Power in The Hunger Games

By: Breanna Behne and Abby Alldaffer

It is impossible to read this book with an objective point of view. Growing up in a world, a world that is so completely different from ours where freedom and morality do not seem to matter and pursuit of happiness (our very values of the declaration of independence, bill of rights, and constitution) are thrown out the window. If this was happening in our world we would try everything to change it. Happiness is however, a luxury freedom in the novel. Is luxury treating your fellow man like you want to be treated? And what’s interesting to us is that a lot of people want freedom even if they’re afraid to talk about it (This is a Rousseauist claim). And then there are those people like Katniss, whom at the beginning of the book accepts her life for what it is and is not trying to change it. She doesn’t understand Gales strong bad opinions of the capitol, or Peeta’s for that matter. She is more concerned with the survival of her family and we don’t think she ever really even thought about anything bigger than that. She also says in the later books that she never wanted to be a leader. It makes us wonder about the type of person she is, as well if that is just her personality (a follower rather than a leader) or if the oppression of the powerful government has gotten to her and forced her to only be worried about immediate living and not worry about who is causing her to live this way. It’s not until the middle of The Hunger Games, (from when Rue dies to when she almost eats the berries with Peeta) that she starts to become really, really angry with the capitol. Before this most of her anger was directed towards her mom for “checking out” after her dad died.

    In our opinion the government doesn’t actually have that much real brute force power. Most of its power is provided through propaganda and the government run education programs. The problem that the capitol faces is that it is run basically by just one person, president Snow. From then on down there is a hegemonic decrease in “power”. One viewpoint of the government that we have is that the capitol could be compared to a circus. Snow is the circus master (runs the show). The game makers, designers and stylists in the capitol, as well as the peacekeepers are the circus performers, have lots of glitz and strictly follow the rules told to them. The tributes from each of the districts are the show animals. They are worked and deprived. When show time comes they are forced to perform, to entertain the rest of the people. Just like a circus animal, Katniss has been dressed and covered in makeup to fit her new role in the Games, and at the sight of her costume she says, “The creature standing before me has come from another world” (120). The makeover process is meant to sound glamorous, but the words used in the text to describe the process are short, cold and hard. Katniss claims she isn’t pretty, she isn’t beautiful. She knows the capitol isn’t a pretty place deep under all of the superficiality . She has been dressed as one of them, one of the capitol. In the capitol’s view the tributes, especially the ones from the last few districts, are objects that need to be tamed before they can be suitable for the capitol’s entertainment. They are stripped of hair and done up in capitol attire so that the people in the capitol can marvel over them and bet on them. The districts don’t question this behavior, it’s just the way of life that they know. Another metaphor we found is that of a horse race. People in the capitol are the spectators, they become sponsors and bet on tributes.

Each person plays a part and that part is stagnant (according to the capitol). This is a very Althusserist viewpoint because the position in this society is assigned to you and cannot be changed or overruled.  However, according to Gale and Peeta it can be moved and manipulated. That is a very Gramsci esque viewpoint of this government. One Gramsci esque example of this movement is shown through Katniss and Peeta grabbing each other’s hands at their introduction ceremony (79). That was one of the first signs of the beginning of their rebellion. However the capitol laughs at that idea and takes one from Althusser that the people need hope but only a little bit of hope. They, according to the capitol, think they’re changing something but in reality are just repeating what’s been done before and are reinforcing the capitol’s agenda by doing so. If the people get more than a taste of hope however the whole house of cards the capitol has in place just falls down because in our opinion it is not a stable system. Hope eventually does become more powerful than the capitol’s manipulative ways. It takes a little bit of hope to get the rebellion in progress. However in order for that to happen the people need to rebel and not be afraid to die trying. What’s stopping them from doing that right now at least in the first book is the fear. Fear of death, fear of the capitol. Because they themselves believe that they are worse people than the capitol elites because that has been drilled into their head forever through the education that the capitol allows for them to receive. Even if they don’t think outwardly that they are worse than the capitol they do inwardly because culture has a way of getting inside of us even if we don’t want it to. This is why the people of Panem refuse to fight, this is why Katniss pretends to be happy when she’s in the capitol. This is why Katniss and Peeta still have to pretend to be in love at the end of the novel, the capitol is still too powerful at this point (356-357). It appears though, as the novel progresses, that the capitol cannot maintain this power forever. Them having to change their power can be seen just from looking at District 12’s turnaround since the games. Katniss is from District 12, and for some reason this district isn’t ruled as strictly. One example is how Katniss can freely go hunt because the fence doesn’t work. The capitol doesn’t really seem to care about District 12 because they probably assume the citizens of the district are “dumb” because they live there. It isn’t until Katniss becomes the winner that they really begin to keep a better eye on the district. The people place their hope in Katniss. The girl is on fire, and creating a very powerful spread of hope that is igniting in each district. Just like this quote about Hegemony claims, “Hegemony can only be maintained so long as the dominant classes succeed in framing all competing definitions within their range’, so that subordinate groups are, if not controlled; then at least contained within an ideological space which does not seem at all ‘ideological: which appears instead to be permanent and ‘natural’, to like outside history to be beyond particular interests.” From the moment Katniss volunteered as tribute, and her district showed respect by placing their 3 fingers in the air, the capitol begins to lose their power. By the end of the novel, more and more catch on to the trend.

This entire idea of the “games” is a joke. The people that win are those that know how to pretend, are cunning enough to bribe people, or are rich enough to live a lavish lifestyle and not have a care in the world. Katniss bribes, Peeta pretends. Peeta pretends to be in with the Careers. They are manipulating the games, they are finding ways around the system without actually changing the system. They are finding loopholes in the Games. They are sneakily using power.  If everyone banded together and joined forces and became knowledgeable about the way the districts and the capitol operates they could easily defeat the capitol (president Snow) and put power where we as a civilized western nation with the ideals of liberty freedom and the pursuit of happiness think it belongs, in the hands of the people. The society that we live in here in the US, because of these freedoms, puts us in a position to read the book in a way that is so critical. 

   

This form of powerful government seen in The Hunger Games can be related to the style of totalitarian government in North Korea or like in the novel 1984, written by George Orwell. 1984, by George Orwell is full of concepts similar to those of the capitol in The Hunger Games. The governments in these two novels are both greatly afraid of rebellion from the citizens. They both use physical manipulation and extreme poverty and power to ensure that their people do not rebel. One of the main rules of the government, and most important quotes in 1984 is this, “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”. This quote can be put into The Hunger Games as well. Being born into this completely oppressive society without any truth of the outside world is a common theme in The Hunger Games. One example of this is that Katniss knew hardly anything of what the other districts were like; that is until Rue explained to her what District 11 was like. Another example of this is that the government only allows for each district to teach about things that only those in that district need to know. Those who live in District 12 only learn about the life of mining. Both of these follow the rule of “Ignorance is strength”. This is how the capitol stays powerful. All of the districts are closed off from the rest This separation is preferred by the capitol because each district cannot share information amongst themselves, it only allows each district to be as smart as the capitol wants them to be. “War is peace” is very clear throughout The Hunger Games. By forcing the districts to send in 2 children each year to fight in a war, the government keeps their peace. In 1984 there is an ongoing world war. “Freedom is slavery” is also seen here throughout The Hunger Games. By forcing the citizens of each district to working in physical labor keeps everyone “free” from any type of punishment. This is the same in 1984, as long as the people obey the rules they shall not be in trouble for any actions.

           Just like the main character, Winston, in 1984, the idea of rebelling appears in Katniss’, and the other citizens minds. The people do have the idea of rebellion. They do know about district 13 and how it was “obliterated” after the rebellion. They are taught about the rebellion but mostly in a way that is strategically played by the capital to make sure they don’t rebel. They are taught that the ideas of the rebellion were terrible ideas because resisting is futile. They are kept from thinking about freedom because the capitals culture has gotten inside of them. They feel that the capital is much too powerful for them to rebel. And the thing is that that is just a feeling. They are basically forced to feel that way. Much of the capitol’s power is made through propaganda and fear. One example of this is when Katniss and Haymitch are talking about the Avox. “What’s an Avox?” I ask stupidly. “Someone who committed a crime. They cut her tongue so she can’t speak,” says Haymitch. “She’s probably a traitor of some sort. Not likely you’d know her.” (pg 77). It’s significant to the government to do this so that people cannot begin to speak out against them. The avoxes could also be seen as a signification of the cast system in India. They can resemble the untouchables in the sense that they are completely apart from society, they’re the same group of people, but aren’t even looked at as the same. They simply exist to help and benefit the higher classes. The only difference is that the avoxes are there because they committed crime, but the untouchables are in that class from birth. In India, people could only be associated with those from within their groups.

    We as a people have too many ideas/ morals/ structure/freedoms to completely understand what this type of government would be like. We are reading this book with the opinion that freedom and morality and ideals for a greater good exist when that is simply not the case in The Hunger Games. Culture has gotten inside of us to say that the situation presented in this book is completely wrong. This has shaped our thinking that this way of living is wrong. The way the government is run, goes against the assumptions that all people are good, which is what Rousseau claims. This book is very important to culture today because it reflects the type of government that we are so against as Americans. This novel claims that not all people are good despite how badly we would like to believe they are. It is based on somewhat historical events and warns us of our past and how powerful and manipulative people can be.