Molly Ransone Post#13 Outside Reading

(#13) Outside Reading: The Hunger Games

Last November I had shoulder reconstruction and during my recovery I read The Hunger Games trilogy. I could not put these books down once I started reading them! I think I really liked these books because they were different. I love books that make your heart race from all the action, and this is why I loved this series. The Hunger Games is about a post- apocalyptic world called Panem. Panem is made up of twelve districts and its ruling Capitol. The Capitol is an extremely oppressive to the other districts. The people of the Capitol live very lavish lifestyles, which is in stark contrast to the starving districts. The districts that are closer the capitol are wealthier compared to the outlying, poorer districts. At one point in time all the districts were fed up with the Capitol’s unfair treatment so they revolted. The Capitol, with all their wealth, put down the revolt quickly. As a punishment for this revolt they decided to give the districts a horrible punishment so that they would never revolt again. The punishment was called the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games makes one boy and one girl from each district, between the ages of twelve and eighteen; enter into an arena where they fight to the death. The participants of the Hunger Games must kill each other until there is only one participant left. Whoever wins the games is crowned victor and their districts wins fame and more food for a year. In the Capitol the Hunger Games is a source of entertainment, and it is televised for the nation to see.

            After reading the Chronicles of Narnia I thought that one of the books in the series reminded me of The Hunger Games. This book was Prince Caspian. In The Chronicles of Narnia, many of the books explore the idea of good vs. evil, but I picked Prince Caspian because I thought that it was terrible for Caspian and his uncle to fight with each other. These books reminded me of each other because in both stories there is a battle over good vs. evil. In The Hunger Games the Capitol is evil and in Prince Caspian Miraz and his army are evil. The 12 districts, Prince Caspian, and the Pevensies children represent the good side in the books. In both books there is a battle with good vs. evil. The final battle takes place in the last book of The Hunger Games (sorry for the spoiler). The good side prevails over evil in both of the books. Our culture loves for stories to have happy endings, which is why so many of the books that are written explore the notion of good vs. evil.