Unequal Treatments Done by The Bourgeois

overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors… What does it mean? Existing pool of victors? Then I get it, what it means. At least for me. District 12 only has three existing victors two choose from. Two male. One female… I am going back to the arena Collins, 2009: 172-173. In the previous Quartel Quells, the tributes are drawn from the result of voting. So, all of the people in the districts have to vote for two kids that they think should go to the arena representing the district. However, for this year the Capitol change the rules and it means Katniss has to go back again to the Games. Since she is the very reason that emerges the uprising in some districts, Capitol considers her as a threat. Therefore, they manipulate the rules of the Games to get her back into the Games so that the rebels will have no guts to do the uprisings. Katniss, herself, cannot fight the rules because the law has been laid out and the Capitol has been planting the idea that the Games itself is the impact of the rebellion done by their ancestors so they have no choice other than to follow the rules. This is considered as the unequal treatment because the deal is that all the victors of The Hunger Games are out of the reaping life. Katniss and other victors are made to think that they are free but actually they are not. As the one who has more power, the Capitol will always control them. Drawing Katniss and other victors as well back into the game signify that the Capitol try to uphold their power. This also emphasizes Capitol‟s remarks that even the strongest among the people in the lower class cannot do anything against them. Something that the Capitol has been planted to the people‟s mind that they would have no power against the Capitol. The Capitol always makes people believe what they tell to the people even if it is the opposite of the truth. The information that is being distributed around the Districts has to be based on the Capitol‟s approval. Other than that it will be banned. People will not watch the television if it is not for the mandatory programming that will broadcast live from the Capitol. So, people will have to view the program on their television or they will be gathered in the square in town and view it together. The events such as Hunger Games and everything related to it are mandatory view for all people in the districts. It can be seen when Katniss‟ sister, Prim tell her that there will be a mandatory programming to her and it means they will have to sit and watch it together. Prim comes home from the school bubbling over with excitement. The teachers announced there was mandatory programming tonight. “I think it‟s going to be your photo shoot” “It can‟t be, Prim. They only did the pictures yesterday,” I tell her… When we gather around the television at seven- thirty, I discover that Prim is right. Sure enough, there‟s Caesar Flickerman, speaking before a standing-room-only crowd in front of the tr aining center, talking to an appreciative crowd about my upcoming nuptials Collins, 2009: 169-170. It can be seen that such thing has become a custom for the people in the district. It has been performed in years so people think that is common to do such thing. While actually what can be seen in such a situation is that people are indirectly made to think according to the Capitol‟s demand. They are indirectly enforced to watch the show that only confirmed by the Capitol which is to say the Capitol automatically form the way of thinking of the people. It can also be seen when Katniss meets two girls who escape from district 8. From their conversation, Katniss figures out that all this time she has been fed with the false information from the Capitol. “I understand why you‟re running, but what do you expect to find in Distric t Thirteen?” I ask. Bonnie and Twill exchange a nervous glance. “We‟re not sure exactly,” Twill says. “It‟s nothing but rubble,” I say. “We‟ve all seen the footage.” “That‟s just it. They‟ve been using the same footage for as long as anyone in District Eig ht can remember,” says Twill. “Really?” I try to think back, to call up the images of 13 I‟ve seen on television. “You know how they always show the Justice Building?” Twill continues. I nod. I‟ve seen it a thousand times. “If you look very carefully, you‟ll see it. Up in the far right-hand corner.” “See what?” I ask. Twill holds out her cracker with the bird again. “A mockingjay. Just a glimpse of it as it flies by. The same one every time.” “Back home, we think they keep reusing the old footage because th e Capitol can‟t show what‟s really there now,” says Bonnie Collins, 2009: 146-147. The Capitol clearly controls everything that people see, hear and even think the way they want to from the quotation above. The stream of information is being controlled directly from those who have power so that people in a lower class will not have a chance to think about going against them. Katniss, for example thinks that District Thirteen is nothing but ruins because she has been made to think that way by the Capitol, by controlling things she that can see or hear. The capitol intentionally hides everything from the people, anything that will cause them to do any rebellion. When Katniss is on her victory tour in District 11, she makes a spontaneous speech that causes small movement among the crowds in District 11. After she does the speech, one of the people in the crowd raises his hand and forms three fingers in the air which is the sign from Katniss‟ district. That is considered as provoking gesture as it shows how the people in the districts are on her side. For the Capitol, it is surely not something to be broadcasted live for all the people in the districts. Therefore, the broadcast of her victory tour gets cut off. “What happened?” Effie hurries over. “We lost the feed just after Katniss‟s beautiful speech, and then Haymitch said he thought he heard a gun fire, and I said it was ridiculous, but who knows? There are lunatics everywhere Collins, 2009: 63. It is clearly seen that the capitol would not want that kind of show. A show that demonstrates what they consider as an act of rebellion in front of the camera. They control what they show to the people so people will not be persuaded by that. As it is mentioned before they will make it seem like everything is just fine by controlling what they show for the people. There are agencies to reproduce the ideology. They are what called as „Ideological State Apparatuses‟ ISAs. Media is one of the ISAs and it can be seen that the dominant class employs this tool in order to control the people. Lead people to think that everything is just fine. In the story, the capitol use the media to control the stream of information among the working class. That is one of the ways to make people obey them. Ideology and Interpellation works the same way. They both get people to accept their current condition even if it is bad. Ideology gets people to believe that there is no contradiction between the working class and the Bourgeois. It gives imaginary versions of real social relation that are actually necessary for the perpetuation of capitalist system Althuser, 1977. Katniss and also other people who live in the Districts have been treated unequally. It is because the Capitol controls the information so that the Katniss and also the District people will not have access to the information even if it is about things that happen around their daily lives. That also makes them think like the way Capitol want. Their task is only to receive what Capitol tells them without even questioning. This is also an unequal treatment because they do not know the truth value of what they receive. They are made to believe what Capitol wants them to believe and by that according to Althuser they are interpellated. The condition when people are made to think they have choice where actually they have no choice at all Barry, 2000 is the condition in which Katniss and people who live in the district in this context the proletar undergo. Michel Foucault in his book proposes a kind of system used to exercise power. This system named Panopticon. Inspired by a concept of prison building in the form of the ring where the overseer is placed in the center of the building. This concept of building is effective to supervise everything that happens around the building. The overseer can see everything that happens around the building while the people who placed in there cannot see the overseer. The capitol employs this kind of system to the people who live in the district and it can be seen especially from Katniss. As the victor of Hunger Games and the one who is suspected has performed act of defiance, the capitol always has got their eyes on Katniss. When she gets a visit from the president Snow and they talk about how she is suspected in performing the act of defiance in the arena. President Snow indicates that he knows every move of her or in other words, he knows everything that she does back in district 12. It means that she is being watched by the capitol. However, she is not fully aware that she is being watched. It can be seen in the following quotation “Speak, Miss Everdeen. Him I can easily kill off if we don‟t come to a happy resolution,” he says. “You aren‟t doing him a favor by disappearing into the woods with him each Sunday.” If he knows this, what else does he know? And how does he know it? … Surely they haven‟t been tracking us in there. Or have they? Could we have been followed? That seems impossible. At least by a person. Cameras? That never crossed my mind until this moment Collins, 2009: 24. Other proof that shows that Katniss is being watched is when she makes a call to check Peeta‟s condition, she actually wants to talk about the things she has on her mind. Talking about the uprisings but she could not dare to talk about it through the phone because she knows that the phone is being tapped. “Hey. I just wanted to make sure you got home,” I say. “Katniss, I live three houses away from you,” he says. I know, but with the weather and all,” I say. “Well, I‟m fine. Thank you for checking.” There‟s a long pause. “How‟s Gale?” “Alright. My mother and Prim are giving him snow coat now,” I say. “And your face?” He asks. “I‟ve got some, too,” I say. Have you seen Haymitch today? “I checked on him. Dead drunk. But built up his fire and left him some bread,” he says. “I wanted to talk to – to both of you.” I don‟t dare add more, here on phone, which is surely tapped Collins, 2009: 126. That they are all being watched, it seems like Katni ss‟ life no longer has privacy because the Capitol can easily record everything even if it is including personal matter. In the arena, the capitol applies this method as well. However they somewhat perform it in more modern way. They inject a device that can track every move of the tribute into the body of the tributes. It is surely useful for them to watch the tribute closely and of course to control the game effectively. “The electric current freezes me in place on the ladder until the doctor injects the tracker into my left forearm. Now they will always be able to locate me in the arena” Collins, 2009: 261. The design of the arena of the Quartel Quell itself is just like the concept of Panopticon. This matter is figured out by Katniss and other tributes while they are in the arena. I look over his shoulder and see he‟s creating a map of the arena. In the center is the Cornucopia on its circle of sand with the twelve strips branching out from it. it looks like a pie sliced into twelve equal wedges. There‟s another circle representing the waterline and a slightly larger one indicating the edge of the jungle. “Look how the Cornucopia‟s positioned,” he says to me. I examine the Cornucopia and see what he means. “The tail points toward twelve o‟clock,” I say. “Right, so this is the top of our clock,” he says, and quickly scratches the number one through twelve around the clock face. “Twelve to one is the lightning zone.” He writes lightning in tiny print in the corresponding wedge, then works clockwise adding blood, fog and monkey in the following sections. “And ten to eleven is the wave,” I say. He adds it. Finnick and Johanna join us at this point, armed to the teeth with tridents, axes and knives. “Did you notice anyt hing unusual in the others?” I ask Johanna and Beetee, since they might have been something we didn‟t. but all they‟ve seen is a lot of blood. “I guess they could hold anything.” “I‟m going to mark the ones where we know the Gamemakers‟ weapon follow us out past the jungle, so we‟ll stay clear of those,” says Peeta, Drawing diagonal lines on the fog and wave beaches. Then he sits back. “Well, it‟s a lot more than we knew this morning, anyway” Collins, 2009: 332. From the quotation above it is clearly seen that the arena is in circular shape and the tributes that are put in there are like the prisoners that are put together and being watched. Apparently, the purpose of having this kind of arena is to make it easier for the Gamemakers, in this term those who have power, to control the game. So, even if the Games itself are acted by Katniss and the other tributes, they are actually not able to do it by their own ways. Again, since all the power belong to the upper class, in this case the Capitol, it is shown how they are trying to uphold their power by manipulating every way to keep things work as they want. This is clearly unequal because The Games itself is supposed to be played by Katniss and the other tributes by their own expense but since they are being tracked and watched, it is hardly possible for them to do that. In here it can be seen again that the Capitol make the tributes think that they have choices but actually the only choice they have is to fight until die since all the controls of the Games belong to the Capitol. This is surely showing the unequal treatment done by the Capitol as the upper class to the tributes as the lower class. The game is supposed to be played by Katniss and also the other tributes but since they are being watched it means that they have no freedom to play the game on their own expense. The only choice that the Capitol gives to Katniss and the other tributes is to die or kill each other. This actually means that the Capitol, with all the power they have, indirectly conducting a murder by ordering the innocent people to kill each other for the Capitol‟s benefit.

C. Class Struggle as the Impact of Unequal Treatments

In order to conduct class struggle, class consciousness is the significant necessity. Class Consciousness itself is the realization of one class that they are belonged to certain group in a society, having the same interest and experiencing same problems Wilczynski, 1981. One class must acknowledge their position in the society; they must realize where they stand and acknowledge their common interest which is to achieve the social justice and the same problems which is the experience of being controlled and oppressed by the upper class or in this context the Bourgeois. There are two stages development of class consciousness, “Class in itself and Class for itself”. These two stages signify the development of realization of one class, in this context the proletariat. The first stage indicates the awareness of the proletariat of their grievances against the Bourgeois. However, in this stage if they take any action it is considered as their movement against individual employer or ruler not the Bourgeois as a class. The later stage indicates the realization of their class identity as the working class and that there are two distinct classes in the society and opposite to each other. In this stage any action against the Bourgeois is considered as a movement from working class against the upper class Wilczynski, 1981. In Catching Fire the unequal treatments are done by the Capitol as the class who owns most power. After experiencing the unequal treatments done by the Capitol who stands as the upper class, Katniss as the one who comes from the lower class comes to her realization. This realization in Marxist is known as Class Consciousness. When Katniss and her fellow make the Victory tour to District 11, each victor has to deliver their speech to the people in there. Katniss at first, hesitates to do the speech but something hits her mind and makes her doing the spontaneous speech to the people in District 11. The ceremony‟s about to end when I notice one Rue‟s sisters staring at me. She must be about nine and is almost an exact replica of Rue, down to the way she stands with her arms slightly extended. Despite the good news about the winnings, she‟s not happy. In fact, her look is reproachful. Is it because I didn‟t save Rue? No. it’s because I still haven’t thanked her, I think. A wave of shames rushes through me. The girl is right. How can I stand here, passive and mute, leaving all the words to Peeta? If she had won, Rue would never have let my death go unsung… “Wait” I stumble forward, pressing the plaque to my chest. My allotted time for speaking has come and gone, but I must say something. I owe too much. And even if I had pledged all my winnings to the families, it would not excuse my silence today Collins, 2009: 59-60. The quotation above indicates how Katniss starts realizing that she suffers from the same thing as the people in the districts so she speaks to them for it. She delivers the speech about how she does not know Thresh so much but she feels as if she knows Rue, her little ally back in the arena. She talks about the death og the tributes from District eleven and thank the people for their children and their bread. After her speech all of the people raise their hands and form the sign from Katniss‟ District which is also the sign that she gives to Rue after her death in the arena as the last goodbye. It can be seen that her speech is moved by the guilty feeling of not thanking the tributes‟ family yet it actually signifies her feeling that she and all the people in the districts are suffering from the same thing, which is the authority of the Capitol that leads to the death of the innocent. The reaction from the people after her speech is also signifying that they are feeling the same with her and they are on her side. This can be seen as the first stage of class consciousness development when the people realizing they are having the same grievances against the Capitol. Therefore, this is considered as the “Class in itself” because they just start to realize that they are having the same grievance against the Bourgeois. However, the reaction of Katniss is considered as an act against their government as individual not as a class. This stage of class consciousness development can also be seen when Katniss fails to ensure President Snow that she does not defy the Capitol through her act in The Hunger Games, she feels relieved instead of having a pang of horror. After implicitly asking for President Snow‟s approval after what she did in attempt to convince him and the whole districts, she gets an imperceptible shake of his head as the sign that she fails to meet his satisfaction. So you would think that at this moment, I would be in utter despair. Here‟s what‟s strange. The main thing I feel is a sense of relief. That I can give up this game. That the question of whether I can succeed in this venture has been answered, even if that answer is a resounding no. That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I am free to act as desperately as I wish Collins, 2009: 75.