"I have plenty of fire myself."

The Hunger Games Trilogy REVIEW

Next in my ongoing series on dystopian Literature is Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games. The books explore the dystopia of imbalance. The plot is set in the world of Panem where life in the twelve colonies is kept “nasty, brutish, and short” by three quarters of a century of exploitation on the part of “the capital” and its Machiavellian ruler, Coriolanus Snow. In the novels, it is clear that the aristocrats of the capital like roman names that speak of Roman imperialism. The names of people in the exploited provinces however often refer to plants in nature (Primrose, Katniss, Hawthorne, etc.)

In Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus is a Roman general who adheres to aristocratic and fascist principles. “There have been many great men that have flatter'd the people, who ne'er loved them” one of the characters in the play comments when reflecting upon Coriolanus’ distaste for democracy. “I think he'll be to Rome as is the osprey to the fish, who takes it by sovereignty of nature” says Aufidius, one of Coriolanus’ mortal enemies on the battlefield who has come to respect his martial spirit. President Snow is a master of the Machiavellian skill set that advises leaders to present a virtuous self to the public while practicing pragmatic vice in private. Keeping power is the thing. Ceremony and image projection are tools for doing so.

The protagonists in this trilogy are many but center on three oppressed “tributes” from district 12, Gale Hawthorne, Peeta Mellark, and Katniss Everdeen who will eventually work together to bring the Capital down. It is difficult for me not to see in the names intentional references to character. If Coriolanus Snow combines the connotations of the fascist Roman dictator and the pure white coldness of the Machiavellian, it stands to reason that his counterparts in the rebellion will also have their names infused with meaning. Peeta, ironically, works in a bakery and embodies many feminine qualities. He is a passivist, a protector, a nurturing motherly presence (though not effeminate). Gale is forceful, tempestuous, hunter, an aggressive fighter. While capable of tenderness, he certainly leans in the direction of typically masculine qualities. Collins might just as well have called them Cain and Able or Jacob and Esau. Naturally, Katniss Everdeen has a balance of masculine and feminine qualities that are drawn to both of these young men for different reasons.

The opposition of the cat (instinct) and the sound of “ever dean” contains the connotation of both the amygdala and the frontal cortex. Throughout the novels, we see Katniss manifesting both the furious and refined elements of her personality. She hunts, she fights, she sets out to assassinate President Snow eventually. But she also loves her sister Prim, longs to be protected, and shuns the public spotlight whenever she can. She can look great and make an impression in armor or a wedding dress. It is no surprise that her “masculine self” desires the calm nurturing of Peeta the baker while her “feminine” domestic self desires the brave ruggedness of Gale the miner-turned-soldier.

One could argue from the trilogy that it is the imbalances that create dystopian lives and dystopian societies. The Hunger Games trilogy is a story about the return of balance to an imbalanced society and to one 16 year old girl within it. In the beginning, Katniss cannot reconcile her competing inner selves and thus she cannot decide who she loves more; Peeta or Gale. If she were a proto-typical 16 year old teenage girl, this should be no contest. But she is not. Thus the inner confusion:  

"I wonder what Gale made of the incident for a moment and then I push the whole thing out of my mind because for some reason Gale and Peeta do not coexist well together in my thoughts."

She knows that the harsh circumstances of life in the districts and later in the civil war dictate that she chose Gale … but she has a hope for a world that she passionately longs for someday where what Peeta provides will be of more importance to her. “I do not want to lose the boy with the bread,” she says at one point. You might say she is stuck. She needs Gale more in the world as it is and Peeta more for the future world she hopes to bring about. Gale, it seems, senses this. At one point, he is faced with the choice of letting Peeta die or protecting him and tells Katniss why he chooses the later. "I don't stand a chance [with you] if he doesn't get better,” he says, “You'll never be able to let him go. You'll always feel wrong about being with me."

"The way I always felt wrong kissing him because of you," she replies.

[Plot spoiler follows] By the time we have arrived at the conclusion of the trilogy, Katniss has helped to bring about the balance in the world that she always wanted. And once the world is no longer a seething cauldron of civil war (thanks in large part to Gale’s strategic plan to bring down President Snow), Katniss resolves her inner conflict in Peeta’s favor. In the closing words of the last novel Mockingjay, she explains.

“I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after, when he whispers, ‘You love me. Real or not real?’
I tell him, ‘Real.’”

“As long as you can find yourself, you will never starve” Katniss’ long-dead father had explained to her when she was a child.

And thus all ends well.

Unless you are Gale.

Question for Comment: How does your world seem imbalanced to you? How do you seem imbalanced? And if you have found balance, how did you do so?  

Comments

[Skyler Crossman]

"The opposition of the cat (instinct) and the sound of 'ever dean' contains the connotation of both the amygdala and the frontal cortex."

Unrelated, but how's Unsong treating you? :P

I know I need more physicality in my life. Also more challenge, something to push back at me.
Also more sleep. Bah.