Novel title: The Hunger games

Author: Suzanne Collins

‘The Hunger games’ by Suzanne Collins is a fictional novel that is set in post Apocalyptic future . A selected male and a female from each district (town) is chosen at random at the annual “reaping day”to play in the Hunger Games. “Reaping day” is when 2 names are drawn from the population of all children 18 and under in each district. A very rich head of all districts called “President Snow” lives at the Capitol” – a very rich area where everyone who lives there are well fed, and entertained with the “hunger Games” – very much like a TV show, where people actually die. Complete with a game show host.

Hunger Games is where 24 people (2 from each district) survive in an  outdoor “arena” and fight to their deaths with supposedly one winner in a totally controllable environment, managed by the rich people of the capital.

Suzanne Collins highlighted that the heroine in this book is actually a woman not like your usual stereotypical male hero. Katniss Everdeen a 16-year-old female from district 12, one of the volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games, as her little sister was originally chosen at random, and being a protective sister she volunteers to put her life on the line to save her sisters. Katniss is the main character in this novel alongside Peeta Mellark. Both of these characters participated in the Hunger Games and fortunately they were the last people to survive. Under the normal rule only one person can win the game but they President Snow made an exception to allow 2 people from the same district to win and survive. I believe he did this so the public of the capitol can feed of the drama and create more suspense so the people will be engaged by the matter. With having a female heroine Suzanne Collins has made a strong young inspirational figure that younger women can look up to and asct the same as. This is great because I personally know that I didn’t have any fictional character to look up too that displays the qualities of heroic, leadership and able to make a change besides the Barbie doll.

What this book teaches us about the world today is that is is better to be strong not weak or clever. I believe there is a slight cross reference of ‘Lord of the Flies.’ in this novel. This is because the supposed only way to survive is by killing people in a fascist environment to become better and stronger, and potentially the leader. This is the same in Lord of the Flies, where the weakest people are killed to help fend for the stronger people. A message also that came across in the novel is you can only trust yourself. You can’t trust others even if you have before they can turn their back on you and leave you stranded. I can be seen in the novel, where Peeta exchanges information on where Katniss is the ensure him safety from the strongest players, where they journey together to find Katniss.

This novel, ‘The Hunger Games’ also have sequel novels and films. His novel is made into a film, where Katniss Everdeen is played by Jennifer Lawrence and where Peeta Mellark is played by Josh Hutcherson. Surprisingly the books and the movies are quite similar in context. There a 3 book in the hunger game series consisting of “The Hunger Games’, ‘Catching Fire’ and finally ‘Mockingjay.’

I would definitely recommend this book as the shows different themes of war, survival, action and romance. Suzanne Collins has done an excellent job on describing every idea and theme involved in this novel.