Dr. Raley's lecture on conventional romance and gender roles was extremely interesting. She gave a general overview of the sociology behind gender and how we present gender in modern day society. It is interesting to look at The Hunger Games and see Katniss, a female, take on the main role and handle situations better than any of the men. This is something that we don’t see very much in literature, where the men are expected to handle the tough situations and fight all the battles.

This leads to the next point where Dr. Raley talked about conventional relationships. It is extremely obvious that the relationship between Katniss and Peeta is not a very conventional relationship. Again, Katniss takes on the role of protector and provider, generally roles that are supposed to be taken by the man in a relationship. She looks after Peeta in the arena and makes sure that his wounds are taken care of and making sure that they have enough to eat. She even does most of the fighting. Dr. Raley’s lecture opened up a whole new side of The Hunger Games, in which the female lead takes on the stereotypical male roles in order to survive.

In the world of The Hunger Games, District 12 is located in what we call Appalachia. The Appalachian Mountains run from as far north as New England down south to Alabama and Georgia. In our Appalachia lecture, we primarily focused on the culture of Southern Appalachia, particularly in Tennessee and Alabama.  The history of the area is deep and rich, with cultural influences from many different cultures. The people who live there are descendants of Scotts-Irish, Eastern, and Central European ancestors. This has heavily influenced their musical culture.

Their music consists mainly of ballads, which are songs that tell stories. Their stories are made of a few central themes. The first, and most important, is the theme of place. The people of Appalachia are very proud and independent and they value their heritage and tradition above all else. Another key theme is the movement from agrarian to industrial economy. They create music to reflect the destruction of their environment and the dangerous work in the coal mines. In all of their music, there is a dichotomy between the beautiful landscape and wilderness, and the ugliness that can be found there.

 

The culture of District 12 is based on that of Appalachia and you can see that in District 12’s music.  Their songs, such as Deep in the Meadow and The Hanging Tree, are ballads that tell stories. The Valley Song shows Districts 12’s pride in their tradition. Both cultures are extremely resilient to adversity and use their sense of place to come together to fight adversity. They all have a passion for their homes and traditions that is unlike any other seen in the world.

Of the three books in The Hunger Games Trilogy, I liked the second book the most. It really developed on the character arcs and storyline of the first book in a great way. I like how it showed Katniss’ development as a character with how she begins to realize the extent of the oppression of the Capitol and the growth of the rebellion is a very real thing. The book as a whole just felt so much more dramatic and the events held more weight than they did in the first book. The uprising that takes place in the third book is foreshadowed and events seem to fall into place as people like Plutarch and Haymitch prepare for the war. I also like how the book ends. It leaves off with Katniss being rescued by the rebels with a lot of questions and suspense, making me want to read the third book right away.

Image taken from http://believeinplace.com/2013/10/27/empire-hunger-games-and-hope/

I was, however, very disappointed with the third book as a whole. It felt very rushed and contrived to me. I 
almost wish that Collins had taken the time to split it into two different books with a lot more content. There was no drama or suspense as there had been in the previous books. It felt almost journalistic with the events happening so fast with so little description. It just did not feel as satisfying to me as the other two books did.

In this week’s post, I will be
discussing the differences between the two novels The Hunger Games and Catching
Fire. Both of the novels are split into two distinct sections: outside of the
games and inside of the games.

 Both of the books start out in District
Twelve. Here, Collins shows just what state the Districts are in with regards
to the Capitol’s oppression. In the second novel, Catching Fire, Katniss and
Peeta actually leave District Twelve to go on the victory tour. In the first
novel, they never got to see the other districts except in passing on their way
to the Capitol. They get to see each of the different districts and see the
full extent of the Capitol’s harsh treatments. The second novel spends much
more time in the districts outside of the games than the first book did. I
think this is because Collins is trying to set up and foreshadow the coming
rebellion. The story becomes much more complex in the second novel as well. In
the first, it was all about Katniss and Peeta just trying to survive in the
arena, however in the second, they are shown just how far the Capitol goes to
control the districts and close the country is to its tipping point.

The first novel puts Katniss and
Peeta into the arena very early into the story because it is the focus of the
narrative. I think Collins did this to show the readers what Katniss’s and
Peeta’s personalities are and how they will interact with each other and other
people. The second novel does not put as much emphasis on the games themselves
but rather on the situation outside of the games in the capitol and the
districts.

Here is a video interview I found
on YouTube of a few of the cast members talking about how the second movie has
evolved from the first and differences between the two.

Katniss is a person who does not like to take orders from anyone. She is very defiant towards the Capitol and any other authority figure in the novels. She breaks many of the rules set down by the Capitol. When she is at home in District 12, she leaves the fenced in area almost every day to go hunting for food for her family and to sell at the hob, the black market. Her act of volunteering for her sister, Prim, is also very defiant in nature. It is almost like she is cheating the Capitol of taking her innocent younger sister for use in the arena. When she is displaying her skills for the gamemakers, she notices that they are not paying attention to her, so she shoots an arrow through the apple in the pig’s mouth that the gamemakers are eating. While in the games, she refuses to actively go out and hunt for other tributes. This is an act of defiance in the way that she is not playing by the Capitol’s rules and does everything in her power to not give in to their intentions. Her burial of Rue is another act of defiance towards the Capitol. She does not know it but her burial shows unity between the districts and sparks a riot in Rue’s home district. The final, and most important, act of defiance is at the end of the games when she and Peeta are the only tributes left. The Capitol goes back on their word and says that only one of the two tributes can win. But Katniss is not willing to let the Capitol win and proposes that she and Peeta eat the poisonous berries so that they both die. This would leave the Capitol without a victor. The Capitol is forced to stop them and declare them both victors. This shows weakness on the Capitol’s part Katniss is given the blame for it. She is seen as a threat to the Capitol and Districts know that they are afraid of her. They start to rally behind her and use her as a driving force for revolution.

Suzanne Collins Part 4 - The Most Difficult Part

There are many similarities between the gladiators of ancient Rome and the tributes of The Hunger Games. First, the whole idea of tributes and gladiators are similar. The gladiators were fighting for the entertainment of the Roman Empire and the tributes fought for the entertainment of the Capitol. There were also two types of gladiators. The first is a slave gladiator, who is forcibly taken from his home by the Romans and made to fight in the arena. The second is a career gladiator who chooses to fight in order to earn fame and wealth. Similar to the two types of tributes, those who volunteer and those who do not. In The Hunger Games, the citizens of the districts have the opportunity to volunteer to enter the arena, however they often do not. Typically, those who volunteer have been bred and trained by their district to be killing machines and stand much better chances in the arena, like the career gladiators who train their whole lives to be fighters in the arena.

Image taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

The idea of “panem et circenses” in The Hunger Games is taken directly from ancient Roman culture. “Panem et circenses” is Latin for “bread and circuses.” The Roman government would use this ideology to appease the citizens of the empire. The idea was to give gifts and entertainment to the people in order to keep them happy. This idea is also present in The Hunger Games. The Capitol televises The Hunger Games every year for the entire nation to see. The citizens of the Capitol are entertained by the games and love to watch the fights. However, the games have the opposite effect on the districts. The government uses the games to subdue the districts and discourage them from attempting another uprising.

Image taken from http://bustedhalo.com/