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Essay On Corruption In The Hunger Games

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The famous Roman orator and senator Publius Tacitus once wrote that “the more the laws, the more corrupt the government.” A corrupt system always tries to put restrictions and create laws in order to ensure that their power as an authority is not in danger of being disregarded. In Suzanne Collins’ renowned novel The Hunger Games, the Capitol is a corrupt system in Panem because it abuses its powers to control the citizens. It does so by forcing restrictions on the freedom of the people, favoring the rich and imposing harsh punishments. Firstly, The Capitol believes in a system that restricts the citizen 's freedom to ensure their supremacy on the public. For instance, when Katniss sneaks into the woods and comments about the situations of starvation …show more content…

For instance, When the Mayor of district 12 begins to tell the history of Panem at the Reaping, Katniss says, “The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes to participate” (Collins 18). The Hunger Games require tributes from each district as a punishment for the uprising that happened in district 13. This punishment by the Capitol is a way to demonstrate to the people that any efforts of revolt against the system in future would result in severe punishments and deaths.Subsequently in the novel, when Katniss questions about the Avox, Haymitch comments, “Someone who commited a crime. They cut her tongue so she can’t speak” (Collins 77). Avox is a person who the Capital considers to be a traitor or sees him or her as a threat. So, instead of killing them, the Capitol brutally cuts their tongues as a punishment. This shows how torturing the Capitol’s laws are and the fact that they try to threaten anyone who dares to raise a voice against them in the near future. Thus by imposing strict punishment on the people, the Capitol threatens the citizens to maintain their

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