The Illusion of Choice; the Fear of Losing Control

By: Aaron Bolton and Elyssa Buhl


Take yourselves back to the scene where Katniss is waiting under the stage after being dressed by Cinna. Waiting in a dark area underneath the stage, Haymitch comes over to her as if he is congratulating her for her victory and to wish her luck. He seems out of character when he asks for a hug and then whispers into her ear while his lips are covered by her hair.

“Okay, that's an odd request from Haymitch but, after all, we are victors. Maybe a hug for luck is in order. Only, when I put my arms around his neck, I find myself trapped in his embrace. He begins talking, very fast, very quietly in my ear, my hair concealing his lips. ‘Listen up. You're in trouble. Word is the Capitol's furious about you showing them up in the arena. The one thing they can't stand is being laughed at and they're the joke of Panem,’ says Haymitch.”

He explains the danger she is in and the how the capital is going to be searching any way they can to seek revenge. He tells her she needs to play up the “madly in love” scenario that she and Peeta had used inside the arena; what she describes now as is the most dangerous part of the games -  “And right now, the most dangerous part of the Hunger Games is about to begin.”

This completely exemplifies the control and power that the Capitol has. Peeta and Katniss, throughout the whole book, are constantly in fear of the ability that the Capitol has to spy, hear, and obtain information, which causes them to be on a constant lookout for cameras - in the games, and also once they leave the arena. Nowhere in the narrative does it state that there physically are cameras, it only shows the characters’ paranoia and the severity of the situation. As Hegbich would say, culture gets inside of you, and the culture that Katniss and Peeta became accustomed to was a state of constant paranoia in the games, so even once they left the arena, the paranoia didn’t dismiss itself. Peeta and Katniss were traumatically affected by their experience in the games and that fear and experience bled into every aspect of their life out of the games. A somewhat similar situation can be shared between the “Victors” and soldiers who suffer from PTSD. Also, a lot of mental conditions in our society are brought on by previous real-life experiences. Now, I would hardly call that an infection of “culture” because it’s so psychological and personal, but in the whole scheme of the hunger games, they were submersed into a new manipulated “culture,” which becomes their new normal.

As the scene continues, Katniss then goes up to the interview that will determine her life or death and the scene begins as her and Peeta hug and cuddle up on the loveseat:

“Finally, Haymitch interrupts us and gives us a good-natured shove toward the victor's chair. Usually, this is a single, ornate chair from which the winning tribute watches a film of the highlights of the Games, but since there are two of us, the Gamemakers have provided a plush red velvet couch. A small one, my mother would call it a love seat, I think. I sit so close to Peeta that I'm practically on his lap, but one look from Haymitch tells me it isn't enough. Kicking off my sandals, I tuck my feet to the side and lean my head against Peeta's shoulder.“

Throughout this whole passage, little hints are dropped everywhere. Basically, the Capitol has set up a scene for the two Victors to be improv actors in… Katniss and Peeta know the roles that they have to play and although unscripted, they are practically forced into playing this new game to convince everyone else of their eternal love for one another. Technically, they have a choice and aren’t exactly forced into acting this way, but this is only an illusion of choice. Just like the Gamekeeper was set up; President Snow set a “scene” by planting the poisonous berries on the gamekeeper’s desk, implying that the Gamekeeper is dead, no matter if he chooses to eat the berries or not… it’s his “choice”. President Snow and the Capitol paints a picture of freedom by setting up situations where these people always have a “choice,” but the choices are between a rock and a hard place. The choice for Katniss and Peeta is do they play along with the love seat scene set in front of them, or do they tell the truth about what happened and risk the lives of not only themselves, but also of those they love and hold dear. Katniss, in that scene, chooses to play the game by kicking off her sandals and pretend she’s in love. She makes this choice out of a root of fear, which ultimately isn’t true freedom at all. And on we continue…:

“Caesar Flickerman makes a few more jokes, and then it's time for the show. This will last exactly three hours and is required viewing for all of Panem.”

The fact that the show is required to be viewed by everyone displays the twisted illusion that is painted apart from reality; the hunger games are sold to Panem as a festive event, but obviously the games are only existent to act as a mouthpiece to remind everyone who is in control (the Capitol) and what will happen if a mouse decides to chase the lion. Again, the culture of a powerful government gets inside them; Pierre Bourdieu shows how this can happen. He states ”...at signifying and at signifying social position through the interplay of distinctive differences… function as so many calls to order by virtue of which those who might have forgotten are reminded of the position assigned to them by the institution.” This is the idea that the institution puts everything into check and the citizens are reminded; even though they know better, they still know the reality. Our bodily habitus is the reaction to our government or in the book the Capitoll. In the book they are sold The Hunger Games used as a fear tactic, but their bodily habitus is to go along with it and always be on the lookout such as it is in the scene above. Their habitus reflects how the culture of the games gets inside of them and that the Capitol gives them the illusion of choice. The games are sold as a festivity but it is a required viewing and required for children 12-18 to put their name in. Also the idea of getting grain for extra names gives them a flicker of hope, but it manipulates the citizens even more because I could imagine the government countering back at their pleas: “you had a choice, and you chose to put your name in to get more rice.” Only in the wealthy districts, the Capitol, do citizens actually volunteer to be tributes… the ones who have been training their whole lives for it. The small majority of the rich Panem - the Capitol - is in favor of the games because they’re well-equipped and well-trained, while the larger majority of the poor Panem in the other districts dread the Reaping because there’s no hope for survival. Talk about relevancy to our culture. Laci Green has a view on things such as this in her analysis of The Hunger Games http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHxQx-Zi5oQ. She basically says that Collins uses the games as an analogy for America today and how capitalism is a disguised way for the elite to control. That the poor can’t break loose from their chains but the culture gets inside them like Bourdieu describes habitus and Laci describes the American dream provides hope to keep everyone working hard.

As ridiculous as it seems, things like this actually happen in our world today. And although they aren’t exactly extravagant as the hunger games are, there have been recent reports of public executions in North Korea (article link: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/11/12/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-for-crimes-like-watching-films-owning-bible/). “Eight people - their heads covered with white bags - were tied to stakes at a local stadium in the city of Wonsan, before authorities shot them with a machine gun, according to the source. Wonsan authorities gathered a crowd of 10,000 people, including children, at Shinpoong Stadium and forced them to watch the killings.” This happened a mere month ago - an act to show the “mouse” how much control the “lion” has, and to use fear as a mechanism of control. Just like Katniss’s experiences, any slight move outside of the lines gives the impression of rebellion, which the Capitol itself is terrified of. And likewise in North Korea, the government saw acts of “rebellion” and decided to use public executions to evoke fear in the citizens and keep them in their control. These citizens who were publicly executed weren’t murderers or people who commit serious crimes, “most of the Wonsan victims were charged with watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, involvement in prostitution, or possessing a Bible.” The fact that these “crimes” would cause people to watch everything they do and be careful to follow the government strictly in order to keep each other and themselves safe. And like in the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are caught in this fear mentality of being careful in everything they say and do. While the North Korean government relies on fear, here in America we use what Laci describes as an illusion that’s sold to us as she says it is sold to tributes in the games, make them put on a good show and use hope to drive them to do it. If they refuse to fight or things are slow they put something in to change the circumstances such as the fire wall, fire balls, and mutated dogs. This is somewhat of what North Korea’s government is doing in the sense of the Capitol using these fear tactics to speed up the games into action. The Capitol gives them hope that they might win “may the odds be ever in your favor” but if you're not killing, they will harm you! The North Korean gov., if you don’t obey we will kill you and show everyone to remind them.

Next, Katniss describes the memories of each tribute dying. She talks about Rue’s death and again not much needs to be said, but this is more direct than a little hint drop:

“But I do notice they omit the part where I covered her in flowers.

Right. Because even that smacks of rebellion.”

She directly states it into the narrative and although indirect, it more directly refers to the Capitol’s control and illusion of choice. For the whole interview, she lets Peeta do most of the talking and Caesar plays this up along with them. The audience reacts accordingly and makes Katniss at ease.

“And then comes the moment with the berries. I can hear the audience hushing one another, not wanting to miss anything.”

The audience finds this compelling and reinforces Katniss’s and Peeta’s success at playing the lovebird roles well. Then, however, it is taken back when President Snow comes to crown them:

“He's still smiling when he settles the second on my head, but his eyes, just inches from mine, are as unforgiving as a snake's.

That's when I know that even though both of us would have eaten the berries, I am to blame for having the idea. I'm the instigator. I'm the one to be punished.”

Why does this all matter, why should we care? I mean as Laci puts it, we mostly adopt our parents’ place in society. So if that is a relatively good place in society why not just take it? Why should we care about the crippling socioeconomic gap? How is it important what the games do in the book compared to reality? While yes it is just a metaphor the book shows how much control the capital can have and how they disguise it even though most the citizens are aware, such as Katniss even before she enters the games when shes in the woods with Gale. Gale as well is aware as most are but no one is able to speak out, so the woods is their place to express this. Bourdieu explains this with culture getting inside of us and habitus and Laci shows us how this applies to us here in America as the tragic events in North Korea show how fear tactics are still being used. This all applies and it does matter, and I will rely on Laci more to show how it does infact matter. She describes hope as a capitalist mechanism to get America to work harder; the harder we work the more we supposedly can move up in society. As she states, this is a rare occurrence and we typically just stay where our parents are at in society. So here we have Laci telling us how hope is used today and the story rolling out of North Korea showing how fear is used; where does this leave us? We need to understand how control, even if it is misrepresented here in the U.S. or blatant control over in North Korea can affect us. There is also the whole scandal with Verizon being used to spy on U.S. citizens and the U.S.’s excuse of it only being used for “terrorists”. The U.S. used their damage control stating that we are free as we ever were and if you're not an outsider terrorist (muslim), you have nothing to worry about. The Capitol sells the games as a festivity but is a great reminder of their control. The U.S. government didn’t want the Verizon scandal to be released but this demonstrates the illusion of choice and freedom they sell and what that illusion can do to us. History can show how governments selling illusions can be more than it seems, The Holocaust and Hitler’s vision must have resonated with people and while not all agreed in the country, the opposition was controlled by fear. Just like Speigalman’s Maus and how it showed how slowly the Holocaust began and how people didn’t believe what was happening for a long time. Vladek went through many phases in the process of the Holocaust, starting with small restrictions and finally leading to Nazi’s scooping fat onto the jews to make them burn better as Vladek describes. In Vladek’s case and The Games as well, it shows how large scale illusions that are sold can change. Whether you believe the Illuminati has infected powerful leaders in the world of celebrities and the government, or that the government doesn't actually control anything, there is truth to there being something more than meets the eye in our government and in governments across the world. In time, the truth always comes out; and what once was labeled rebellion, is in time seen as freedom.