The Hunger Games (Post #1)

This post is about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read the whole book in five days so I decided to do a post on the entire book.

The Hunger Games is a story about a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen who lives with her 12 year-old sister, Prim, and her mother in Panem. Panem is where America used to be (the book takes place in the future). It is split into twelve different districts and the Everdeens live in District 12. Every year there is a ceremony called "The Reaping" to select two "tributes," a teenage boy and a girl, from each district for the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are held in the Capitol every year to punish the districts for an uprising that was years ago. They take place in a gigantic arena that looks like the outdoors, but is controlled with computers. The 24 tributes must fight to survive, meanwhile all of Panem watches live on television. Only one tribute can win each year; all the others must die. At The Reaping, Prim is selected to be a tribute, but Katniss knows she is too weak to survive so she volunteers as a tribute. A boy, Peeta Mellark, is the second tribute. They are taken to the Capitol where they are trained, coached, and given makeovers. When Peeta is interviewed on live television he admits that he has been in love Katniss since he first saw her. This makes Katniss furious, but Peeta tells her it is only an act for the audience to earn sponsorship. The Games begin and Katniss starts out on her own. She finds out that Peeta teamed up with a group of Career Tributes (kids who trained specifically for the Games). After finding a bow and arrow, Katniss forms an alliance with a young girl from District 11 named Rue. They carry out a plan to destroy the Career Tributes' food supply. Katniss finds out that Peeta is no longer teamed up with them and wonders if he is hurt. Rue is killed by a career tribute and Katniss covers her body with flowers. An announcer tells the Tributes they may team up with someone from their district, if he or she is still alive, and that they can both win the Hunger Games. Katniss hurries to find Peeta and finds him wounded very badly. She tries to nurse him back to health while pretending that she and Peeta are in love so they can get gifts from sponsors. Eventually everyone is dead except for Peeta, Katniss, and a Career Tribute named Cato. The three tributes are driven together by genetically engineered dogs that try to kill them. After a struggle, Cato is thrown down to the dogs. He suffers for hours and finally Katniss puts him out of his misery by shooting him. Katniss and Peeta think they've won, but an announcer says there can be only one winner now. They both decide to eat poisonous berries and die together, but the Capitol allows both of them to win before they do. Katniss discovers she might be in trouble because the Capitol thinks she was too rebellious by putting flowers on Rue and coming up with the berry idea. The book ends when Peeta and Katniss return to their district. One difference between the book and the movie is that in the book, the dogs are made to look like the dead tributes. In the movie all the dogs look the same and not like the dead tributes. Also in the book Katniss is given a mockingjay pin by her friend, but in the movie it is given to her by a women she trades with.

This book was very good! The author was so creative coming up with this idea for a book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, no matter what genres you prefer. I love how independent and intelligent Katniss is. She is by far my favorite character in The Hunger Games. The Games definitely transform Katniss. By spending so much time with Peeta, who is sensitive, kind, funny, and laid-back, she becomes more like him. Power is an important theme of this book, and Panem is an example of a dystopia. The Capitol is a government that obviously has too much control and Suzanne Collins wants us to imagine the unthinkable: that America might actually have a totalitarian government someday where we aren't allowed to have the rights and freedoms that we take for granted every day. Sacrifice is another theme. Katniss sacrifices a lot when she volunteers to take her sister's place at the Games. Katniss also sacrifices a lot to help Peeta when he is wounded. He is kind of a thorn in her side, but she heals him anyway. In my opinion the best quote in the book is: "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" It is said by Effie Trinket the announcer for The Reaping in District 12. It is a very ironic quote because a) the Hunger Games definitely aren't happy and b) the odds weren't in Katniss' favor because she was chosen. Also, when you are a tribute, the odds definitely aren't in your favor because there are 23 other people trying to kill you. A question I have about my book is: "What are the other parts of the world like when this story is taking place?" I'm curious to see if the other countries are as bad as Panem.