Essay The Hunger Games

By Amado Alejandro Macosay Marin.

Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán.
English IX.
25/09/2020
Robotics 9A.
Instructions: Individually choose a book of your own interest and analyze its writing features in
an essay.

The hunger games are a series of books written by Suzanne Collins. The book on which we will focus
in this essay is the first, with the same name and was published on September 14, 2008, it is of the
novel genre, specifically it covers the Subgenres, adventure, science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction,
it has 396 pages. The main characters they introduce us are Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark and
Haymitch Abernathy.

The theme of "The Hunger Games" derives from the old story of Theseus in which he defeats the
monster Minotaur. This story relates that the Athenians had to annually send a tribute to King Minos
of Crete, for this they had to sacrifice seven maidens and seven young people, who would be thrown
into a labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur monster. This was a condition imposed after the
military expedition of Minos against Athens to avenge the death of Androgeo. The sacrifice of the
tale did not end until Theseus decided to go willingly to kill the Minotaur. Collins stated that Katniss
Everdeen, the book's protagonist, is like a "futuristic version" of him (Theseus).

The Hunger Games is presented as a junior novel only because the main characters are, but its plot
is completely adult. It is a novel that mixes many genres at the same time (action, suspense,
romance, etc.) and achieves a perfect harmony between them, although it focuses more on some
than others.

The whole story is developed in the first person, with the perspective and eyes of the protagonist.
Katniss is a sixteen-year-old teenager who lives in District 12, the poorest of all and the one in charge
of the mining activity.

The time of the novel is the future. A future that we assume far from our present, as the seventy-
fourth hunger games are detailed and the history of Panem is discussed, a country that emerged
from ancient North America after a long series of droughts, fires and wars. The characters know
little about the real history of their country, since what they teach in schools is manipulated. The
future is also uncertain, especially after Katniss defies the Capitol. The events that are recounted
take about a month and a half, from the day of harvest to the final victory.

The action takes place in a hypothetical place called Panem, "the country that rose from the ashes
of a place formerly called North America" (p. 26). In the center of the country is the Capitol, a kind
of capital of the country, built on "A place that used to be called Las Rocosas" (p. 50). Around the
Capitol there are twelve districts. There was one more district that rebelled and was annihilated.
The district of which more information is offered is evidently number twelve, in which the
protagonists live. From the other districts some things are noted, for example: district one is
dedicated to manufacturing luxury items for the Capitol, fourth is fishing, eleven is agriculture, etc.

The novel is structured in three parts, clearly divided by content. Each of these parts is divided into
nine sections.

The first part The tributes corresponds to the presentation. It explains what the hunger games
consist of, what are the two tributes of the twelfth district, which, obviously, will be the protagonists
and we also meet the other tributes in the training center.

The development of the novel is found in the second part entitled The games. We see here the last
days in the training center and the first weeks on the battlefield. It ends with the announcement
that for the first time in the games there may be a different outcome: there may be two winners as
long as they are from the same district.

This change in the rule makes the denouement we witness in the third part The victor precipitate.
As we can see, the structure of The Hunger Games could not be more classic.

Katniss, the main character, in the first person, tells us everything that happens in the present
indicative, with short sentences and frequent dialogues. There are hardly any descriptions. What
we know about the appearance of places like the battlefield, for example, we are discovering at the
same time as Katniss. There are also no descriptions of characters (except for a brief physical
reference), we get to know them as the story progresses. It is interesting to see how the characters
of Peeta, Haymitch, or even Katniss herself are forged.

Katniss, the narrating protagonist, becomes our television camera. She shows us everything that is
happening live. It is logical, therefore, that short sentences predominate and that the verb tense
used almost at all times is the present indicative, with this the author achieves a feeling of
immediacy, of speed of closeness to the story.

Among the resources used we also highlight recreation in the unpleasant, even in the morbid.
Katniss herself says she once tells us: "This is so gross I can't bear it" (p. 267).

The novel that is read in one go for its narrative agility and that does not leave the reader indifferent
due to the questions it raises about a future dominated by a tyrant government that organizes a
cruel reality show, which citizens must follow with enthusiasm. It is a book that I would recommend
to anyone who wants to start reading because of its ease of being read, also that with the general
theme it catches you because someone may like to imagine what it is like to throw 24 people in a
fight to the death just to fun of some people who ignore the reality that is outside its great walls.