The Functionalist Perspective Theory: The Hunger Games

The Book and Movie, The Hunger Games, is an allusion to The story of Theseus and the Minotaur from Greek Mythology. The story goes that Minos, the king of Crete, once sent his only son on a visit to Athens, and he was sent by the Athenian king to fight a bull. When the boy died from the fight, the angry Minos captured Athens and declared that he would destroy it unless they completed his bizarre demand: once every nine years, the Athenians had to send a tribute of seven maidens and seven youths, who would then be forced to confront the Minotaur, who would devour them. This directly parallels the story of The Hunger Games. This rewritten version of an old Greek legend shows a theme of how history can repeat itself.

Often in literature, comparing stories will lead to revelations about human nature. Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games both share a motif of being trapped and take human nature to another level. Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games prove that working together and looking out for each other will give you a greater shot at victory.

Katniss is very poor which makes training for the Hunger Games very difficult for her. Unlike her opponents in other districts who train their whole lives for the Games. However, overall she proves to the city and district that she is a tragic hero through her self-sacrifice that led to victory.

“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins is a suspenseful and frightening story about a 16 year old girl, Katniss everdeen who is born into a small village called District 12. The capitol, which controls the districts hosts an annual Hunger Games each and every year. Two tributes, a boy and a girl from each district are chosen between the ages of 12-18 to compete against 22 other tributes, but only one can win. Katniss is not chosen, but her younger sister Prim is chosen at only 12 years old. Katniss volunteers in Prim 's place and is now in the hunger games. The boy tribute from district 12 is a son of a baker, Peeta Mellark. They are taken to the capitol and are preparing to spend three horrifying weeks inside of the arena where life or death is their

In the Hunger Games series, a dystopian future is set up. The government of Panem, The Capitol, holds the wealth of Panem giving it the power to control all districts. In order to enforce this theory, they created the Hunger Games. They suppressed the rights of the citizen’s of Panem and selected their children in order to fight each other do death for survival. These games were created to scare the people and show them who was in charge. While these dystopian societies are going on, there are also utopian societies that we can see in our dreams. These societies are filled with what we think makes them perfect. For example, the utopian universe that can be brought to mind could be free of poverty, homelessness, war, racism ,etc. But, if we deeply think about it, if these problems did

In the first installment of the Hunger Games series we are greeted to the character Katniss Everdeen. Katniss and her family reside in the lowly District 12, the coal mining district, where the felling of death and despair is a guarantee. After the death of her father in a coal mining accident Katniss must do whatever she must in order to ensure the survival of her family and herself. Directed by Gary Ross the film was both a critical and financial success.

those who oppose them. Also, Katniss is destined to kill the other 23 players, and Odysseus is

Responsibility is key to survival in The Hunger Games because you must be responsible and careful before making a decision that depends on your life. “The price of greatness is responsibility.” (Winston Churchill) In The Hunger Games, two tributes, one male and one female under the age of eighteen, must leave their district to go and compete in The Hunger Games. While in the games all twenty-four tributes must fight to the death to entertain their Capital city. Normally there is only one winner but in this book there are two winners. In Suzanne Collins novel, The Hunger Games, the overarching theme is that responsibility is key to survival as demonstrated by the books main character, Katniss Everdeen, and how she takes care of her mother and younger sister, hunts for her own food, and trades for food and goods around her district.

The Hunger Games is a fairly popular and typical tale that includes a heroine, courage, and bravery. This story can be read or watched through many different lenses such as a Marxist lens, feminist lens, or even an archetypal lens. Through these lenses one can see as a reader or viewer that this is not just a story that fits into one category, but one that can fit into many. Using the Marxist and feminist lenses a viewer can gain a great depth of knowledge into The Hunger Games story itself.

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

Theme #1- No matter what tyrannical environment you live in, your identity can never be changed

The theme of the dystopian novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is survival. Katniss Everdeen is the epitome of this theme; her disposition luckily possesses all of the attributes needed to survive. Katniss displays the theme of survival because she is resourceful, has integrity, and has perseverance.

There are several themes in the book, each one has a significant meaning to the storyline.

Oppression is perhaps the most common and prevalent dystopian theme as it serves as a warning against a highly probable dark future through shedding light on the dark side of contemporary trends such as advanced technology and reality TV-shows .The Capitol 's oppression operates on two levels; districts and individuals. The districts in general and districts 11 and 12 in particular have suffered great injustices at the ruthless hands of the Capitol ; however, there is no greater injustice than The Hunger Games themselves not only are the people of Panem forced to surrender their children as tributes for the Capitol 's citizens viewing pleasure for a crime they had no hand in committing ,but they are also forced to watch helplessly as their children are killed in the most brutal of manners .In Catching Fire (2009) , President Snow decrees that " the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors" in order to get rid of Katniss once and for all ,and to further assert the Capitol 's dominance and quell any thoughts of rebellion(172). However the

The hunger games is an adventure and science fiction novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. This is the trilogy movie, so the first one is the hunger games, next the hunger games catching fire and the last is the hunger games mocking jay. This novel was adapted to the movie in 2012 and directed by Gary Ross and co-written by Suzanne Collins herself. Point of view from this movie was from Katniss Everdeen who lives in Panem, North America. On the other hand, there is Capitol who has political control in the nation of panem. The story starts when each district must offer a male and female between the ages of 12-18 at a public reaping as a penance for their uprising. The tributes which are male and female shall be delivered to the Capitol and then transferred to a public arena where they will fight with other district until a lone victor remains. This tradition called the hunger games. The story centers was coming from poor district 12 where Katniss and Peeta as their tributes. Actually, Katniss is not chosen as tribute but she sacrifices herself as a tribute to replace her sister Prim. The plot also explains love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale. Katniss as a central role in this movie looks strong and convincing with a bow and arrow.