Kelly LiangMr. NorthoverEnglish 85/17/2012

Liang 4The Hunger Games Essay"I do not want to watch my twenty-two fellow tributes die, I saw enough of them die the first time. My heart starts pounding and I have a strong impulse to run. How have other tributes faced this alone?" These words are from The Hunger Games, a novel by Suzanne Collins. The novel tells us about a girl in Panem, named Katniss, volunteers for her sister to take her part in the annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are designed to punish the rebellious districts, and if tributes lose the game, they die. Katniss has to survive by hiding herself from other tributes and allies with Rue, a girl comes from another district. When she is told that a district can have two victors, she acts in love with Peeta, the boy who comes from the same district as Katniss. At last, they both survive and win the game, though the Gamemakers change the rule back. There are many themes in The Hunger Games, however, in my opinion, the three most meaningful themes in The Hunger Games are the corruption and oppression of government, survival vs. humanity, and lack of trust caused by the need to survive.One of the most important themes in The Hunger Games is the corruption and oppression of government. This theme is evident when Katniss is thinking about her family and her future. As Katniss says, "I know I'll never marry, never risk bringing a child into the world. Because if there is one thing being a victor doesn't guarantee, it's your children's safety. My kids' names would go right into the reaping balls with everyone else's. And I swear I'll never let that happen"(311). In Panem, all teens between 12 and 18 are forced to send their names into the reaping balls. Katniss does not want to see tributes die in the Hunger Games anymore because she knows about how painful it is to the tributes and their families. This theme is also expressed when Katniss is told that she is in trouble because the Capitol resents her actions of dying with Peeta and the Gamemakers think that she goes against them. As Katniss says, "Funny, in the arena, when I poured out those berries, I was only thinking of outsmarting the Gamemakers, not how my actions would reflect on the Capitol. But the Hunger Games are their weapons and you are not supposed to be able to defeat it. So now the Capitol will act as if they've been in control the whole time"(358). The purpose of the Hunger Games is to punish the districts. In the Capitol's eyes, the tributes are not considered as humans, they are thought of as entertainment. They fail to punish the districts because "they have to have a victor", though Katniss and Peeta both survive. The Gamemakers might think that the tributes cannot defeat or outsmart them, so President Snow, the president of Panem, is unhappy when he put the crown on Katniss's head.Another important theme in The Hunger Games is survival vs. humanity. This theme is represented when Katniss tells Thresh about her friendship with Rue, and he comes from the same district as Rue. As Katniss says, "Tears spring in my eyes. The tension, the fight goes out of me at the memory. And I'm overwhelmed by Rue, and the pain in my head, and my fear of Thresh, and the moaning of the dying girl a few feet away"(288). Katniss has allied with Rue before. Their friendship is so moving to Thresh that he decides not to kill her. This also makes Thresh feel better because he does not want to owe Katniss. If Thresh thinks survival is more important than friendship, Katniss would have been killed. This theme is also evident when Rue dies, Katniss sings a song and decorates her body. "I gather up an armful and come back to Rue's side. Slowly, one stem at a time, I decorate her body in flowers. Covering the ugly wound. Wreathing her face. Weaving her hair with bright colors"(237). This quotation shows that Katniss loves and respects Rue, even though they are supposed to be enemies because they come from different districts. This goes against the laws of nature and survival so the Capitol cut this scene in a video that is about this year's Hunger Games.A third important themes in The Hunger Games is lack of trust caused by the need to survive. This theme is expressed when Katniss finds out that Peeta is so kind to Katniss that she can't trust him. As the Katniss says, "I quickly open the window, toss the cookies Peeta's father gave me out of the train, and slam the glass shut. No more. No more either of them"(49). Peeta's father gives her cookies before she got on the train to the Capitol. Katniss suspects that Peeta told his father to do this because she thought that he had a plan to survive, to fight hard to kill her. This theme is also represented when Katniss thinks of allying with Foxface. "But I rule it out. There is something about that sly grin that makes me sure that befriending Foxface would ultimately get me a knife in the back"(227). Foxface is smart. She outsmarts the career tributes and get their supplies without their notice. But she is too smart to be trusted, so Katniss is afraid that Foxface might take advantage from her instead of being friend with her, when the end of the game is coming, Foxface will kill her.By reading The Hunger Games, you may find out these three themes are important: the corruption and oppression of government, survival vs. humanity, and lack of trust caused by the need to survive. Oppressive governments usually come with corruption. If you wanted to survive in nature, you should not trust others because the laws of survival go against humanity. If you were a winner of the Hunger Games, would you be happy when you were watching your fellow tributes die in the game?