“The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins is a popular novel set in a futuristic world where one person has complete control over everyone else. After losing a war against the government, the people of Panem are split into Districts and forced to work for the “Capitol” which is where the president and highest class lives. To punish the rebellious people, every year two young members of each district are lotteried to fight to the death in The Hunger Games as entertainment. The story follows a girl Katniss and shows her journey when she is sent to the deadly Hunger Games arena. Throughout the book, many examples of harsh ruling are explained. Some citizens are beaten if they break a rule, others executed for making a mistake on the job. However all suffer from the effects of harsh rule by one president. The Hunger Games shows the worst that can happen when the wrong people have all the power.
President Snow and the capitol completely control all of the districts, and abuse their power. They watch their people with cameras and troops to make sure no small mistakes occur, and if they do find one they punish the person severely. The Capitol has strict rules that the districts must follow without any say. One quote from the novel reads, “When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts,” the government forbids any individuality or any freedom. They use their power not to help everyone, but to turn them to slaves. “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,” Katniss explains how the Capitol continues to punish the districts for the attempted rebellion that happened years ago. When people tried to stand up for themselves, they were pushed back down and punished in many different ways. The capitol and President don’t treat the districts like people, they treat them like slaves. The people of Panem are forced to live a terrible life due to the terrible people having the power.
When the government has such strict rules, people are bound to disagree and to eventually rebel. The Hunger Games shows how the mistreated people begin to fight back against the people controlling them. Katniss begins to feel disgusted towards the Capitol, “All I can think is how unjust the whole thing is, the Hunger Games. Why am I hopping around like some trained dog trying to please people I hate? The longer the interview goes on, the more my fury seems to rise to the surface,” under these terrible rules people are bound to realize how wrong they are. “I keep wishing I could think of a way to...to show the Capitol they don’t own me. That I’m more than just a piece in their games,” eventually the anger inside people builds up, and the people of Panem are angry enough to do something, and to defy the Capitol.
The quote, “What goes around comes around,” applies to the book because the Capitol treated their people terribly and abused their power completely. The book shows the results of misused power through cruel unnecessary punishment and the beginning of a rebellion due to the treatment. The Hunger Games is a story about a world we never want to become.
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