Fabiana Lopez - The Creeper Games
I really enjoyed reading The Hunger Games. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to get a copy of Catching Fire, probably from my local library, so that I can read it! I may just go ahead and buy a copy for my future classroom.
I'm currently taking a methods of teaching class for Middle and Secondary so I mentioned Hunger Games today in class and how I've found it really enjoyable. Part of what we're doing in the class is reading this book called Book Love and it's about helping students develop stamina as readers. Sometimes school really makes you hate reading because you have to read so much that's required. Book Love talks about helping students develop stamina by having them read books they enjoy and are engaged in.
So this is definitely a book I would consider keeping in my class because I was very engaged the whole time.
One of the things I thought that really stuck out was the disturbing lack of agency that Katniss had. She was naked in front of her stylists and Cinna was the only one who thought to ask her to put her robe back on so she could have some dignity.
Then after the Games were over, they just locked her behind glass while they worked on Peeta - understandably because she was distraught and they needed room to work, but no one comforted her or tried to help her calm down. No one explained anything about what was happening to her.
She was just knocked out with a needle to her neck then she woke up in a bed strapped to it and once again no one explained anything to her. Only the Avox girl told her that Peeta was alive but Katniss didn't get any details. She didn't even know about his lost leg until their interview. Of course, their reunion is filmed live so they didn't get private time to discuss things like Katniss's growing feelings for him and her confusion about it. They didn't even talk about it until they reach District 12, which of course is heartbreaking, especially for Peeta.
When Cinna mentions that the Gamemakers wanted to surgically alter her - give her breast augmentation - without even asking her consent, it's just horrifying. Like, wow, thanks Haymitch for intervening there!
There's so much that's insidious and really creepy about how Katniss is treated, both on an inhumane level and as a young woman.
And then I remember that in real life, girls as young as fourteen are sexualized as models in bathing suits and made to look like they're 21 in magazines. Media constantly feeds these messages, that we're nothing without our bodies or without our appearance. Girls and young women are trafficked into prostitution as well as pornography in the United States. People even try to deny us comprehensive sexual education and healthcare in the form of actual attempts at passing legislation.
There is so much of The Hunger Games that can be applied to real life, but somehow the fact that the Gamemakers wanted to surgically alter her body while she was asleep really stuck with me.
Of course let's not forget that they possibly took the dead tributes and turned them into wolves and you've got some pretty twisted things going on medically in Panem. I have to say I like the writer's fearlessness in portraying just how horrible people can be. Cato's death was gruesome and I liked how Katniss just wanted his suffering to end. To me, that's a symbol of her humanity - she doesn't care so much what Cato did in the end, she just doesn't want to hear him suffer.
There's also the voyeurism of the audience and the districts themselves. Granted, some of what happens is apparently required viewing so I can only imagine what happens to people who try to protest the Games or who don't watch them. But it seems, according to what Katniss hears of Octavius and her stylists chatting, that there are some people who honestly don't care that they just watched people die. Of course, Katniss mentions, while watching the highlights from the Games that she feels really disconnected from what's going on. Are we, in real life, destined to be the same, considering the availability of media showing actual violence and war? Or do you think being able to see how war really is makes us less likely to desire it?
As of connection to other material, I think in Diary, we see Arnold struggle to survive. He has to walk miles to and from school sometimes and it's clearly dangerous because his grandmother gets hit by a drunk driver. There's the general atmosphere of alcoholism, depression, and poverty and you get the feeling that he's really trying to rise above so many challenges. There's also this sense of isolation, like the only friend he has at first is Rowdy and then later on he has Gordy and Penelope but he's still mostly facing things on his own. I feel like it's the same for Katniss. She's trying to rise above so many challenges and at first the only friend she really has is Gale and the mayor's daughter. There's this general feeling of isolation in The Hunger Games; she's often talking about missing Gale.
The main questions I ended up with are: What about religion? We don't really see much presence of it in the books which means that it either died out some time in the past or the Capitol expressly forbade it, which is interesting. Religion has been used to control people in history but it's also been used as inspiration for revolution and uprising (like the Protestant Reformation). Also, Rue is from the agricultural district and she mentioned that people there are sometimes whipped for stealing food because they're hungry. Is that a slavery metaphor? It really sounded like one! Of course I think in general, citizens of Panem are slaves of the government even those in Districts 1 and 2.
Also, do they have children in the Capitol? What about the children of the Gamemakers and members of government? Do they have to be in the Games or are they exempt?
I'm currently taking a methods of teaching class for Middle and Secondary so I mentioned Hunger Games today in class and how I've found it really enjoyable. Part of what we're doing in the class is reading this book called Book Love and it's about helping students develop stamina as readers. Sometimes school really makes you hate reading because you have to read so much that's required. Book Love talks about helping students develop stamina by having them read books they enjoy and are engaged in.
So this is definitely a book I would consider keeping in my class because I was very engaged the whole time.
One of the things I thought that really stuck out was the disturbing lack of agency that Katniss had. She was naked in front of her stylists and Cinna was the only one who thought to ask her to put her robe back on so she could have some dignity.
Then after the Games were over, they just locked her behind glass while they worked on Peeta - understandably because she was distraught and they needed room to work, but no one comforted her or tried to help her calm down. No one explained anything about what was happening to her.
She was just knocked out with a needle to her neck then she woke up in a bed strapped to it and once again no one explained anything to her. Only the Avox girl told her that Peeta was alive but Katniss didn't get any details. She didn't even know about his lost leg until their interview. Of course, their reunion is filmed live so they didn't get private time to discuss things like Katniss's growing feelings for him and her confusion about it. They didn't even talk about it until they reach District 12, which of course is heartbreaking, especially for Peeta.
When Cinna mentions that the Gamemakers wanted to surgically alter her - give her breast augmentation - without even asking her consent, it's just horrifying. Like, wow, thanks Haymitch for intervening there!
There's so much that's insidious and really creepy about how Katniss is treated, both on an inhumane level and as a young woman.
And then I remember that in real life, girls as young as fourteen are sexualized as models in bathing suits and made to look like they're 21 in magazines. Media constantly feeds these messages, that we're nothing without our bodies or without our appearance. Girls and young women are trafficked into prostitution as well as pornography in the United States. People even try to deny us comprehensive sexual education and healthcare in the form of actual attempts at passing legislation.
There is so much of The Hunger Games that can be applied to real life, but somehow the fact that the Gamemakers wanted to surgically alter her body while she was asleep really stuck with me.
Of course let's not forget that they possibly took the dead tributes and turned them into wolves and you've got some pretty twisted things going on medically in Panem. I have to say I like the writer's fearlessness in portraying just how horrible people can be. Cato's death was gruesome and I liked how Katniss just wanted his suffering to end. To me, that's a symbol of her humanity - she doesn't care so much what Cato did in the end, she just doesn't want to hear him suffer.
There's also the voyeurism of the audience and the districts themselves. Granted, some of what happens is apparently required viewing so I can only imagine what happens to people who try to protest the Games or who don't watch them. But it seems, according to what Katniss hears of Octavius and her stylists chatting, that there are some people who honestly don't care that they just watched people die. Of course, Katniss mentions, while watching the highlights from the Games that she feels really disconnected from what's going on. Are we, in real life, destined to be the same, considering the availability of media showing actual violence and war? Or do you think being able to see how war really is makes us less likely to desire it?
As of connection to other material, I think in Diary, we see Arnold struggle to survive. He has to walk miles to and from school sometimes and it's clearly dangerous because his grandmother gets hit by a drunk driver. There's the general atmosphere of alcoholism, depression, and poverty and you get the feeling that he's really trying to rise above so many challenges. There's also this sense of isolation, like the only friend he has at first is Rowdy and then later on he has Gordy and Penelope but he's still mostly facing things on his own. I feel like it's the same for Katniss. She's trying to rise above so many challenges and at first the only friend she really has is Gale and the mayor's daughter. There's this general feeling of isolation in The Hunger Games; she's often talking about missing Gale.
The main questions I ended up with are: What about religion? We don't really see much presence of it in the books which means that it either died out some time in the past or the Capitol expressly forbade it, which is interesting. Religion has been used to control people in history but it's also been used as inspiration for revolution and uprising (like the Protestant Reformation). Also, Rue is from the agricultural district and she mentioned that people there are sometimes whipped for stealing food because they're hungry. Is that a slavery metaphor? It really sounded like one! Of course I think in general, citizens of Panem are slaves of the government even those in Districts 1 and 2.
Also, do they have children in the Capitol? What about the children of the Gamemakers and members of government? Do they have to be in the Games or are they exempt?
Fabianna, I really like your post! You make several interesting points. I remember from reading that the people in the Capitol are exempt from having to participate in the games. When I read the first time, I actually didn't catch that. Now that you bring it up though, do the people in the Capitol have children? We never hear about it if they do or not.
ReplyDeleteI also considered the sexualization of these young girls even in this crazy dystopian society. I remember one of the girls from the lower-numbered districts was highly sexualized during the interview portion before the games. It was interesting how the sexualization of young girls remained even in their world.