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.