The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian novel set in what once was North America. After years of war, disaster, and turmoil, a new country called Panem arose, bringing peace to the 12 Districts that surround the Capitol. However, as a way of keeping the 12 districts in line, the Hunger Games were created. Each year, 2 kids are randomly chosen from each district as tributes to participate in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a battle to the death on live television. The last tribute remaining is the winner of the Hunger Games, while all of the other 23 tributes are dead. The winner gains fame, glory, money, and food for themselves and their district. 

The Protagonist, Katniss Everdeen has lived in district 12, the poorest of the 12 districts all of her life. When Katniss is chosen as a tribute her life changes forever. However, Katniss is set apart from the other tributes in many ways. The differences could mean life or death in the Hunger Games. 

A difference between Katniss and the other tributes is her fighting ability. While Katniss is on the train taking her to the location of the Games, she starts thinking about her chances of winning the Games. Katniss thinks “District 12 tributes never stand a chance. . .we’ve been underfed and lack training” (Collins 56). As stated by the quote, District 12 is so poor and most of the kids are so poorly underfed that they never stand a chance. The tributes from richer districts (nicknamed Career tributes because they train for the Games) have been fed and trained to fight their entire lives. Starving kids fighting Careers is rarely a fair fight and Careers almost always win.

However during the Hunger Games, all of the tributes experience food shortages and this food shortage benefits the tributes like Katniss that are from poor districts. When in the arena, Katniss starts thinking about the Career’s food shortage; “ having been better fed growing up is actually to their disadvantage, because they don’t know how to be hungry. Not the way . . I do” (Collins 288). In this quote, Katniss is illustrating that the Careers don’t truly know how to be hungry. Katniss, who has lived her entire life hungry, knows how long her body can last before dangerous effects of hunger set in. Katniss knows how to ration food, unlike the Careers who have always had an abundance of food. This never ending battle for food adds even more danger to the already deadly Hunger Games.

I would recommend The Hunger Games to any one that enjoys a dystopian novel, a book with constant twists and turns, or is just looking for a good page turner. Because the characters are in a constant struggle against each other and against hunger, the plot is ever changing. One minute Katniss could be fighting for her life against a Career and the next she is checking her snares hoping for food her body desperately needs. But Katniss eventually realizes the other tributes are not her greatest enemy. Hunger is not her greatest enemy. Her greatest enemy is what brought her into the Hunger Games in the first place. The Capitol is her enemy and before long she must confront, whether she wants to or not. 

-Kai