The Revelation of the Degrading Natures of Rugged Individualism
The endorsement towards individualism that is adhered by many of the American citizens today is reflected by the main character in the book, Katniss
Everdeen. As a proletariat who has to cope with unjust economic system, Katniss resorts to individualism, constantly projects her dream on a better life in which
she can live in peace alongside her sister and mother. The freedom to live with her family without being restricted by her subordinated circumstances as they are
living in the poorest slum in the most backward district, is her definition of life fulfillment, her American Dream.
For the first time, I allow myself to truly think about the possibility that I might make it home. To fame. To wealth. To my own house
in the Victor’s Village. My mother and Prim would live there with me. No more fear of hunger. A new kind of freedom.
But then . . . what? What would my life be like on a daily basis? Most of it has been
consumed with the acquisition of food. Take that away and I’m not really sure who I am, what my identity is. The idea scares me some. I
think of Haymitch, with all his money. What did his life become? He lives alone, no wife or children, most of his waking hours drunk. I don’t
want to end up like that.
Collins, 2008: 310-311 The quest of the realisation of her self-interest influences her view and
understanding of her environment as a harmful place that threaten to disintegrate her family’s well-being. This is signified by her protectionist measures taken to
protect her sister, such as her illegal trespassing in the woods, trading in the black market, and volunteering to be the tribute of The Hunger Games. Those were all
done in order to realize her dream.
I protect Prim in every way I can , but I’m powerless against the
reaping. The anguish I always feel when she’s in pain wells up in my chest and threatens to register on my face.
Collins, 2008: 15
Her regard for the well-being of her family often puts Katniss in positive lights. However, this dream of betterment for her family also fuels her ignorance
to the well-being of others, particularly those people that she considers as competitors. She puts her self-interest above the others’ well-being. This
ignorance to others is apparent from her thoughts and corresponding actions to her competitors, particularly Peeta. For example, just after she and Peeta are declared
to be tributes, she has the intention to get rid of Peeta eventhough he has helped her in the past. Peeta is not just anybody to her, he saved her life in the past when
no one else cared. At first, she feels grateful for him, but at the end of the contemplation she genuinely imagines her kiling him in the arena. This signifies
her ignorance to the misery of others, a possessive individualism. This is where she comes to a realization that she must be freed from any relation with others
except those relations that is in accordance with her self-interest Macpherson in Taylor, 1965: 242. This is caused by her prioritizing her own interest above all
else, even the person whom she owes her life to. The evidence can be seen as follow.
To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion
that reminded me that I was not doomed. And more than once, I
have turned in the school hallway and caught his eyes trained on me, only to quickly flit away. I feel like I owe him something, and I hate
owing people. Maybe if I had thanked him at some point, I’d be feeling less conflicted now. I thought about it a couple of times, but the
opportunity never seemed to present itself. And now it never will. Because we’re going to be thrown into an arena to fight to the death.
Exactly how am I supposed to work in a thank-you in there? Somehow it just won’t seem sincere if I’m trying to slit his throat.
Collins, 2008: 32
This action is the form of ignorance which is only natural for Katniss, resulted from her perception of the world as a place which constantly threaten to
disintegrate her family. In seeing her objectives, she disregards other people who stand in her way. Most of the people in contemporary society also adopt this
manner of thinking. Ignorance to the suffering of other people has become a habit due to the loss of communitarian solidarity and the emergence of individualism.
As long as one’s life is uninterrupted, one would not budge when seeing atrocities commited in other parts of the world caused by civil war or military intervention.
This adoption of ignorance as a virtue in the contemporary capitalist society is also manifested in other characters in the book, notably the priviledged
class. It can be seen as follows. “At least, you two have decent manners,” says Effie as we’re finishing
the main course. “The pair last year ate everything with their hands like a couple of savages. It completely upset my digestion.”
The pair last year were two kids from the Seam who’d never, not one day of their lives, had enought to eat. And when they did have
food, table manners were surely the last thing on their minds. Peeta’s a baker’s son. My mother taught Prim and me to eat properly,
so yes, I can handle a fork and a knife. But I hate Effie trinket’s comment so much I make a point of eating the rest of my meal with my
fingers. Then I wipe my hands on the tablecloth. This makes her purse her lips tightly together.
Collins, 2008: 44-45 Effie Trinket, as a person who comes from the ruling city of Capitol, is
ignorant to the fact that the people who dine with her have suffered from starvation. They do not possess the same access to food as she has for her whole
life. It is only natural if they devour the food like savages once they can afford it. For Effie, this is incomprehensible. Raised and educated in the ruling city, she
ignores the fact that the rest of the population is in misery. She does not show any
concern to this crucial issue, but focus on superficial thing instead, such as manner. As a part of the ruling class, ignorance to the fate of the underclass is a
normal virtue. Their subordination, which rest on her priviledged life, does not concern her because it does not bring direct harm to her life. This is shown by her
negative response due to the absence of table manner which directly influence her appetite, it “upset her digestion”. She only reacts when the action of these people,
who notably come from another class, threaten to directly disturb her. Moreover, the ruling class’ attitude shown by Effie signifies their belief
that they are superior, and this diverts them into seeing that people from classes lower than theirs suffer from discrimination, in this case, of fair distribution of
welfare. This superiority perpetuates ignorance as a common way when dealing with people from lower classes. The ruling class perceives the working class to
have worse attributes than them and deserve the inequalities and unfair judgements befall upon them as a consequence for their lack of civilization. This
perception helps them to justify their ignorance to the people from classes lower than theirs, and simultaneously keeping each classes in their places.
b. The notion of Self against Other
The notion of ‘me’ above ‘us’, which is the core of individualism, is extended into ‘me’ above ‘others’. This trait disregards other people besides
himself, and acts for the good of himself without considering the consequences of his action to the others. This individualism relies heavily on the disregard of the
well-being of others, or even the perception of others as obstacles to one’s pursuit of happiness. Therefore, usually the others are branded as villains or enemies.
The branding of other as villain is manifested in the United States during Bush administration. After the 911 attack, the collective citizens under the Bush
administration released the ‘with us’ or ‘against us’ rhetoric, pitting the international community to take side with the U.S., otherwise they were branded
as enemies. This belief became the collective ideology of the American society at that time due to their perception to the threat posed by terrorists. The aggressive
measure was seen as the only obvious way to cope with their fear of terrorism. However, the violence commited by both the state and its citizens often affected
those who are innocents, such as the civilian casualties died during the bombings or ambushes in Iraq. Hence, the collective individualism adapted by the United
States at that time caused the misery of many, disrupting civilians’ security. Katniss labels the other tributes in the Games as enemies, or weaklings,
those who deserve to be sacrifice in order to attain her own self-interest, eventhough their encounters with Katniss are caused by the unfortunate
circumstances, not because of their deliberate will to cause her harm. This can be seen from Katniss’ labelling of her rivals as ‘other’, or as ‘enemies’. She gives
them various inhuman attributes in justification of her ignorance and aggression. The evidence can be seen as follows.
One by one, we see the other reapings, the names called, the volunteers stepping forward or, more often, not. We examine the faces of the kids
who will be our competition. A few stand out in my mind. A monstrous boy who lunges forward to volunteer from District 2. A
fox-faced girl with sleek red hair from district 5. A boy with a crippled foot from District 10. And most hauntingly, a twelve-year
old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other
than that, she’s very like Prim in size and demeanor. Only when she mounts the stage and they ask for volunteers, all you can hear is the
wind whistling through the decrepit buildings around her. There’s no one willing to take her place.
Collins, 2008: 45-46 By branding her enemies with various threatening inhuman attributes, she
labels them as the ‘others’, emphasizing her self-centeredness. This hampers her to see these people as her equals because she only sees them as obstacles to her
goal. She forgets that they are in the same position as her, thrown into brutal competition due to the condition which obligates every individuals to compete in
order to survive. This is the same as the condition in the contemporary American society today, in which competition has become the people’s reality and one
cannot escape in order to survive Tyson, 2006: 57. People from various social and economic background have made competition as their reality, thus hamper
them to see their rivals as their equals and separated them into frictions and classes, each following their own self-interests.
Perceiving other as enemies distorts the people into seeing the truth that their subordinate condition is the result of material conditions shaped by the
unjust economic system which benefitted the ruling class. Their perceived “enemies” are only thrown by circumstances in which they have no power to
control either. Their subordinate conditions are determined by various laws and regulations created and sustained by government institutions. For instance,
Katniss’ underpriviledged circumstances is the outcome of his father’s job occupation and the absence of government’s help. As a coal miner, her father is
constantly at risk of losing his life due to his work conditions. However, when it does happen, there is no government’s support that would significantly help his
family to be able to carry on. This is a vicious circle that disadvantages the underpriviledged even more due to their high risk jobs. Nevertheless, her
individualism often makes her blame others for the injustice that she has to suffer. You can see why someone like Madge, who has never been at risk of
needing a tessera, can set him off. The chance of her name being drawn is very slim compared to those of us who live in the Seam. Not
impossible, but slim. And even though the rules were set up by the Capitol, not the districts, certainly not Madge’s family, it’s hard not
to resent those who don’t have to sign up for tesserae.
Collins, 2008: 13 Individualism leads to act of agression to others. In one occasion, Katniss
deliberately pushes Peeta when she feels threaten by his action, namely his declaration of love to her. This action leads her to believe that Peeta is dangerous
for her chance in winning the Games because she is convinced that his strategy will make her appear to be a weak candidate. Nevertheless, the declaration of love
is actually a good move on Peeta’s part not only for himself, but also for Katniss, because it solicits sympathy from the audience for their cause. This will help them
shape their image as star-crossed lovers and draw sponsors. However, her self- pride resulted from her individualism leads Katniss to keep her good judgement
against Peeta. Since she has already marks him as enemy, everything he does is evil in her eyes. This ultimately lead her to take agressive measures against him.
The evidence can be seen as follows.
. . . Peeta has only just stepped from his car when I slam my palms into his chest. He loses his balance and crashes into an ugly urn
filled with fake flowers. The urn tips and shatters into hundreds of
tiny pieces. Peeta lands in the shards, and blood immediately flows from his hands.
“What was that for?” he says, aghast. “You had no right No right to go saying those things about me”
I shout at him.
Now the elevators open and the whole crew is there, Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, and Portia.
“What’s going on?” says Effie, a note of hysteria in her voice. “Did you fall?”
“After she shoved me,” says Peeta as Effie and Cinna help him up. Haymitch turns on me. “Shoved him?”
“This was your idea, wasn’t it? Turning me into some kind of fool in front of the entire country?” I answer.
Collins, 2008: 134-135
Individualism expressed by Katniss’ detachment to her fellow tributes is important in keeping individuals separated from each other and prevent the class
struggle for the common cause. As the cornerstone of capitalism, individualism encourages individuals to acquire and perform characteristics that distinguish
them from the masses as unique individuals with their own self interests that erodes class identification and thus, the class consciousness Rottenberg, 2004:
76. As Katniss choose to detach herself by ignoring or labelling her fellow tributes as enemies, she simultaneously refuse to acknowledge the common
struggle that they are all entitled to and instead, sustaining the flawed system that marginalizes them.
It is to the advantage of the ruling class if everything remain to the status quo. If the classes are separated, if they would rather maintain their subordinate
conditions, if they fight against each other; those consume their time and attention to worthless actions that do not really contribute anything in changing their
conditions to be better. Their understanding of the world is therefore
misundertanding because they contribute nothing to change the injustice that they suffer.