We read Suzanne Collins Hunger Games as a work of fiction. It is set in a future so vastly different from our reality, where because of a rebellion, children are forced to murder each other in far off arenas, away from their parents and other adults. The government has complete control over its people and keeps them so oppressed they cannot hope to revolt, and yet, the trilogy is the story of a revolution.
In Panem there is starvation, sex slavery, fighting children, murdered heros, broken families, and a changing climate. Riches and choices are for the lucky, ignorant few. What we don’t realize while reading Collins work of fiction, is that these things are also a reality in the factual present.
District 12 is where you can starve to death in safety, but today in the Horn of Africa, one can starve to death and still be in danger. Considered the Worst Humanitarian crisis of 2011 the dangers of the one time home to all of humanity, now requires the help of the modern world. Around the world every 3.6 seconds a someone dies from hunger. 15 million children a year! In order to meet the worlds nutrition and sanitation requirements it would require only 13 billion USD. That is less than cost of four months of our current war.
Victors of The Hunger Games are forced to carry out sexual favors for high paying Capitol citizens. Becoming nothing more than beautiful lovers to desperate people. This tradition of the Capitol, most likely began before the Dark Days, mentioned in Collins books. According to UNICEF the number of people being moved for sex trade today is estimated at 1.75 million. Even here in the United States recently we have heard of women, and children being forced into sex slavery, in our own back yard.
Almost every day our troops have been spent over seas, since September 11, 2001. Someone has died fighting. There has been loss on our side, and on our opponents’. Heros come home in boxes, and are buried by their families. It is a reality we face, just as much as the families of the tributes must face. Every day is spent in dread, only whether for better or for worse, today’s families cannot watch on their televisions….
In the Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss lost her father, families of tributes lose children, and some people lose everything they love. In today’s world, husbands and wives get divorced, parents leave without warning, children leave for parties and never come back. How many of you have seen something like this? Has this happened to you? As tweens, teens, and even young adults we tend to focus on the negatives of our family, we forget how quickly and easily it can fall apart…when was the last time you told your parents you loved them, and really meant it??
In the Dark Days, before Panem was formed, the climate changed severely. The earth climate changes naturally, we have ice ages, and severe heat waves. Today because of industrialization, deforestation, and other human add ins, we face more extreme changes than ever before. Recently we have had massive earthquakes and deadly storms. We must ask ourselves “What is natural and what is not? And if there is anything we can do.” Is it enough to recycle, buy hybrid cars, and turn off lights? Or is some greater change needed?
Katniss and her Mockingjay pin are the symbol of a rebellion, it was not her intention when she and Peeta held out their handful of berries in the area, but it happened. At first she was frightened by what she had started, but when she finally thought about it, Katniss took her place as the Mockingjay to help her country be free of the Hunger Games and the secrets kept by the Capitol.
The world of Panem should forever be in the front of our minds, we cannot allow ourselves to become a part of such a future. We all must be our own Mockingjays, wearing our pins and t-shirts to show something so much more than our pride in a book series. We must choose causes and fight for them.
In books before the Hunger Games, Dystopian authors feared the media, and the power it has to control people. Having embraced the media in our modern world we must now look past it, and even bend it to our own causes.
We are in a place where we can do so much for others. We can use the internet to talk to people in far off places and entice rebellion at the press of a button. We have watched many governments fall recently at the hands of their youth, using technology to organize and promote their messages, changing their world to suit their changing needs.
What we cannot forget is what we, personally can do. Whether it be through volunteering at a soup kitchen or going to Africa with a humanitarian group. We cannot claim that we cannot help. Money is no excuse to forgo an act of kindness, and act of kindness is no excuse forgo a monetary donation.
We all read books, we take it for granted that we can read, and write. It is also taken for granted that we can choose what to read and write. Or government does not make those decisions for us. Lists of banned books pop up all the time, but we can go to the bookstore and buy them, whenever we like. I encourage you to grab a list of popular banned or challenged books, and read any that might interest you, you would be surprised by how many of the books you may have already read.
I also encourage you to find your own personal cause, be aware of current world events, and protest injustices that you see. Be aware of what is going on in your community, and even your class rooms. In today’s America, free of Hunger Games and Peacekeepers, there is no difference between standing up for someone being bullied, and jumping in front a whip.
So please, be a new revolution. Because you will change the world.
I’m impressed that someone in high school wrote this! It’s very convincing for that age group. Way to go! :)