The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, 2008
A male and a female tribute between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen at random to fight to the death against each other and twenty-two others after an annual event called The Reaping. The headquarters of the twelve Districts, called “The Capitol,” televises the entire tragedy as a forced media spectacle. The point of The Hunger Games is to remind all citizens that The Capitol has absolute control.
The novel is narrated by Katniss in the first person present tense. I’m a personal fan of the first person present because we get to experience the protagonist’s world at the same moment she does, virtually tying our emotions and hers. Since the situation of The Hunger Games is one which no one wants to imagine for themselves, the reader is forced to face the brutal, uncomfortable position of imagining.
Katniss’ characterization and tone is maybe the most definitive point of The Hunger Games trilogy. She is a very nuanced character: humble and meek, and dare I even say compliant in the political corruption. All of her actions in the novel are driven by her motivation to survive not quite for herself, but for the sake of her younger sister Prim. Her motivation, however, is strong enough that it does make her into a rebel—debatably an imposter rebel, but, hey if the shoe fits wear it. There are moments when it seems her act as the face of rebellion in novels two and three are genuine, and at others she blatantly says she is angry to be used as the rebel’s pawn.
The novels are beautifully balanced of their political points with character intimacy. A quick early example is at the moment Prim is called at the Reaping, which Katniss then volunteers for, Katniss’ sisterly impulse is to correct her sister’s shirt sticking out of her skirt. The novel is filled with moments like these, really creating a believable world of relationships.
The Gale and Katniss romance is probably the first novel’s champion point – childhood friends in kinship by pressure to hunt for their families. Peeta Mellark, District 12’s boy tribute, complicates the Gale and Katniss throughline when their main strategy of gaining supporters back home (bartering gifts and help in The Hunger Games arena) is to market themselves as star-crossed lovers. When their emotions about one another grow complex, readers are easily invested in not only the characters’ survival, but their budding romantic relationship.
Other character relationships include Haymitch, District 12’s drunken tribute mentor and my personal favorite of the entire series, and Cinna, Portia, and Effie Trinket, who all work as part of District 12’s prep team.
The Hunger Games really is a can’t-put-down series. Weaved into the plot is such a sick psychology that readers can’t help but imagine what they’d dol—and this situation isn’t the kind of shoes that people place themselves in often. The novel poses the choice between selfishness and love, between being complacent in corruption or fighting against it, and how far one would go to survive, using the tributes as a social experiment to explore the ethical questions of doing for oneself or others.
4.5/5. Half a point lost because I do wish I had more of an opinion of whether I prefer Katniss with Peeta or Gale, but both male characters have the same selfless energy that I don’t think I’ll mind either way who Katniss ends up with.
Catching Fire: (2009)
Catching Fire, second in The Hunger Games’ series, really accelerates the revolution against The Capitol and evolves Peeta and Katniss’ relationship. Where we left off in book 1, we were unsure, as was Katniss, of whether her feelings on Peeta were romantic or just another part of her survival. It’s nothing more than a trauma bondl—I don’t believe they’d make it outside of this scenario. Katniss, at one point, officially chooses Gale over Peeta, but then is thrown headfirst into a SECOND HUNGER GAMES alongside Peeta and, well, it strengthens the trauma bond.
Catching Fire has two big settings working in juxtaposition of each other. The novel begins in a sort of reprieve, where Katniss and Peeta are both Hunger Games winners, living now in the Victor’s Village, an opulent step-up from their poverty beforehand, pretending to be in love for the media. The media aspect is my favorite piece of the Hunger Games trilogy. I think it is so intelligently done, and such a statement on the ridiculous role that media plays in the real world. Collins’ ridicule of media is really not so far off from the media’s role in politics today. Her point is clearl—everything is propaganda and performance.
Political tensions raise on the Hunger Games’ Victory Tour through the Districts and Capitol when it becomes apparent that some of the twelve districts have begun revolting. President Snow threatens her to be as well behaved as she can, or he will kill all she cares about.
The next Hunger Games reaping is year 75’s Quarter Quell. A Quarter Quell is a year with extra stakes to make a larger political statement about control. For this year, it is announced that the tributes will only be chosen from the pool of living victors, meaning Katniss will be the female called for District 12, and the male will be between Haymitch or Peeta. Peeta volunteers.
My personal take, if anyone’s asking, is that the book would have been much more compelling if Haymitch had been District 12’s male tribute. I see why that couldn’t be, as it wouldn’t have worked in setting up the right parameters for Mockingjay, but the relationship between Haymitch and Katniss is way more nuanced and unique than that of her and Peeta. Her and Peeta’s relationship truthfully doesn’t feel all that passionate. Moments of romance between them are much less memorable than the moments between her and Gale.
The novel’s most interesting piece is probably the complexity of the arena. Too complex to really describe here, as it’s even a bit difficult to imagine while reading, but they are on an island set into 12 sections and, like a clock, each section alternates a horrific activity like a large wave or poisonous gas or jabberjays that sound like dying loved ones.
Katniss is eventually saved by Plutarch, Head Gamemaker, and President Coin, leader of District 13. As it turns out, Plutarch and Coin have been arranging a revolt in the lost District 13, with the help of Haymitch, Gale, and a few tributes who had helped to keep Katniss and Peeta alivel—of these are Finnick and Johanna, and Beetee, some notable characters in books two and three. The issue is that Katniss is saved by the rebellion, and Peeta is taken from the arena by the Capitol, the opposing side.
3.5/5. For me, there was something lost in Catching Fire that was present in The Hunger Games. Possibly backstory, or the immediacy of Katniss’ family being her motivation.
Mockingjay: (2010)
Mockingjay picks up with an absolutely distraught Katniss, torn away from Peeta who’d been hurt in Catching Fire’s arena. Katniss is given the honor of being the face of the rebellion against The Capitol, though she didn’t actually agree to it or give her consent. This is a large piece of contention in book three—she doesn’t actually want this.
Mockingjay is much different than The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, as there is no active Hunger Games. The themes of the third book are more grounded in the effects of trauma. Katniss is filled with fear and her feelings are a jumble of regret, ammunition, and rage at both sides.
Peeta is also majorly affected by trauma. The Capitol has intercepted his memories of Katniss, making it so she is someone he vehemently hates instead of loves. I love this plotline as an allegory for what trauma does to a person; it will take hold of memories and change them. To see it done so deliberately to Peeta is a no bs way of showing how irrevocably trauma affects relationships.
I won’t spoil the entire trilogy with announcing the political ending, but I’ll say I did enjoy the way it wasn’t all tied up nicely in a bow. War is an ugly, horrible, traumatizing event in which even the winners lose some.
I also won’t spoil if Katniss ends up with Peeta or Gale, but I will say I ship her with Peeta over Gale only because I prefer Gale to the both of them. Who she chooses says millions about her own values and priorities, being that the boys represent opposing sides—Gale represents family ties, friendship, loyalty, and the collective, whereas Peeta represents trauma, comfort, spectacle, and understanding. I’m not sure I actually like Katniss in books two and three, and after she chooses a man, I feel more secure in my decision to dislike her. (Sort of spoiler here: I will say Gale commits quite a morally gray act which ends catastrophically, and realistically it would be hard for Katniss to truly forgive him, even if he is her one true love. I’m glad at least there’s that.)
The themes of Mockingjay (trauma and agency) are the most interesting to me of all the books, but I found myself bored in the love triangle and lost in the many small characters which all play a part without us really knowing their individual stories. There are too many small characters to care about each one, which is why I most enjoyed the first Hunger Games novel, as we do care about Katniss, Peeta, Gale, and Haymitch, and don’t quite need to care about much anyone else to be emotionally invested.
3/5 for Mockingjay.
