Module 10/Graphic Novels and Censorship Issues/August 3-August 7
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic.
Summary
In the futuristic dystopian Panem, there are twelve (really thirteen) districts that make up society. There is also the Capitol, which is the enemy to the people but who run all of the districts. Every year, each district has to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to compete in the hunger games: a series of games televised that leaves only one participant living. This year, Primrose Everdeen is chosen from District 12 but her older sister Katniss volunteers to go in her place. The boy from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a friend of Katniss'. The hunger games are devastating, as audiences watch 12 year old Rue die among others. Katniss and Peeta are guided by Haymitch, a past winner of the Hunger Games. In the end, it is Katniss and Peeta who survive, and instead of killing one another, they threaten to eat the poisoned berries and kill themselves which the Capitol will not allow. Instead, the Capitol allows them both to win and punishes them by entering them both in the next round of games. However, their defiance is what sparks the already building rebellion against the Capitol.
My Impression
The book is an awesome beginning to a great trilogy. It is exciting and a page-turner and I read it easily in one setting because I could not and did not want to put it down. This book intrigued me so much that I dove into the world of dystopian novels and I found a new passion in reading. I like the excitement of it and I loved the notion of a woman as the hero. Katniss is everything a hero should be: strong-willed, not easily swayed, protector of her family, and just a good person. It was very easy to root for her throughout the story.
Reviews and Awards
"Katniss Everdeen is a survivor.
She has to be; she’s representing her District, number 12, in the
74th Hunger Games in the Capitol, the heart of Panem, a new land that
rose from the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America. To punish
citizens for an early rebellion, the rulers require each district to
provide one girl and one boy, 24 in all, to fight like gladiators in a
futuristic arena. The event is broadcast like reality TV, and the winner
returns with wealth for his or her district. With clear inspiration
from Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and the Greek tale of Theseus,
Collins has created a brilliantly imagined dystopia, where the Capitol
is rich and the rest of the country is kept in abject poverty, where the
poor battle to the death for the amusement of the rich. However, poor
copyediting in the first printing will distract careful readers—a crying
shame. [Note: Errors have been corrected in subsequent printings, so we are now pleased to apply the Kirkus star.]
Impressive world-building, breathtaking action and clear philosophical concerns make this volume, the beginning of a planned trilogy, as good as The Giver and more exciting. (Science fiction. 11 & up)."
(2010, May 20). [Review of the book The hunger games]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/suzanne-collins/the-hunger-games/.
"If there really are only seven original plots in the world, it's odd that “boy meets girl” is always mentioned, and “society goes bad and attacks the good guy” never is. Yet we have Fahrenheit 451 , The Giver , The House of the Scorpion —and now, following a long tradition of Brave New Worlds, The Hunger Games .
Collins hasn't tied her future to a specific date, or weighted it down with too much finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000 , hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death.
Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the importance of holding on to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable. She has the attributes to be a winner, where Peeta has the grace to be a good loser.
It's no accident that these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. The State of Panem—which needs to keep its tributaries subdued and its citizens complacent—may have created the Games, but mindless television is the real danger, the means by which society pacifies its citizens and punishes those who fail to conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, it makes this the right book at the right time.
What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. “They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet,” she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch.
Katniss struggles to win not only the Games but the inherent contest for audience approval. Because this is the first book in a series, not everything is resolved, and what is left unanswered is the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know what she has given up to survive, but not whether the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to learn more."
(2008, Nov. 3). [Review of the book The hunger games]. Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved from
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-439-02348-1.
2008 Cybils Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction-Young Adult
2009 Hal Clement Award
2010 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
Suggestions for Use
*Have construction paper, markers and pens and have children create their own dystopian society and what it would look like and what the government would be like.
*Have students create their own tribute poster advertising themselves.
Impressive world-building, breathtaking action and clear philosophical concerns make this volume, the beginning of a planned trilogy, as good as The Giver and more exciting. (Science fiction. 11 & up)."
(2010, May 20). [Review of the book The hunger games]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/suzanne-collins/the-hunger-games/.
"If there really are only seven original plots in the world, it's odd that “boy meets girl” is always mentioned, and “society goes bad and attacks the good guy” never is. Yet we have Fahrenheit 451 , The Giver , The House of the Scorpion —and now, following a long tradition of Brave New Worlds, The Hunger Games .
Collins hasn't tied her future to a specific date, or weighted it down with too much finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000 , hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death.
Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the importance of holding on to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable. She has the attributes to be a winner, where Peeta has the grace to be a good loser.
It's no accident that these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. The State of Panem—which needs to keep its tributaries subdued and its citizens complacent—may have created the Games, but mindless television is the real danger, the means by which society pacifies its citizens and punishes those who fail to conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, it makes this the right book at the right time.
What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. “They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet,” she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch.
Katniss struggles to win not only the Games but the inherent contest for audience approval. Because this is the first book in a series, not everything is resolved, and what is left unanswered is the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know what she has given up to survive, but not whether the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to learn more."
(2008, Nov. 3). [Review of the book The hunger games]. Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved from
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-439-02348-1.
2008 Cybils Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction-Young Adult
2009 Hal Clement Award
2010 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
Suggestions for Use
*Have construction paper, markers and pens and have children create their own dystopian society and what it would look like and what the government would be like.
*Have students create their own tribute poster advertising themselves.
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