Hunger Games--English Class

The promised Hunger Games through a literary and educational lens post

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had the Hunger Games recommended to me by my dental assistant over the summer, and I placed them on my "some day" reading list.

To be frank, I'm not great fan of teen literature. It tends to be vapid, teach poor lessons, and none-too well written. But, being a fan of dystopian literature, I chanced it.


The trilogy is great. The first book, actually entitled The Hunger Games, is better than the sequels, but that's pretty much an axiom of life.

But struck me more than the bare story itself, was the excellent resource it presented for literary analysis.

Everything English teachers try to drill into their students was present in the Hunger Games, easily found (if looking for it) and woven through out the books.

There's the basic round vs. flat characters.
How does the protagonist grow, change.
What characters don't?

The antagonist vs. protagonist
Man vs. man
Man vs. nature
Man vs. himself
Man vs. God

Enough symbolism to put the Scarlet Letter to shame.
What does Panem represent
The Capitol
Katniss
Peeta
Prim
The Mockingjay

Good vs. Evil and deep ethical questions

Should we send Capitol children into the arena?
Is the premise of the main character even right
Can she be construed as good
Was Katniss wrong for winning

Themes

Utopian societies
Big Brother
The common man
Using resources
Excessive government control
Family
Children

There is enough literary jargon in the Hunger Games to fill a semester. However, despite being an English teacher's paradise, the Hunger Games is fascinating, a read that is neither difficult,nor easy. Well-written, formatted well, nicely developed, requires critical thinking, and the vocabulary, while not Steinbeck or Hawthorn, is decent.

The Hunger Games should not replace the literary works that junior high and high school literature courses are built around. But they can be used in addition to those works, to show students that reading critically, analyzing, searching for themes, pondering ethics, finding symbolism, noting well-developed characters, and gleaning applicable meanings in reading does not have only to be done through books they might not have chosen themselves. The Hunger Games is trilogy that its readers must devour voraciously. The drama and tension in the books, urges readers to another chapter. But the complexity of the series requires readers to comprehend the pages, while they read quickly.

Too often teachers and students are faced with the dichotomy that the books they are reading in school--ones filled with appropriate literary tools and theory--are not interesting to the student. While it is an excellent exercise for students to learn to read books they otherwise might not have, it is also an excellent reward and "sneaky" teaching tool to allow students to use the concepts they have learned, on books that fascinate them.

The Hunger Games is a dystopian trilogy. It is along the vein of 1984, Brave New World, and The Giver, all books that are used in education. Like 1984 it uses a world that was created out of the ashes of our present world. Like The Giver the protagonist is young, and still possessing some hope. And like Brave New World, absurd colors are used to make humans more attractive. Yet, unlike much dystopian literature, The Hunger Games end in triumph. The protagonist over throws the bonds that government-enforced slavery has put on the people. A theme of redemption...

Suzanna Collins has given teachers a remarkable tool in incorporating literary rules with a book that's fun and popular to read. It is a waste for young people to read The Hunger Games but take nothing out of it but entertainment.

And yes, I realize that by writing this I have implicitly endorsed The Hunger Games. As with all dystopian, dare I say all literature, there are "negative" elements in it. The Hunger Games can be described as dark--there very premise is that children are forced into an area, with one to come out the victor. The others never to return. However, this returns to the argument of whether literature should show good vs. evil, or simply the good of the world so that readers might learn by osmosis.

An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards.
F. Scott Fitzgerald