The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian novel set in a future where the nation of Panem, divided into twelve districts, is controlled by a powerful Capitol. The story follows Katniss Everdeen, a young woman who volunteers to take her sister Prim's place in the annual Hunger Games, a televised event where tributes fight to the death. Alongside her fellow tribute Peeta Mellark, Katniss navigates the brutal competition, forming alliances and confronting the realities of survival and sacrifice.
As the Games unfold, themes of rebellion against oppression emerge, particularly through Katniss's actions that inspire hope among the districts. The narrative explores complex relationships, particularly between Katniss, Peeta, and her best friend Gale Hawthorne, as they grapple with loyalty, love, and the moral implications of war. The story escalates into a larger conflict against the Capitol, ultimately leading to a struggle for power and justice.
Through Katniss's journey, the novel examines the consequences of authoritarian rule, the nature of sacrifice, and the fight for freedom, making it a compelling reflection on resistance and resilience in the face of tyranny. The concluding events bring both tragedy and a sense of resolution as Katniss and Peeta seek to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of chaos.
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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Born: August 10, 1962
- Birthplace: Hartford, Connecticut
First published: The Hunger Games, 2008; Catching Fire, 2009; Mockingjay, 2010
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Dystopian
Time of plot: The future
Locale: The fictional North American nation of Panem
Principal Characters
Katniss Everdeen, a female tribute to the Hunger Games, a rebel fighter
Peeta Mellark, her love interest
Gale Hawthorne, her best friend
Primrose Everdeen, her younger sister
The Story
On the morning of the reaping for the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen wakes to find her younger sister, Prim, sleeping in their mother’s bed. At the yearly reaping, two young people from each of the twelve districts of Panem are selected to participate in the bloody Hunger Games, where they will battle to the death until one surviving victor remains. Katniss spends the day hunting in the woods of District 12 with her best friend Gale. Later, Katniss and her family attend the reaping ceremony. When the female tribute is announced to be her sister Prim, Katniss swiftly volunteers herself to go to the Games instead. Peeta Mellark is named as the district’s male tribute.
Before leaving, the mayor’s daughter, Madge, gives Katniss a pin in the shape of a mockingjay that she asks Katniss to wear during the Games. They take a train to the Capitol, where Peeta and Katniss meet their mentor for the Games, a man named Haymitch, who is a former victor of the Games from District 12. When they arrive at the Capitol, they attend the opening ceremony, trainings, and interviews. It is during one of the interviews that Peeta reveals his long-standing crush on Katniss.
When the Games begin, Katniss separates from the other tributes to set up camp alone. With the help of a young tribute from District 11 named Rue, she drops a wasp nest onto a group of Career tributes, rich tributes from higher districts who train their whole lives to participate in the Games. Katniss acquires a bow and arrows to protect herself from one of the Careers who were killed by the wasps. Rue is then fatally attacked, and Katniss holds her as she dies and then covers her body with flowers.
In order to win popularity with the audience, Katniss feigns a romance with Peeta. As the Games go on, Peeta, Katniss, and the leader of the Career tributes, Cato, are the last surviving tributes. Katniss and Peeta kill Cato by throwing him to mutant wolves. Unwilling to fight each other and realizing the Capitol would rather have two victors than none, they decide to poison themselves. The Capitol announces just in time that they are both winners. When Peeta later discovers that Katniss’s affection for him was only a ruse, he is deeply upset.
On the first day of their Victory Tour, Katniss is back in the woods hunting on behalf of her friend Gale’s family. Though her family can now afford to buy food with her prize money, his cannot. When she returns home, the president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow, is there to discuss matters with her about the Games. He says Katniss will have to marry Peeta. Her defiant threat to commit suicide in the arena has stirred calls for rebellion in some of the districts, and Snow orders Katniss to maintain the ruse that she and Peeta are in love and threatens to kill her family if she does not comply.
Many districts are outraged about Katniss’s victory and are cold to her on the tour. She meets the new head gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee, at a banquet at the president’s mansion. Back home, she learns there is unrest in District 8. When two refugees appear in the woods, they tell Katniss about the rebel alliance in the independent District 13 that they hope to join.
For the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hunger Games, called the Quarter Quell, Katniss and Peeta are once again named tributes for the special Games. The other tributes in the Quarter Quell are all former champions of the Games, as well. The arena is a small tropical island rigged with force fields. With the help of a tribute named Finnick, they narrowly escape a cloud of toxic gas. Katniss and Peeta start an alliance with Finnick and other tributes named Johanna, Mags, Wiress, and Beetee. Mags and Wiress are soon killed in the arena.
Beetee hatches an elaborate plan. By using a wire to conduct electricity to the ocean, they plan to trap and electrocute their rival tributes. However, Katniss attaches the wire to an arrow and shoots it toward a weak spot she noticed in the force field that surrounds the arena, which breaks down. Katniss is knocked out by the force of the explosion.
When she wakes up, she is inside a hovercraft with Haymitch, Finnick, and Plutarch Heavensbee. Peeta and Johanna have been captured by the Capitol. Haymitch explains that there was a plan all along, involving many of the Quarter Quell tributes, to protect Katniss and escape from the arena to the rebel District 13. As the "mockingjay," Katniss is the symbol of the rebellion against the Capitol, and they want her with them. Believing that she is just a pawn in their grand scheme, she tries to attack them. They sedate her. When she wakes up, Gale is there to explain that he has saved her family from District 12, which was heavily bombed by the Capitol following the destruction of the arena and has been destroyed.
Now a member of the rebel cause, Katniss briefly visits the remains of her home. She thinks of Peeta, who is held captive by the Capitol, and finds a white rose left by President Snow, and she believes it is meant to symbolize that he is keeping a close watch on her. Gale takes her in a hovercraft back to District 13.
A symbol of the rebellion, Katniss has to appear in propaganda videos for the rebels in District 13, called propos. After the sight of a destroyed hospital in District 8, she demands justice. Peeta leaks a message to the rebels, warning them of a planned attack by the Capitol on District 13. In return, Peeta is tortured.
The Capitol bombs District 13, and the rebels seek shelter in underground bunkers. Katniss refuses to film any more propos, fearing that the Capitol will retaliate by torturing Peeta further. Rebel squads are sent to rescue Peeta. While being held prisoner by the Capitol, Peeta was tortured and brainwashed to believe Katniss is his true enemy. When they are finally reunited, he attacks her. After recovering, Katniss attends a strategy session on whether inhumane measures should be used against the enemy, and she and Gale have a falling out when he endorses the use of inhumane tactics to defeat the Capitol.
When her health returns, Katniss, Peeta, and Gale are deployed with others in a special unit. The squad members try to help Peeta sort out his fake memories of Katniss from the truth. As the squad advances upon the Capitol, their commander is killed, and Katniss is put in charge. En route to assassinate President Snow, the majority of their unit is killed. President Snow appears on live television and falsely announces that Katniss and her entire squad have been killed. Katniss, Gale, and Peeta continue toward President Snow’s manor, but they become separated. The rebel army invades the Capitol, advancing through city. Civilians, mostly children from the Capitol and rebel medics, convene outside the presidential manor. Then, a bomb explodes in the crowd, killing a large number of innocent civilians and medics, including Katniss’s sister, Prim. It appears that this explosion was staged by the rebels themselves and ordered by the rebel president, Alma Coin. Despite the heavy loss of life, President Snow is captured.
After the rebels take control of the Capitol, President Coin announces her plans to reinstate the Hunger Games as punishment to the citizens of the Capitol. At Snow’s execution, Katniss shoots her arrow at Coin instead of Snow because she realizes that President Coin will be a horrible dictator as well. In the ensuing riot, Snow is also killed. Katniss is eventually acquitted of her crime and returns to District 12 with Peeta, where they fall back in love and raise two children in peace.
Bibliography
Dreher, Kwakiutl L. "Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy." Journal of Popular Culture 46.4 (2013): 909–12. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=89989611&site=lrc-live>.
Latham, Don, and Jonathan Hollister. "The Games People Play: Information and Media Literacies in the Hunger Games Trilogy." Children’s Literature in Education 45.1 (2014): 33–46. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=94081212&site=lrc-live>.
Simmons, Amber M. "Class on Fire: Using the Hunger Games Trilogy to Encourage Social Action." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 56.1 (2012): 22–34. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=79862808&site=lrc-live>.
Sullivan, Christina Chant. "Disturbing (Or Not?) Young Adult Fiction." Horn Book Magazine 89.5 (2013): 51–55. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=89966864&site=lrc-live>.