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4.2 Capitol’s power
In the novel, Capitol is the one who determine the life of Districts. Coriolanus Snow is a native of the Capitol and is the tyrannical and ruthless President of Panem.
Although carrying the title of President, it is unknown if he was elected to the position democratically. Snow possesses total power in Panems government and has
proven to be a cruel and manipulative dictator, ruling over the Capitol and its contained districts. He also works on the annual Hunger Games and heads the
military responsibility for oppressing the districts. According to Karl Marx’s theory, Economic power gives people the resources
to apply political control and to form a ruling class which has a vested interest in maintaining its own superior position. Marx believed that this is achieved by the
ability of the dominant class to ensure that all the major social institutions, marriage, education, the political system, religion and so on uphold and serve its own purposes.
The power of a Capitol has already happened these days, it represent to what happen to the government. Government can do whatever they want, put their children in to a
private school, have a biggest house, it shows us that capitol’s power is already visible from a different treatment to whom the rich and the poor. In this novel, the
Capitol as the one who own the land and the production, so they can do whatever they want. The capitol also put the Peacekeeper in every district to make sure that the
people in each District will not fight back.
“Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how
totally we are at their mercy.”1:18
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The quotation above from the novel shows how Capitol’s act on making the other districts know who feed them this whole time and the real message is clear.
“Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift your finger, we will destroy every last one of you.” Capitol shows their
power by making the game to warn people that they are the authorities who gave people in each district a life, a home to live. In this sense, the Games are a form of
control. “The last tribute alive receives a life of ease back home, and their
district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil
and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation.”3:36
These trained tributes, which Katniss refers to as Career Tributes, are
generally bigger, stronger, and better prepared for the tribulations of the Hunger Games than those poor tributes selected by chance. They are consequently more
likely to survive. For these rich tributes, it is an honor to compete in the Games, while for the poor tributes it is essentially a death sentence.Let’s not forget, though,
that this book is also about ways to resist the kind of power that the Capitol represents. While the people of Panem might not have the Capitol’s money, they do
have other ways of fighting back. When District 12 gives Katniss their salute and when Katniss covers Rue’s dead body in flowers. These symbolic gestures called
attention to the fact that there are actual people in the Hunger Games, not just game pieces. In that sense, these small moments of defiance can be very powerful.
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4.3 Katniss
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