The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger
Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay (2008, 2009, 2010)
Four Stars out of Five
Suzanne Collins
The Young Adult (YA) fiction genre has a long history,
stretching from the 19th Century (e.g. Swiss Family Robinson, Oliver
Twist, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) through the mid-20th century
(e.g. The Outsiders) to the influential and occasionally profound 70’s (The Bell
Jar, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings), and up to the present day (e.g. The
Harry Potter Series). YA fiction has through the years been primarily written by adults
aimed for readers somewhere between the ages of thirteen and twenty-five. Their
themes range over a wide variety of topics, but are generally thought to be
topics of concern to this age group: romance, identity, family, and depression
to name but a few. One of the key elements is that these stories are generally
told from the first person point of view of the protagonist about whom the story
is concerned. They are told in (usually) a spare textual style that helps
propel the plot without much character definition or evolution. The Hunger Games trilogy written by
Suzanne Collins and published in 2008 through 2010 captures many of these
elements, but explores some of Man’s darkest traits in a largely believable and
highly relatable manner.
The first novel, The
Hunger Games introduces Katniss Everdeen. She lives in a post-apocalyptic North American country, Panem. Panem is comprised of twelve districts
living and working in thrall to the Rocky Mountain-based “Capitol”. The districts
had rebelled against the Capitol roughly seventy-four years in the past and had
lost. As part of the armistice, the districts paid a heavy price: The Hunger
Games. These games are held annually and require each district to send two adolescent
tributes, one male and one female to the Capitol to compete in a contest that
will result in one victor and twenty-three dead losers. The games clearly
hearken to the Roman Empire and their gladiatorial contests, but they also allude
in a sense to Shirley Jackson’s The
Lottery. The theme of sacrificed children for the safety of society is one
I had not expected to see in YA fiction.
Katniss’ story follows a predictable path but includes some
features that might catch some readers by surprise and might also reveal some
room for growth for author, Collins. Katniss hunts with her bow and arrow and a
quasi-boyfriend, Gale in the nearby woods. As expected, her hunting trips help prepare
Katniss for her inevitable entry into the games; she is, of course a superb
archer capable of living on her own in the forest. By telling of her experiences in the
forest, Collins informs the reader of Katniss’ family and of their influences
(especially the father) on her character’s strengths and weaknesses. Here
though is where I found fault with the textual style of these books. Katniss
and the other characters are revealed solely through their actions. As noted,
the writing is a very spare style, plot is everything. It is to my mind a style
well suited to the young reader but frustrating in gaining a more intuitive
understanding of the various characters. I found myself in the end disappointed
that my understanding of the characters was as superficial as their “definition”
in the book. Additionally, Collins utilizes another textual style that drives
me to distraction: fragmentary sentences (e.g. Katniss is very good with bow
and arrow. Very good.). Collins employs these techniques to keep the text
simple and the plot moving; perhaps perfect for the adolescent YA reader, but maybe
too simple for mature readers.
Move, the plot does. These three books capture the reader’s attention
as the plot moves briskly along. Katniss does go into the arena several times
and due to her successes finds herself the symbol for a nascent insurrection against
the capitol. By the time of the third book, Collins has very cleverly
introduced the reader to the cruelties of the Capitol, the entrenched cynicism
of both the Capitol and the rebels via their use of propaganda, and most
critically the willingness of both sides to use any means to attain their ends,
no matter how depraved those means are. In 1971, “The Who” released a song, Won’t Get Fooled Again, whose lyrics
included the following lines: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. As I
read the book or watched the movie, I kept hearing these words in my head. At
first blush, this is not a new topic, but Collins uses it well. The tragedy of
the massacre near the end of third book had me in tears, but also amazed.
Collins uses her trilogy to indeed discuss and examine many
of the YA themes mentioned above, such as family and love. She uses science
fiction as the sub-genre to convey her message. What I find amazing is her use
of an over-arching theme I did not expect in a YA novel: the corrupting influence of power. The desire to gain it
and hold it, and the amorality of too many of those that seek such power are
powerful story lines. They are easily understood and felt by those that have studied history, or even watch the evening news. That adolescents can read and learn
from those lessons as depicted in this book is a good thing. I just hope they do learn
from it, and somehow despite the centuries of failure before them, someday a
new generation will come along that makes the changes needed for mankind to finally
leave the violent and self-centered moral caves we still live in.
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