The Hunger Games

 Most teens are not asked themselves until they become adults. However, in the book The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins, a sixteen- year old girl named Katniss Everdeen takes part in her country’s annual Hunger Games after her sister is chosen at the age of only twelve. The Hunger Games started as a punishment to the districts after they rebelled against the Capitol. So every year as a reminder of this, each district is required to send one boy tribute and one girl tribute to fight it out in the arena until the lone victor remains. The only decent thing about the Hunger Games is that if you win, you receive fame and fortune for the rest of your life. As Katniss starts to prepare for the Hunger Games in the Capitol she starts to realize the inequality between the rich and the poor people of Panem.

            One way Katniss starts to realize this inequality between is when, she travels to the Capitol. There she notes how in District Twelve she had to hunt illegally, because there isn’t enough food to eat, whereas in the Capitol, there are lavish feasts and elaborately prepared dishes. For instance, on Peeta and Katniss’s first night on the train to the Capitol Katniss says, “The moment I slide into my chair I’m served an enormous platter of food. Eggs, ham, piles of fried potatoes. The basket of rolls they set before me would keep my family going for a week.” She realizes how in the Capitol the food is rich and abundant, whereas in District Twelve many of its residents don’t have enough to eat. Unlike Katniss, they are frightened to venture off into the woods.  This is the first time Katniss starts to notice how the Capitol never shares its wealth with any of the districts, and how they just watch the other districts suffer for their entertainment.

            Another way Katniss Everdeen comprehends that there is inequality between the rich and the poor is when, she grasps that the idea of the tessera system, which is the way the tributes are selected for the Games. She notices how it is really just a way for the Capitol to single out the rich from the poor. The tessera system keeps track of the number of extra rations of oil and food that are requested by the citizens. The more request for rations the more the children become qualified for the Hunger Games. In theory this means that the pools by which tributes are chosen, named “the Reaping,” is random and anyone can be picked. But in reality, what this means is that the poor citizens will take more food in order to survive, which means their name would be entered extra times in the Reaping. In the story Katniss has a flashback of the first time she took tessera. She explains that, “So, at the age of twelve, I had my name entered four times. Once, because I had to, and three times for tesserae for grain and oil for myself, Prim, and my mother. So now, at the age of sixteen, my name will be in the reaping twenty- two times.” This makes me think that at a young age, Katniss realized that for the rich tributes, it is an honor to compete in the Games, while for the poor tributes; it is basically a death sentence. This is also because the rich tributes don’t take tessera, and most of them are well trained for the Hunger Games and often volunteer to take part in it simply as a sport.

             The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins teaches us about the inequalities between the rich and the poor. Katniss learns that the Capitol indulges on lavish foods and feasts, when they know that the districts are struggling to survive. Katniss also starts to learn that the reaping is arranged for the poor to automatically have their names entered more times than the rich citizens of Panem. However, even the Games are usually set up for the poor to be the victims; Katniss defies the odds and becomes the victor, achieving fame and fortune.