Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games is set in the future where the United States no longer exists. Instead, the Capitol is in charge of what is now called Panem and controls the twelve districts that exist supply the Capitol with goods. For example. District 12, which is in what was once the Appalachia, supplies the Capitol with coal. Once, there was a 13th district, but after a failed rebellion, District 13 was destroyed, and the Capitol created the Hunger Games to prevent any further unrest. Each year, the 12 districts must hold a reaping ceremony. The name of each child, male or female, from ages 12 to 18 is entered for the reaping. Children from poor families, like most of those in the districts, can enter their names multiple times in exchange for food and fuel for their families. At the reaping, one male and one female are chosen to compete in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death meant to remind the districts of the power of the Capitol. The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, has entered her name in the reaping multiple times for the benefit of her family. Though this is her sister’s first year entering the reaping, Katniss has no fear that Prim’s name will be drawn: her name has only been entered one time, and Katniss’s name has been entered several. Still, the unthinkable happens, and Prim’s name is drawn. Katniss immediately steps into to volunteer for the Games in her sister’s place, leaving behind her mother, sister, and closest friend (and maybe more), Gale. Along with the male tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark, Katniss travels to the Capitol where she sees first hand the luxury and excess the citizens there enjoy while the people of the districts suffer in poverty. As they prepare for the games, Katniss and Peeta are mentored by former District 12 champion, Haymitch Abernethy, an alcoholic who, nonetheless, creates a winning strategy for the two tributes. As the two District 12 tributes enter the Arena to fight for their lives against the 22 other tributes, a romance develops between the two, partly as a strategy and partly as a result of a kindness Peeta showed Katniss many years before. In an amazing twist, Peeta and Katniss survive to be the final two tributes, and both refuse to kill the other and take the win. In an act of defiance (or is it love? Or both?), Katniss changes the rules of the game, and the Gamemakers are forced to declare both tributes winners. It would seem at this point that Katniss can go home to a happy ending where she and her family are honored and will never want for anything again. However, her act of rebellion, whatever the motivation, has caught the attention of President Snow, and she is now seen as a threat.
The second novel in this powerful trilogy is called Catching Fire, and the title is perfect. Whatever the reason for Katniss act at the end of the Hunger Games, be it love or defiance or a little of both, it becomes clear on the Victory Tour that it was the spark that started a fire. Katniss has the attention of President Snow, who sees her as a threat to the power of the Capitol. In order to save her family from Snow, Katniss must convince the world that her act was not one of defiance, but one of love. She and Peeta begin an awkward campaign to convince the world that they are in love, leading Peeta to publicly propose to Katniss, a proposal she accepts. The tension of the situation is palpable: Peeta truly love Katniss and would gladly die for her, but Katniss is torn between her feelings for Peeta and her dear friend Gale. Peeta is hurt that the feelings Katniss portrays aren’t fully real, but his devotion to her leads him to keep up appearances at all cost. Katniss also meets two runaways from District 8 that share with her their belief that District 13, thought to have been destroyed by the Capitol, actually still exists. After a small, failed rebellion, the Capitol plans a new demonstration of power at the Quarter Quell. The tributes for the Quarter Quell, for the first time, will be chosen from the former winners, who in the past had been forever free of entering the Arena a second time. Peeta and Katniss end up in the Arena again with 22 other past winners fighting for their lives. Some of the tributes form alliances, and Katniss, without her knowledge, becomes part of a greater plan. In the end, she destroys the force field around the Arena and finds herself being transported to District 13 along with Haymitch, Gale, and two of the other tributes, Finnick and Beetee. Peeta, however, has been left behind. Gale lets her now that her family is safe, but that District 12, her home, has been destroyed. So why was Katniss saved and Peeta left behind? Katniss, unwittingly, has become the face of the rebellion, and her safety is paramount to the rebellion’s ultimate success.
The Hunger Games series ends with Mockingjay. In her first Hunger Games, Katniss wore a mockingjay pin, a gift from a dear friend. That mockingjay has now become the symbol of the rebellion, and Katniss is its living embodiment. Katniss finds herself in District 13, a harshly controlled environment under the leadership of President Coin. Katniss agress to play her role as the Mockingjay in return for the safety of the other surviving tributes, the rescue of Peeta from the Capitol, and the right to kill President Snow. Peeta is rescued, but his time in the Capitol has come at a cost: he has been brainwashed to see Katniss as an enemy and tries to kill her. Eventually, the District 13 rebels plan an attack on the Capitol and send in a group of soldiers that includes Katniss and Peeta. In the climax of this third novel, Katniss comes to President Snow’s mansion planning to find him and kill him, but Snow has opened his home to the Capitol’s children, not in an act of mercy but for his own protection. Bombs sent in under the premise of care packages kill many of the children, as well as medics from District 13 sent in to help, medics that include Katniss’s sister Prim. In a twist, Katniss chooses not to kill President Snow, but instead shoots President Coin for her apparent involvement in using the children and medics as weapons. Snow is killed in the aftermath, and Katniss, determined to have acted out of temporary insanity, is allowed to return to what is left of District 12. In the end, she and Peeta end up together, raising two children in a world with no Hunger Games, thanks to the many sacrifices made in the name of freedom.
The first novel in this series, The Hunger Games, was excellent and caught my attention enough that I had to read the whole series. However, as good as the first book was, Collins’s story gets better with each ensuing chapter. The power of the novels to open a dialogue about the abuse of power and about freedom and responsibility and human’s rights is undeniable. I truly believe that this trilogy has a place in the high school social studies curriculum where teachers could use these texts to parallel the study of our own American Revolution, as well as other revolutions throughout history, and to begin a conversation about the abuses of power seen throughout our world today.
References
Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic Press.
Collins, S. (2009). Catching fire. New York: Scholastic Press.
Collins, S. (2010). Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic Press.
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