The hunger games is a book that is
based on the division of classes. It seems that throughout the book there is a
defined difference between the haves and the have nots. This difference is
shown in the ways people live their lives in the various districts. The biggest
disparity of classes is the differences between the capitol and district 12.
From the time Katniss is introduced we see that she lives her life only to
survive day to day. When she is at home in district 12 she spends a good
portion of the day hunting and gathering for food for her and her family’s next
meal or trading items at the black market. She doesn’t have any luxuries in her
life or any time for relaxation. Even in a world set in a distant future from
our own, Katniss and all of the people of district 12 seem to be living a much
more primitive life.
When Katniss enters the world of
the tributes and travels to the capitol however, the way of life of her and the
people around her changes dramatically. She is taken out of a life where she
has to fight to survive each day and dropped into a world of luxury and immense
technology before being dropped back in to a world where she has to fight for
her life again. In this way this book argues something about the state of
nature. When Katniss first gets a glimpse of the capitol on page 59, she
describes what she sees as gaudy and artificial. She claims all the colors look
unnaturally too bright. On page 61 when she is getting ready to go see her
stylist she comments on the voices of the people who live in the capitol. She
explains their dialect in such a way that reminded me of creaky voice which
further separates her from them. They then precede to try to transform Katniss
into someone that would be deemed acceptable by the rest of society by clearing
her of all hair and washing her clean of the layer of dirt that she had from
living in district 12. The thing I found most interesting was that Katniss does
not seem impressed with these people or their way of life. She is not awed by
her controller as Hobbes would suggest. In fact, she thinks that they’re all
idiots as she puts in on page 63. The way of life of the people in the capitol
is determined by technology and only technology. This argues the point that Rousseau
make about civilization. He maintains the argument that when you move from a
state of nature into a state of civilization you lose that connection to nature
and you’ll never be able to get it back. The people at the capitol all seem
unhappy with their natural bodies and most of them have garish face lifts and
surgeries to alter their appearance. They are the furthest people away from the
state of nature as possible. This technology actually makes them look like a
futuristic society in contrast with the society of district 12.
Another difference I saw between
the capitol and district 12 was listed on page 65. Katniss is having lunch with
Cinna and all she sees Cinna do to make the food appear is just press a button.
This food is not just every day food that we may think of eating for lunch. It
is gourmet food with chicken cooked in a bed of oranges, rice, and honey
colored pudding. She tries to imagine herself trying to prepare this type of
meal at her own home and she concludes that it would take her days to finish
preparing a meal like this and it in no way would be as good as the capitol’s
version. She wonders what the people in the capitol do in the hours they don’t
spend hunting and gathering their food. The hours that they save by the immense
technology they have. Katniss’s view on these people seems to be one of
disdain. She doesn’t respect them in fact she sees herself as smarter than them
but yet they have all the power. Their gaudy and lofty attitude seems to turn
Katniss off to the whole idea of being in their presence.
In Panem it is almost impossible to
move up through these systems of class. Katniss was born into district 12 with
no power and no resources while others were born in district 1 or the capitol with a lot of
power and resources. It is a very unfair system with power in one section of
the country. There is an extreme almost desperate attempt from the capitol to
maintain power throughout the hunger games which means control, to the utmost
extreme, of the people. Most people are unhappy under this system except for
the very few rich who have all the power.
Civilizationàpoweràluxuriesà way of life that is separate
from nature, lacks understanding/compassionà
control of lower classes that don’t have access to technology or money to pay
their way to the topà
rebellionà
war/ more control and obliteration of resistance by the powerfulà hunger games
"Katniss’s view on these people seems to be one of disdain." and by extension we view the capitol with disdain because we are positioned behind Katniss. This point is actually made even better in the second book when Katniss goes to the party at the end of her victory tour. She and Peeta are stuffed and can't even imagine eating any more food but are told there is a special drink they can drink so they throw up and then continue eating. Peeta points out that people in the other districts are starving while the capitol is throwing up their food and don't even think about it as a source of nutrition or know what its like to be really hungry.
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