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Economic Inequality In The Hunger Games

Decent Essays

“How does one put together a democracy based on the concept of equality while running an economy with ever greater degrees of economic inequality?” is a question raised by the American economist Lester Thurow. Economic inequality and disparities in the standard of living between the upper and lower class are present in modern-day America. However, in Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games, in the setting of Panem, the upper and lower classes live lives that have been rendered completely unrecognizable from each other. For members of the lower class, every area of life is more difficult, which shows similarities to modern America’s social class system. The dichotomy between upper and lower classes is showcased in the treatment of children, the conditions that people live and work in, and the hunger that several families face.
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In the Seam, the poorer part of District 12, people are “lucky to get two or three hours of electricity”, since they lack the basic commodities that the upper class takes for granted (Collins 5). Most people in the Seam work in the coal mines, but accidents are far from unheard of, and Katniss’ father “was blown to bits in a mine explosion”, where conditions are often more aptly described as lethal than simply ‘unsafe’ (Collins 5). Even in their homes, the residents of District 12 are too poor to avoid the taint of coal, their only source of energy, which pollutes the air and is likely the culprit for the frequent cough that plagues the poor. In addition, there is the more immediate health hazard of burns, which “are common in the Seam where [they] cook and heat [their] homes with coal” (Collins 178). However, “no one can afford doctors” and their best remedy is folk remedies of herbs and berries from an apothecary (Collins 8). Even in modern America, the majority of families are only one expensive health care bill away from

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