know since Katniss Everdeen becomes the main character of the novel. The second is to identify what Katniss Everdeen’s struggles are and how her
characteristics influence her in showing her existence.
D. Definition of Terms
There are some terms that need to be clarified concerning the key words that appear in the title and the problem formulations in order to avoid any
misunderstanding. The writer finds four important terms, those are characteristics, influence, struggle, and existence.
1. Characteristics
Richard Gill stated that “a character is someone in a literary work who has some sort of identity it needn’t be a strong one, an identity which is made up by
appearance, conversation, action, name, and possibly thoughts going on in the head 1995:127”. So, it could be concluded that characteristics is some features
or identities of a character.
2. Influence
According J. A. Drever, “Influence is any past or present condition, experienced as or actually playing a part in determining one’s behaviour, or
course of thought, in the present 1958:134”.
3. Struggle
According to Anne Soukhanov, “struggle is to be strenuously engaged with the problems or an undertaking, to progress with difficulty 1996:1782”.
4. Existence
Existence according to Gary R. VandenBos, is “being the quality by virtue of which something is, and which distinguishes it from what is not 2007:351”.
7
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
In this part the writer will review the related studies that have been found. There are two related studies in the same work. The first one is taken from David
Crabb’s “The Hunger Games: A Literary Analysis from Christian Worldview”, and the second related studies is taken from Kim Scharfenberger’s “What’s So
Great About “The Hunger Games”?” David Crabb in “The Hunger Games: A Literary Analysis from Christian
Worldview” put the critique of the Hunger Games from a literary-critical perspective, stemming from a Christian worldview by Ginny Owens. The critique
is about violence in the book is to say something about our society and what happen to our society. The author compares the situation in Capitol with the
situation in our society. People addiction to something like video games represent of similarity to Capitol’s attraction to violence.
So how does Collins use violence? How about this: Is Collins using the violence in the books to say something about our society? To suggest
perhaps that out addiction to certain kinds of video games bears a similarity to Panem’s attraction to violence? Is she saying anything about
war and how it affects peoples live? What about reality TV? Is Collins indicting contemporary American culture, pointing to Panem’s capitol and
its frivolity, its body painting, its Epicureanism, its addiction to the spectacle of the Games, its insatiable thirst for “reality entertainment” that
invades their lives 24 hours a day, its willingness to sacrifice 23 children and later, adults for the sake of entertainment- is Collins pointing to these
things and gesturing to the not-so-distant American future? Has Collins essentially collected a sampling of what our culture is attracted to and
revealed the end point of its logical maturation? Consider those rhetorical questions. Crabb, 2012
In the other hand, Kim Scharfenberger’s article “What’s So Great About “The Hunger Games”?” is about what in The Hunger Games are. Scharfenberger
found that moral message on the topic of consumerism and self-sacrifice exists in The Hunger Games. Self-sacrifice is seen when Katniss sacrifices herself to take
her sister’s place in Hunger Games. Consumerism is seen when the privileged members of the Capitol are uniformed about realities of poverty and suffering just
outside their doors and remain cocooned in luxury just like what happen exactly nowaday.
One good side effect of the story is the political and socioeconomic undertones of The Hunger Games that could succeed in getting younger
audiences thinking. How did Panem get this way? What are the consequences of relying on a totalitarian government? The blatant excess
and materialism of the Capitol can become a jarring self-portrait of the dangers inherent in consumerism. The privileged members of the Capitol
are uninformed about the realities of poverty and suffering just outside their doors and remain cocooned in luxury. Their interests revolve mainly
around the latest fashions and trendiest hairstyles, and as such their social awareness and willingness to challenge the obviously corrupt system that
provides them with wealth is dulled by lavish distractions.
The Hunger Games is mediocre at best in terms of ingenuity and moral message – but it’s not damaging to a young person’s social conscience
either, and might even make some valuable impressions on the topics of consumerism and self-sacrifice. So if you find yourself chauffeuring your
children, siblings, or friends to this newest flick, don’t despair – you’ll get more out of this series than from the likes of Twilight. Scharfenberger,
2013
From the two related studies above which are representing the real meaning of the violence in the book and about the moral message in the book, it
can be concluded that the writer’s undergraduate thesis is different from the other
