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Hunger Games Key Themes

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After reading The Hunger Games, I immediately found myself analysing the deeper meaning behind the text whilst extracting the key themes and applying them to modern day society. The main themes that I drew from the text are how controlling governments put boundaries on our individual ability to succeed and the extent to which people go to survive under this style of leadership. The Hunger Games is a science-fiction novel, written by Suzanne Collins. It is written from the first person perspective which is of 16 year old Katniss Everdeen who lives in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem. The Capitol is the name of the official government which exercises complete economic and political dominance over Panem.

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Survival is a concept that is most obviously conveyed though through the actual Hunger Games event, where one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts is selected to compete to the death. This did raise the question why were opposite gender chosenI of .Here hunting takes on a very different meaning, as instead of hunting animals Katniss and the other tributes are forced to hunt and kill each other in order to stay alive themselves. This made me aware that whilst many of these acts may seem immoral, I cannot judge a final action without first understanding the circumstances and lack of options behind it. The Hunger Games is a brutal competition that serves two main purposes. One is to show the ultimate power that The Capitol has over the districts and the other is purely to provide entertainment. This last purpose in particular and the way that the people of The Capitol enjoyed watching the suffering of others angered me and made me question their morals. From this, I was able to see the parallels between the televised competition and reality TV of today. The tributes being the contestants and the competition glorified and dramatised. I was able to personally reflect on the fact that I watch shows like X Factor or My Kitchen Rules that emphasise people's failures and now will no longer view these programmes in quite the same

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