The document defines key literary terms like setting, characters, point of view, plot, and theme. It then analyzes these elements in an excerpt from The Hunger Games, summarizing the dystopian society depicted and themes explored around oppression, violence for entertainment, and humanity in survival situations. Key questions raised include whether reality TV has gone too far, if violence desensitizes us, and when rebellion is necessary.

1. What do the following terms mean?
• Setting
• Characters
• Point of view
• Plot
• Theme

2. Look for the following in the clip:
• Setting
• Characters
• Point of view
• Plot
• Theme

3. SETTING:
• The physical world where the story takes
place;
• the time of the action, including historical
circumstances.
• The customs and beliefs of the time and place

4. In this first clip, what is the
Setting?
• Where?
• When?
• What is the Situation?

5. What is a character?

6. In literature, there are two types of
characters:
• Simple or “Flat” characters.
• Complex or “Round” characters

7. • Simple characters have only one or two
personality traits and are easily recognizable
as stereotypes—the nagging wife, the lazy
husband, the rebellious teen, etc.
• Complex characters have multiple personality
traits and therefore resemble real people.
They are much harder to understand and
describe than simple characters.

8. Are the following characters from the
first clip simple or complex?

9. FLAT CHARACTER-
He’s defined by his job. We don’t see what is life is like when he goes
home, or hear what he thinks about or know what he feels.
• Caesar Flickerman
– Can you think of any real-life
reality show hosts like him?

10. This character is totally made-up for
the movie
• This guy’s not in the book.
• He’s referred to in later books.
• In the movie, he’s the
Head Gamemaker

11. Point of view.
• Who’s point of view is the story told from?
• How do we relate to this character differently
from the others?

12. What is the plot?
– Situation
– Conflict
– Struggle
– Outcome
– Meaning

13. What is the plot?
• Setting
– Situation
• Characters
– Conflict
• Plot is what happens to the characters.
– Struggle
– Outcome
– Meaning
• Meaning is the Theme

14. What’s the theme?
• Theme is the meaning of the narrative. What
questions does the text raise and what
answers does the author suggest for those
questions?
– Some questions that might be raised by a text:
• What is human nature?
• Are people mostly good, or mostly evil?
• What’s more important in life—love or money?
• What is the cause of injustice in society?

15. I want to look at the theme of dystopia
• What questions is the author raising by
making up this game?

16. The rules of the Hunger Games
“The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In
punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve
districts must provide one girl and one boy,
called tributes, to participate. The twenty four
tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor
arena that could hold anything from a burning
desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of
several weeks, the competitors must fight to the
death. The last tribute standing wins. “ (p 18)

17. Why does the Capitol make this rule?
“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. How little chance we would stand
of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words
they use, the real message is clear. “Look how
we take your children and sacrifice them and
there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we
will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did
in District Thirteen.” (p 18-19)

18. Rule #2
“To make it humiliating as well as torturous, the
Capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as
a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district
against the others. 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, the Capitol will show the winning
district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies
like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation.”
(p 19)

19. How does this rule oppress?
• Pitting one district against another
• Pitting members of the district against one
another
• Betraying your own feeelings (not human)

20. Rule #3
“The reaping system is unfair, with the poor
getting the worst of it. You become eligible for
the reaping the day you turn twelve. That year,
your name is entered once. At thirteen, twice.
And so on and so on until you reach the age of
eighteen, the final year of eligibility, when your
name goes into the pool seven times. That’s true
for every citizen in all twelve districts in the
entire country of Panem.” (p 13)

21. Rule #3
• Kids are impressionable
• Kids are hungryextra energy
• Kids need parents/role models/ security
• unnatural

22. Rule #4
“But here’s the catch. Say you are poor and
starving as we were. You can opt to add your
name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each
tessera is worth a meager year’s supply of grain
and oil for one person. You may do this for each
of your family members as well…. And even
though the rules were set up by the Capitol, not
the districts […] It’s hard not to resent those
who don’t have to sign up for tesserae.” (p 13)

23. How does the rule oppress?
“On other days, deep in the woods, I’ve listened
to him rant about how the tesserae are just
another tool to cause misery in our district. A
way to plant hatred between the starving
workers of the Seam and those who can
generally count on supper and thereby ensure
we will never trust one another. ‘It’s to the
Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among
ourselves,’ he might say if there were no ears to
hear but mine.” (p 13)

24. Themes/ interesting questions
Suzanne Collins was trying to answer
with The Hunger Games:
• Can TV make the real world worse though
depiction of drama? Could it make the world
better?
• Is high school too violent?
• Should you be happy when another
team/army/opponent loses?

25. As we continue with the movie clips,
think about the following questions:
• Is Panem realistic? Do you think we will ever
have a Hunger Games in real life?

26. Utopia
• An author identifies a problem in our world
today and imagines a different society where
they have solved the problem

27. What are problems in today’s society?
• Police brutality
• Stalking
• Hunger
• Drugs
• Homelessness ( a world where work is equally
valued)

28. Dystopia
• An author identifies a problem in our world
today and imagines a society where the
problem is exaggerated and magnified.
• It makes you pay attention to that problem in
the present day

29. Themes of dystopian stories:
• What is the best form of government?
• What’s more important: freedom or security?
• What’s more important: being yourself or
taking care of others?
• Does technology make our lives better or
worse?
• Is our entertainment too violent? Does it
desensitize viewers?

30. Themes of The Hunger Games:
• Reality tv:
– Does reality tv go too far?
– Are we too obsessed with the lives of celebrities?
– Is it wrong of us to enjoy watching real people
endure fights, drama, humiliation, and/or danger
on reality tv?

31. Desensitization to violence:
• Is it wrong to enjoy violent entertainment?
• Can you imagine watching a fight-to-the-death
game show on live television?
• Is our society so desensitized to violence that
we would ever allow something like that to go
on?
• And would you watch it if The Hunger Games
was a real show?

32. Rebellion
• When is rebellion necessary?
• Would you risk your safety and maybe your
life to stand up against something you thought
was wrong?

33. Love and friendship
• Do love and friendship get in the way of your
individual goals and survival, or do they help
us live?

34. Survival
• How far would you be willing to go to survive?
• Are there any lines that you wouldn’t cross,
things you wouldn’t do to keep yourself alive?

35. Humanity
• If you had to choose between your own
survival and doing something horrific and
violent, what would you do?
• Why do some people respond to life and
death situations with humanity and
compassion while other people become more
selfish and inhumane?