Introduction T1 112009117 Full text

government can have control over how its citizens live Duncan 1. Despite the story’s future setting, as a citizen of a country filled with inequality and class divide, i t’s hard not to think that in the future the rich will still have all the control. The Hunger Games has been adapted into a motion picture which received wide acclaims from viewers and movie critics, with the Rolling Stone calling it an “epic spectacle” Kehe 2. As I watched the movie, the grandeur of the theme of a new world took me by surprise. The movie’s brilliance in captivating the viewers, including myself, is a sure sign that the book is a must read. While watching the movie, something struck me, this story is not just about teenagers fighting each other to prove they are worthy of becoming victors and ensuring they will survive. Both the novel and the movie, The Hunger Games, are giving a glimpse of what the future might look like: almost the same like our present. There will be people who live in poverty, and also there will be people living lavishly with no worries about lacking everyday necessities. For this analysis, I will use the novel, as the book itself gives an even sadder account of what the citizens in the districts of Panem have to endure to satisfy the needs of the people in the Capitol and the strict government. The Hunger Games is a novel written about the future North America after being obliterated, but it has risen again in the form of a new country, Panem. Within this new country, new rules come to form which put the lower class society at a disadvantage. For those who do not live in the megacity of the Capitol, their whole life will only be to serve the needs for those living in the Capitol. This unfairness, portrayed vividly throughout the book, creates a need to analyze how deep governments can enforce the capitalistic values in their country. The dichotomy of poor and rich depicted in The Hunger Games is proof why Marxist criticism about the mistreatment of the poor is important – class divide and struggle will still Rimun 2 be a subject of concern in the future as well. With regards to this class divide, we can see that the present state of Indonesia is evidence that we are currently living in a country where the politicians live in comfort, yet the streets are still filled with homeless people and people barely surviving without money in their pockets. Just based on the history of Indonesia, the poor have always struggled to live while the rich live in comfort. Whether a superpower country or a rising third-world country, there will be people who fall into the rich or poor category, respectively, regardless of its government. Because I believe the subject of the stark differences between the dominantly rich and the oppressed poor has been evident in the past, present and the future, this analysis is important to help readers be more aware of how the social classes have always been unfair and are predicted to be unfair in the future. From what Suzanne Collins has interpreted through The Hunger Games , this topic about unfairness will remain a topic of concern in the future. In analyzing the differing lifestyles that led to the exploitation and devaluation of the lower class society, I will use Marxist literary criticism to uncover traces of false consciousness, hegemony, and reification present in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games . This analysis will evaluate how these three ideologies lead to the great divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat – those who ‘have’ and those who ‘have-not’ Tyson 54. Through Marxism, the driving force behind all social and political activities in this book will be linked to economic power of the rich. Also, I seek to inform the readers of how influential a person’s economic state can be to their own livelihood as exemplified through the novel’s two different groups of people, the people in the Capitol and in the districts . Consequently, these capitalistic values lead one powerful group to take advantage of its economic power to rule over all the poor’s areas of lives. Rimun 3

2. Summary of Text

The Hunger Games is a science-fiction story, written by Suzanne Collins, depicting a dystopian society in the country of Panem, which used to be North America. Within this country, there are 13 districts and the Capitol, where the government and the rich reside. According to the history of Panem, in decades past, District 13 of Panem rebelled against the rules that the government had enforced, leading to the Capitol destroying the 13th district. Because of this rebellion, the Capitol invoked a new rule to prevent the remaining twelve districts from following the rebellious acts and repeating the same mistakes. These events are the reason for the birth of the Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games, one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteeen from each of the 12 districts, all come together to fight as a reminder that acting out against the Capitol has its consequences. Each girl and boy are picked during the Reaping, the day when they have a lottery to decide the boy and girl who will represent their district in the Hunger Games. The Reaping is also a way for the children to get more food or tesserae to meet their family’s needs for the upcoming year. They have to enter their name at least once and can enter their names in the lottery as many as the number of people in their family. In addition, as a child enters their name more, they will receive a larger amount of food, which will help those who have a large family. However, this leads to a greater chance that certain children’s names will be called. Hence, the saying “May the odds be ever in your favor” Collins 20 becomes a common expression among the characters. On the day of the Reaping, all the child ren between twelve and eighteen years old in the district gather in the district’s main area, while a representative from the Capitol picks a name out of a lottery bowl to represent the girl and boy to go on to the Game. This gathering of the Reaping is mandatory, that if a child decides to skip it will end in their own execution. No excuses are allowed to avoid this day. Rimun 4 The main characters in this book are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, teenagers from District 12, who have been chosen to represent their district among the teenagers from the remaining eleven districts. This is their first time entering the Capitol, and they are amazed at the contrast between their sad predicament back home with the lavish lifestyle people in the Capitol seem to have. Before they enter the arena where they are to fight for their lives, they are introduced to the lifestyle that is strikingly different than the one they have in their hometown. The Capitol, being where the rich and the government reside, illustrates how unfair the Capitol is toward their neighboring districts. Each district provides specific or special products, from jewelry to lumber to power to coal, that are mass-produced in the respective districts; yet the only ones who are able to enjoy these products are the Capitol residents. The citizens of the twelve districts work tirelessly each day to please the Capitol’s needs, yet the ones who work for these products are only given a small amount of money for what they produce. To add to their poor living conditions, due to their limited supplies, daily necessities are bought by trading other goods. If a person does not have meaningful goods to trade, they will not get the amount of food supply that they need. Yet, having goods to trade does not guarantee its value will amount to a good trade. During the Hunger Games event itself, the tributes battle each other for survival. The people in the Capitol and the districts watch on the live telecast as the tributes struggle with the hardships of the Games. Throughout this event, people in the Capitol, especially the rich, are determining factors whether the tributes can remain alive or not. Besides the betting that happens between the people in the Capitol on who will win, the ones who can afford food, medicine, or other helpful objects and can send them to their favorite tributes. Though the game’s conditions are harsh and wild, the winner will be the one who is able to remain standing after 23 other tributes die in the playing field.