Hungry for More

by

Andi Miller

Young adult and teen novels are one of my greatest reading pleasures in life. When done exceptionally well they are involving, affecting, and even when they are didactic I enjoy critiquing the lessons adult writers teach teenagers through their writings. Occasionally a shining example of all that’s right in teen fiction comes along and grabs me enough that I cannot put the book down. Suzanne Collins’s novel, The Hunger Games, is one such example.

The moment I opened The Hunger Games I was hooked. Set in the future, the United States has fallen, and in its place has risen the new nation of Panem. Made up of twelve districts and a thirteenth destroyed by the government, the nation chooses one girl and one boy from each district to contend in the annual Hunger Games. The games are designed to remind the districts that revolution is futile and District 13 was wrong in its rebellion—just naughty enough to be destroyed. The names of the children, who range from twelve to eighteen, are drawn at random from each district. The contenders are then placed in a gargantuan arena where they must fight to the death until one victor remains.

The Hunger Games is narrated through the character, Katniss, a young girl who volunteers for the games to save her 12-year-old sister from having to compete. The story is compelling on a number of levels. For one, it’s a joy to live inside Katniss’s head. She is a spunky girl who loses her father in a mining accident and subsequently plays a motherly role to her young sister and her depressed mother. She spends her days hunting outside the boundaries of her district—a pastime punishable by death—collecting food from the forest, and otherwise passing the days with her friend Gale. She trades her findings and the animals she can shoot with her bow and arrow to merchants in order to provide for her family. Her wits and intelligence make her a prime contender in the Hunger Games.

What makes Collins’s writing so compelling in regards to Katniss is not only her skills with which she was endowed by the author, but her humility and humor. She sees herself as a regular girl who does what she must to make a better life for those around her. In fact, she never thinks much about it, but the reader thinks about it constantly as the girl sacrifices herself at every turn for the well-being of others. While she’s likeable, she’s not sickeningly so. She has devious thoughts, especially in regards to her government and those who put her in danger for show. Katniss is a character that the reader would like to be if thrown into a similar situation.

A story of an underappreciated girl fighting “the good fight” against the big bad government is not a new premise, but Collins makes it feel fresh and new with the world that she builds for her characters. The novel is a tantalizing mix of old world and new technology. While the various districts live in the dark ages—forced to hunt for food and live without modern amenities like electricity or running water—the main district, where the capital lies, is aswirl with science fiction staples: hovercrafts, security devices, and even genetically engineered animals designed to keep an eye on the residents.

Based on its use of technology, The Hunger Games reminds me of as another favorite teen dystopia, M.T. Anderson’s Feed, wherein the author critiques society through the possibilities of science fiction. In the case of Feed, teens have the Internet wired into their brains. The world around them has shifted from the natural world to a synthetic nightmare, and for the most part, the teens are none the wiser. Anderson has a prime opportunity to critique contemporary society’s addiction to technology and the growing problems associated with such a situation: genetic engineering, loss of intelligence, loss of empathy, among other issues. Likewise, the privileged characters from the capital in The Hunger Games live the same sort of lifestyle. Technology not only keeps the residents in line, it also allows them a carefree existence, ignorant of the suffering of others in their own country. When they do sneak a peak at residents of other districts, it is for events such as the Hunger Games where they must struggle to survive. The residents of the capital find humor and escape in the suffering and killing of innocents.

The Hunger Games reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” if it had a love child with Lois Lowry’s The Giver. In Jackson’s “The Lottery” a small farming town draws a name each year and stones the “winner” in order to ensure a good harvest. Lowry’s The Giver is a novel about a tightly controlled world where each person’s fate is carefully chosen by a controlling government, but one young boy is chosen to see what free will—in all its pain and wonderment—actually means. While The Hunger Games stands solidly on its own, it represents the best of the best in teen science fiction. The world has gone wrong, and a handful of characters seem to be wise beyond their years—able to see beyond what others can see. Once in the capital city for the games, Katniss realizes the difference between her own poor coal mining district and the riches and frivolity of the capital. The capital’s residents dress themselves in outlandish, sparkling costumes and flutter around, mindless and oblivious to the struggles of other portions of their own country.

In a much more striking and sickening display, the capital televises every moment of the Hunger Games, following the contenders along in their quests to avoid death, but just to spice things up a bit they may start a forest fire to push the contestants closer to each other or tempt them with a cornucopia of weapons and supplies—a sure death for many if they stop long enough to shop for items to save them in the wilderness. Such a tragic attitude is not so far removed from qualms with the contemporary media and the news coverage that many Americans find repulsive and overzealous. In the face of a tragedy such as that of Hurricane Katrina, the media hovers over the “action” with cameras watching residents die or beg, borrow and steal to save their lives.

Suzanne Collins’s novel showcases an ugly future, but one not totally alien to a contemporary American reader. These slight but disturbing similarities and the redemptive spirit of Katniss and her cohorts make The Hunger Games a thrilling read and one worth probing to the fullest. In fact, like Feed, it is a teen novel I would joyfully introduce to my college students for discussion and to hone their critical thinking skills.

Science fiction—in teen literature and beyond—amplifies the world’s problems to a level that requires the reader to ponder big questions. At times those amplifications can seem ridiculous, even laughable, but it is an effective strategy for writers to push their point. At its core, The Hunger Games asks the reader to consider the media’s role in contemporary society as well as the effects of war and violence on children.

Books mentioned in this column:
Feed by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick Press, 2004)
The Giver by Lois Lowry (Laurel Leaf, 2002)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2008)
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982)


Andi is a recovering university academic employed by the North Carolina community college system as an English instructor. While she decided to forego a Ph.D. and career as a professor, she fills in all the free time her current position affords her with editing literary publications, reviewing, freelancing, and blogging at Tripping Toward Lucidity: Estella’s Revenge. Her work can be found in the journal, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS), and Altar magazine as well as online in various venues such as PopMatters.com. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), and writes fiction. Her turn-ons include new books and gelato, while her turn-offs are reality television and washing dishes. Contact Andi.