besides, at no point did she lose her humanity. She still has the urge to return home and the love for her sister drives her to make an alliance with a tribute from another district. We also see her having the desire never to marry and bear children since the Capitol will subject them to the same punishment. The reality of a perverse Capitol is evidenced by the fact that people enjoy watching other suffer and children fighting to the death.
