Hunger Games by Susan Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, is a dystopian novel, about a society divided into 12 districts controlled by a totalitarian government.   All but one, are poor and starved at the hands of the oppressive government. Every year, the annual “Hunger Games” are played. This is when all families are forces to enter their children into a reaping, or a lottery.  The so-called “winners” of the reaping are forced onto an island where the rules require that they fight to the death. However, those who enter their name more than once are rewarded with food. This pushes people to enter their name, but also increases their chances of being killed.  Furthermore, with no other option to find food, the majority of the people starve. This validates the unfairness of the book by emphasizing how people live miserably, in fear of their own government.  This story is unfair because people starve, and the government forcibly inflicts harm upon innocent peoples.

One reason this book is unfair is because people starve. As Katniss Everdeen quietly bad-mouths her district she says, “District 12. Where you can starve to death in safety.” This shows her anger towards the government. This further resembles her fear towards the government because she doesn’t want anyone to hear her. Tesserae are food people receive from the government, every time they enter their name into the reaping. This shows people are so starved and in desperate need of food, they have to risk their life to get it. For the people who are scared to enter their names into the reaping more times than necessary (the majority of the people) die. Katniss Everdeen, the main character, entered her name into the reaping twenty times. This is one of the only ways for Katniss to feed her and her family, besides hunting. Moreover, her friend Gale entered his name forty-two times, in order to feed him and his family. Overall, this demonstrates the starvations that are among the peoples in this book, so severe; they are willing to risk their lives for food. As a result, overtime, the people develop a fear of the government. This is unfair because a government should help its citizens through hard times, not make it worse.

Another reason this story is unfair is because the government inflicts harm upon innocent people. The government randomly selects children from the districts and forces them to kill each other. Even innocent children, who haven’t committed any felonies, are forced to participate, if they are selected. Additionally, everything is on camera and showed on all TV’s and large screens. This can cause physical and emotional harm for the parents, watching their child get stabbed, or chocked to death.  This includes a married couple, which watched their 12-year-old daughter Rue, get caught in a net, and then stabbed in the stomach with a spear. She would die later that day.  In all, it is unfair to force children to fight to the death, and force their parents to watch it. This is why this book is unfair. “I volunteer, as tribute,” says Katniss Everdeen. She says this when her 12-year-old sister, gets picked to participate in the Hunger Games. As unfair as it is, Katniss knows that innocent prim wouldn’t hurt a fly, and would die on the first day. So she volunteered to replace her sister. This demonstrates how innocent people are forced to put themselves in situations that shouldn’t be necessary.  In all, this story is unfair because innocent people are harmed for no particular reason.

In conclusion, the citizens of the 12 districts live in an unfair society, due to their oppressive government. Innocent people are starved and harmed for no particular reason. I think that sometime in the future, they will rebel against their overreaching government because no one likes the way they are being treated, but they are to scared and nervous to speak up.

comparison of "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden and "My Papas Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

Good, bad, or indifferent, we all still call him dad.  “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, and “My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, are two somewhat similar poems about a son and his attitude towards his father. However, aside from the plot similarities, the two poems are very different, in a way that the two sons have two very different attitudes toward their fathers. In “Those Winter Sundays,” the son expresses his appreciation for his father. Throughout the poem, the son is in realization of the sacrifices his father made for him, and how he, nor anyone else, ever thanked him. This demonstrates the son’s positive attitude towards his father. On the other hand, in “My Papas Waltz,” the son explains dancing with his drunken father, and how his father doesn’t know he is hurting him, because he is drunk. The son expresses his negative attitude towards his father through such details, revealing his discomfort. From reading both of these poems, we learn that children have unique relationships with their parents.

           In “Those Winter Sundays,” the child/speaker has a very positive attitude towards his father. As the son recalls the sacrifices his father made for him he remembers how his father drove out in the freezing cold, and polished his shoes. This reveals the speakers appreciative emotions towards his father, because he never realized how much his father did for him. Further demonstrating his positive attitude toward his father. Moreover, to quote the first stanza, the speaker says; “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.”  This further expresses the current appreciation acknowledgement that he hadn’t thanked him when he had the chance. Although no one thanked the speaker’s father, he still worked hard. Not so people would thank him, but out of love. The speaker realizes this when he says, “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?”  In all, the son in “Those Winter Sundays” has a positive attitude towards his father.

        

            In contrast to “Those Winter Sundays,” in “My Papas Waltz,” the son has a very negative attitude towards his father. He explains how dancing with his dad is uncomfortable: “The whiskey on your breath, Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death:  Such waltzing was not easy.”  This shows how the father is making the boy uncomfortable because he was making him dizzy, and he also describes how it was difficult to dance with his father cause he was drunk. This reveals the speakers negative attitude towards his father. The speaker uses word choice and details to describe what kind of person his father is, when drunk. Additionally, to quote the third stanza: “The hand that held my wrist   was battered on one knuckle; at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle.” This demonstrates how the father is causing harm to the son. The speaker includes these details about his dad to validate how hard he is to be around. In summary, the son in “My papas waltz,” has a negative impact towards his father.

         In summary, we learn that children have unique relationships with their parents. We learn this through two poetic pieces of literature. We learn this through the comparison of two pieces of literature. In “My Papas Waltz” a child endures abuse from his drunken father, expressing his negative attitude towards his father throughout the poem. In contrast, in  “Those Winter Sundays” the child expresses his appreciation for his father through the listing of the various sacrifices his father made for him, evidencing his positive attitude towards his father. This demonstrates how children have unique relationships with their parents.