HUNGER AT ITS UGLIEST Sociological Analysis Of Suzanne Collins Hunger Games

1. 110775 May 23, 2012
HUNGER AT ITS UGLIEST: Sociological Analysis of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games
Just as Suzanne Collins had intended it, Hunger Games is full of sociological
concepts ranging from the most prominent Marxist ideologies to the more subtle
functionalist and interactionism theories. The story starts out with the spunky, independent,
main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen-year old girl from District 12, the poorest
district in the entire nation of Panem. As the entire story is narrated from her point of view,
she begins by describing her difficult life of trying to support her non-working mother and
little sister, Primrose, after their father died from a mining accident. This hard life of losing a
father figure early in her life forces her to take on the role of breadwinner in the family, as
her mother stops working as an apothecary due to extreme devastation of her husband’s
death. She narrates at length her hunting expeditions and trades at the Hob (District 12’s
“black market”) with her childhood friend and co-hunter Gale Hawthorne, whose father died
in the same mining accident as Katniss’. Along with their activities, Katniss also describes
how she can never feel relaxed unless she is hunting with Gale; a sign that her hard life has
also molded her into becoming less trusting of people’s intentions. The story takes a turn as
it is revealed that it is the day of the reaping, an annual tradition of the twelve districts
wherein two tributes (contestants; one boy and one girl) are drawn from each district to
participate in the Hunger Games, a prestigious, fight-to-the-death tournament in the Capitol,
the seat of power in Panem. The last tribute alive is declared as the winner, and it is
promised that the district he/she is representing will be rewarded with an abundance of food
and resources for the whole year, along with a house in Victor’s Village for the victor and
his/her family. Unlike in the prestigious districts 1, 2, and 4, people from the poorer districts

2. of 11 and 12 dread the reaping, as the tributes from those districts usually lose to the more
affluent districts. Katniss and Gale are in particular danger of being chosen in the reaping
because they have entered their names numerous times in exchange for tesserae (a
system of willingly adding an extra ballot of one’s name for the reaping in exchange for
grain and oil) in order to further support their families. What Katniss does not count on,
however, is for her sister Prim’s name to be drawn when it is only her first year of being
eligible for the Hunger Games. In a desperate attempt to save her sister from near-certain
death, Katniss volunteers in her place (an act rarely done in the poorer districts because of
their almost-constant track record of losing in the Hunger Games). Her wish is heeded, and
she, along with Peeta Mellark, whom she knows as the baker’s son who gave her bread on
the night she was starving to death, are the chosen tributes for the 74th
Hunger Games.
The story progresses to Katniss’ time in the Capitol with the other tributes. She
trains, allows herself to be made up by her stylist, Cinna (and to be poked at by the
sponsor-greedy woman Effie), and learns strategies for survival from her constantly drunk
mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, the sole survivor of the Hunger Games hailing from District
12. As part of Haymitch’s plan, Katniss and Peeta act as star-crossed lovers to gain favor
from the sponsors, though the acting appears to be more than such on Peeta’s part.
Throughout the beginning of the Hunger Games, Katniss isolates herself from the other
tributes in hopes of outlasting them by living off of the land. She succeeds for the most part,
and uses sneaky strategies to finish off some of the Careers like Glimmer. She also forms
an alliance with Rue, the female tribute from District 11, but Rue is later killed by the male
tribute of District 1. She kills the male tribute in an act of vengeance. Since she truly did
care for Rue, Katniss takes pains to give her a somewhat proper burial, both as an act of
compassion and also as an act of rebellion against the Capitol, particularly its leading

3. authority, President Corolianus Snow, to show that she is not a full-fledged pawn who must
heartlessly kill off all the other tributes. As more tributes die and the competition thins, the
Gamemakers suddenly add a new rule: that two tributes can win as long as they come from
the same district. This leads Katniss to search for the wounded Peeta, whom she initially
thought had betrayed her by forming an alliance with the Careers (an act that was actually
done to sort of keep her out of harm’s way). Peeta’s wounds are grave, and it is later
discovered that he is suffering from blood poisoning, so Katniss realizes that she must risk
returning to the Cornucopia area to get supplies which could possibly help with his
condition. By doing so, she risks nearly getting killed by Clove, but is fortunate to have been
saved by Thresh, the make tribute from District 11, as an act of thanks for giving Rue a
somewhat proper funeral. When she and Peeta become the last survivors of the Hunger
Games, the Gamemakers suddenly revert to the old rule of having only one victor, forcing
Katniss and Peeta to kill each other. But Katniss, in another act of rebellion (while at the
same time in reluctance to kill Peeta due to her uncertain affection for him), attempts suicide
by eating the highly toxic nightlock berries with Peeta. The Gamemakers stop them before it
is too late, and are forced to declare the two of them as the victors.
The Capitol and Marxism
Katniss’ thoughts and actions reveal her hatred for the inequality that has been
thrust upon her by the Capitol. First of all, she despises how she and the people of District
12 live in the dregs of poverty because the capitalists (a.k.a. the people of the Capitol) hold
all the power (and in turn, the resources), which prompts Katniss into succumbing to
tesserae and illegally selling goods to the Hob (black market); much to the pleasure of the
rich Peacekeepers who let her off the hook because of the value of her trade. Furthermore,
it becomes impossible for them to rise from their dreary lifestyles because the Capitol

4. controls them in such a way that they can never have the power to make a difference. Their
educational curriculum is centered on coal mining, the chief industry of District 12 (an
example of Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatus), and all economic trade between the
district and the Capitol is unequal because the Capitol barely gives them enough food and
resources to live properly. In fact, the only purpose for the existence of the twelve districts is
to provide for the needs of the Capitol (that through Althusser’s ISA, the Capitol forces the
drive of the economy to center on them through their monopoly of power). This in turn,
forces the citizens of the districts to center their lives on trying to please the Capitol in order
to gain whatever resources they can (again, on the issue of Katniss, her tradings with the
Hob, and the tesserae; both of which are examples on how the infrastructure of Katniss’
family life is influenced by the economy). Second, she feels horribly powerless when
subjected to the reaping, because of how it cruelly forces everyone ages 12-18 to be
eligible for the Hunger Games, especially when her sister Prim is chosen during her first
reaping. And third, she despises the Hunger Games itself because it is the Capitol’s way of
reminding the 12 districts of their power in obliterating the rebellious District 13.
The inequality escalates during the Hunger Games itself. Katniss automatically feels
disadvantaged when she faces the Careers, tributes who have received special training
early on to kill specifically for the Hunger Games. This shows how unequal the opportunities
are among the districts, since Careers always come from the richer districts, as evidenced
by Clove and Cato. This is why Haymitch teaches her to win by outsmarting everyone else
instead of outright killing them. In fact, he teaches her to outsmart them in multiple ways
even prior to the games, as shown when Katniss tries her best to make herself as appealing
as possible (both in appearance and personality) to possible sponsors. Cinna goes to great
lengths to make her known as “the girl on fire”, and Effie tries to teach Katniss how to act

5. like a lady (although this kind of fails). And, despite her hatred for the Capitol, she also tries
her best to be noticed by the Gamemakers during the private training session, in which she
succeeds when she gets a score of eleven. All of these show that Katniss is trying to gain
power by appearing subservient to the very authorities she hates.
Katniss and the Power to Make a Difference
Of course, Katniss is not gaining power in the Hunger Games just to show rebellion
to the Capitol. Most of all, she aims to promise a better life for her and her family (and the
rest of District 12) by winning. Still, she is not the only character in the story who seeks to
rebel against the status quo by taking action. In subtle ways, the other characters also show
contempt for the Hunger Games. The people of District 12 give Katniss their solemn salute
instead of clapping and rejoicing at the fact that she volunteered to be a tribute. Peeta
worries about maintaining his humanity even though he knows he must kill people in order
to survive in the Hunger Games. Even Gale, at the beginning of the story, mocks the line
“May the odds be ever in your favor”, which is what is usually said to the tributes at the start
of Hunger Games. His grim humor shows that he is also trying to deal with this serious
matter in a light-hearted manner, a subtle act of rebellion that shows that he will not allow
his entire life to be ruled by the Hunger Games and his huge amount of tesserae. Thresh,
though given the perfect chance, chooses not to kill Katniss as a sign of gratitude for taking
care of Rue. Though they are all puppets of the Capitol, the characters are trying to cut
these strings off even in the smallest ways.
Strength in Numbers
Changing the structure, especially in the subtlest of actions, requires a significant
number of people for its effects to be made tangible. Again, this is shown in the salute the

6. people of District 12 gave to Katniss, an example of mechanical solidarity (with everyone
from District 12 agreeing on the immorality of the Hunger Games). However, the power of
solidarity can also be used for more selfish motives. The best example for this would be the
long-time tendency for the Careers to form alliances during the Hunger Games to intimidate
and kill off the weaker tributes, and in the end, kill among themselves once majority of the
competition has been eliminated. This would be considered as applying Durkheim’s concept
of organic solidarity, since these tributes team up because of the specialized functions they
each have (this explains why Cato did not automatically kill the male tribute from District 3
who could make land mines). They are interdependent on one other because of their
different skills, but, in the case of the male tribute from District 3, are disposed of once they
have outlasted their usefulness.
Mockingjays and Iron Cages
As Katniss herself recognized the Careers’ strategy of teaming up as an efficient
way to eliminate competition, she also decided to use this strategy against them by forming
an alliance with Rue. Not only is she able to get extra food supplies, but she also manages
to have Rue cure her tracker jacker stings, along with devising a plan to destroy the
Career’s food supply. As much as Katniss does not want to kill anyone, she knows that she
will be killed first if she allows compassion to get the better of her. That is why she must
somehow numb herself to the act of killing. This numbing of compassion and trained
mindset of treating certain people as mere objects or beings is the negative result of the
system of bureaucracy. Since Katniss and the other tributes must do everything in their
power to win for the sake of their districts (the complex groups which they belong to, and in
turn which belong to the Capitol), they must somehow treat each other as inhuman.
Otherwise they would be unable to kill each other. Again, this is the epitome of cruelty that

7. everyone is so strongly against, but because everyone in the Hunger Games universe is a
part of this system, they are forced to commit such acts. Such is the iron cage of
bureaucracy, the confinement of people to their roles in the complex social structure. The
obligations that each character in the story has restricts him/her to fully do as he/she
pleases.
The Power Four
The tight hold of bureaucracy is exacerbated by the power elite: President Snow, the
Gamemakers, the citizens of the Capitol, and the Peacekeepers. That is to say, the iron
cage of bureaucracy is reinforced by these small groups of elite people in society. The
Peacekeepers maintain order in the different districts to help President Snow rule them with
an iron fist. The citizens of Capitol perpetuate the celebration of the Hunger Games by
giving so much attention to it through mass media. And the Gamemakers maintain the
existence of the Hunger Games.
These groups comprising “the power four” preserve the centralized concentration,
the monopoly, of power. They make sure that the commoners have no power to rebel
against them. In fact, members of the power four establish their power in such a way that
the people would become dependent on them (an example of dependence theory).
Examples of these are Katniss’ trades in the Hob (which actually comprise most of her
income, since tesserae does not provide much) and the need for a seat of power in order to
prevent the districts from falling into anarchy. In fact, members of the power elite try to
ingrain in the citizens that their hegemony is good, which is why the “glorious” history of
Panem is constantly narrated before each reaping.

8. But as Katniss says, “Two can play at that game.” As mentioned, she herself is trying
to gain power and prestige by winning the Hunger Games, just as Haymitch did in the 50th
Hunger Games. While Haymitch is not exactly part of the power four, he is well-respected
and rich enough (at least, to be constantly drunk) for him to no longer be treated as a lowly
citizen of District 12. And in his own subtle form of rebellion, Haymitch is teaching Katniss
how to challenge the power four by helping her win the Hunger Games as well.
Hunger Games in the Contemporary World
The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world. Albeit futuristic, the
concepts of the story mirror our lives today. The first obvious comparison is that of
modernity. With the setting of the story set far off into the future, technology has progressed
so much to the point that a good number of our problems have been solved. For instance,
Katniss is easily cured of her burns as soon as Haymitch sends her ointment during the
Hunger Games. She is also immediately cured of her other injuries through mere injections
at the end of the Hunger Games. Peeta gets an artificial leg, and the citizens of the Capitol
are free to manipulate their appearance however they wish, as proven by Effie Trinket and
her queer fashion sense.
But technology also has a dark side. Katniss narrates how she was almost a victim
of plastic surgery when the Gamemakers wanted to alter her appearance before presenting
her as the victor of the 74th
Hunger Games along with Peeta. This shows how technological
advances such as plastic surgery have influenced our perception of beauty. Due to the
influence of mass media, we form highly idealistic perceptions of beauty and go to extreme
lengths to achieve it. An even greater issue regarding technology is that of genetic
engineering, as shown by the existence of muttations, tracker jackers, and jabberjays.

9. These advances in technology come into moral question when Katniss realizes that the
slain tributes are altered into muttations to finish off the remaining tributes. While both our
society and that of Panem highly value of scientific advances, to what extent will we pursue
science at the cost of our values and beliefs?
This question regarding morality raises another question regarding inequality. In the
case of the muttations, who has the right to toy with humans’ genes in such a manner? Are
the slain tributes considered as unworthy because they were unable to win, and can
therefore be treated as guinea pigs? With the excuse of it being in the pursuit of scientific
advancement, the Capitol exercises a cruel hand of social Darwinism of survival of the
fittest and elimination of the unfit. The severity of the Capitol is falsely justified by the power
it poses, particularly in the hands of President Snow. The Capitol ingrains into the citizens
the Panem the mindset that whatever they do is right (no matter how ethically questionable)
because the Capitol is the city that will lead the rest of Panem to the future.
What sets the Hunger Games universe apart from our current society is that the level
of inequality in the world of Panem is on the extremes. The level of primitiveness in the poor
districts is a stark contrast to the wealth and affluence of the rich districts. While our modern
world has this disparity between first-world and third-world countries, there are global efforts
to alleviate this inequality as much possible; unlike the Hunger Games universe which is
more likely to continue this extreme inequality.
Perhaps Suzanne Collins is trying to convey something to us readers. By writing the
Hunger Games, it seems as if she is telling us that the dismal world of Panem is not far off if
we continue to allow ourselves to be wrapped up in our continuous pursuit of freedom,

10. modernity, and progress. There is a point when we must stop ourselves before falling into a
state of what Durkheim calls anomie. Had we made different choices on our rules on politics
and governance, it would not be surprising if we had our own version of President Snow.
While we still can, it is important to keep the capitalists in our society from becoming too
powerful to the point that they will greatly hinder our life choices. And while Katniss and the
people of District 12 continue to rebel despite the restrictions placed on them, it would be
much better if we can prevent those restrictions from being implemented in the first place.