COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
Suzanne Collins’ the hunger games trilogy is easily counted as one of the most successful young adult series ever written. The three novel series brings to life many characters that are set in a dystopian society filled with many trials and tribulations. The novels present a well written and imaginatively crafted account of a teenage girl’s unwitting success in defeating the social injustices that are rampant in the world she lives in and the people responsible for them. One of the most interesting aspects about the trilogy comes in the form of the thematic connotations that are derived from a complete reading of the series. Collins, it would seem, intends to comment on many issues that range from the inequality between the rich and the poor, to the notion of suffering as entertainment, and other ideas like the importance of appearances. The world she creates gives a dramatic view of society and flawlessly comments on the many social, political and economic issues that are faced by communities today.
The theme that is most prevalent in the trilogy is that of class conflict. In all three books, Collins keeps with the notion of the strife between the rich and the poor members of the society. She develops the conflict between those classes very carefully by either explicitly or subtly presenting many antagonistic instances between the two classes. She also vividly depicts the huge social disparity between the classes which presents as the cause of the discord between the two factions. Thus, it is this theme of class conflict that I intend to analyze in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010). I will seek to fully showcase how it stands out as the main idea that Collins is trying to portray throughout her trilogy.
1.1 THESIS STATEMENT
This paper argues that Suzanne Collins’ the Hunger Games trilogy narrative, advances the theme of class conflict by thoroughly portraying a society in which two classes are locked in a long struggle for supremacy and domination in a quest to further their own interests.
1.2. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
In this essay, the words theme, class, social inequalities, class conflict, class struggle, capitalism, proletariat, bourgeoisie and means of production are prevalent so they are defined beforehand. “The word “theme” in literature is sometimes used interchangeably with “motif,” but the term is more usefully applied to a general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the reader” (Abrams, 1999, p.170). Debbie Notari also defines a theme as “the underlying message or big idea of a story representing the critical belief the author has about life in general. This belief transcends cultural barriers and is usually universal in nature touching on human experience regardless of race or language”.
The term class in this paper is being used in its sociological denotation which alludes to “the division or order of society according to status” (The Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p.279). Defined further, marxist-Leninists stipulate that “a persons social class is determined not by the amount of his wealth, but by the source of his income as determined by his relation to labor and to the means of production” (“Marxism and Class: Some Definitions”, 2015). Thus Social class characterizes a group of people that have the same potential for earning and enjoy a similar social standing in the community. “Besides being important in social theory, the concept of class as a collection of individuals sharing similar economic circumstances has been widely used in censuses and in studies of social mobility” (Brittannica, 2015).
Social inequality in this context is “the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society” (Moffitt, 2015). It can also be defined as “social disparity or an unfair situation in which some people have more rights or better opportunities than other people” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). That is to say social inequality here represents the unfairness and favoritism that arises among the people in society as a result of the different positions that they occupy in that society.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines conflict as “a strong disagreement in ideas or feelings between people, groups etc., which prevents agreement and often results in angry argument”. The dictionary also defines the term in terms of literature as “the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action”. This essay will use both definitions of conflict to further our thesis. It will look at the conflict in relation to the classes and how their differences in ideas and feelings on various issues drive the plot of the books and eventually lead to the resolution at the end.
Class struggle in Marxism is “the continual conflict between the capitalist and working classes for economic and political power also called class war”. The proletariat refers to “the class of industrial wage earners who, possessing neither capital nor production means, must earn their living by selling their labor” (Martha, 2001, p.XX).
The bourgeoisie in Marxist theory refers to “the social group opposed to the proletariat in the class struggle. They are the ruling class of the two basic classes of capitalist society, consisting of capitalists, manufacturers, bankers, and other employers”. “The bourgeoisie owns the most important of the means of production, through which it exploits the working class” (Martha, 2001, p.XX).
Capitalism is “an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market” (Martha, 2001, p.XX). Martha also defines means of production as “the raw materials and means of labor, be it tools or machines, employed in the production process”.
2.0 BACKGROUND
“Suzanne Collins, born August 10, 1962, in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S, is an American author and screenwriter best known for the immensely popular Hunger Games trilogy of young adult novels” (Cunningham, 2015).
“She graduated from Indiana University with a degree in theatre and went on to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in the MFA-Dramatic writing program after which she began her career by writing scripts for such children’s television programs as Carissa Explains It All and Little Bear (“Suzanne Collins: Young Adult Author”, 2015)”.
The series which consists of The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010) has had an enormous impact on popular culture today and has even spawned a four movie box-office franchise based on the storylines in the series.
“The Hunger Games was an instant bestseller with its appeal to both teen readers and adults, with Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly calling it “addictive”, and John Green in the New York Times Book Review calling it “brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced” (“Biography: Suzanne Collins”, 2015)”.
“The series is set in our world but in post-apocalyptic time in a dystopian society called Panem. The Capitol is the cruel government of the twelve districts of Panem, which was once North America. As punishment for a revolution in the past, the Capitol created the hunger games. One boy and one girl (aged twelve to eighteen) are chosen to fight to the death on television until only one child remains. The main character of the books is Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers in the place of her younger sister Primrose for District 12. The male tribute for the district is Peeta Mellark, the son of a baker who is in love with Katniss. The narrative of the novels provides an inside view of a societal revolution and all in all makes for excellent reading for anyone who picks up the books” (“The Hunger Games Trilogy- Plot Summary”, 2012).
3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
The hunger games trilogy, as a result of its popularity, has been a subject of inquiry for many critics with major emphasis being put on its various themes which provide insightful insights into the inner mechanics of society.
Allison Layfield (2013) in her paper titled “Identity Construction and the Gaze in the Hunger Games” explores the theme of reality TV by examining how Katniss’ character affects the assorted audience that watches her all around Panem. Layfield theorizes that “the Hunger Games is a key coming of age narrative that shows us how interactive media marks a distinct shift both in how subjects construct themselves and how the act of viewing itself has changed” (Layfield, 2013). “By following Katniss’ character, we can explore the relationship between identity construction and reality TV as a genre”. In the games, Katniss is forced to present the audience with moments of authenticity, where she presents her true self, and that is what endears her to the viewers. Layfield notes however that a character that is constantly under the gaze of an audience can only be authentic so long as their authenticity is within the conventional requirements of the audience. “Katniss imagines how Panem viewers watch her, and she behaves accordingly. This is possible because she has previously been a spectator. And so a cycle of interaction occurs: she learns how to be a contestant from having been a Panem viewer” (Layfield, 2013).
Nicole Castro (2012) in her paper “Hunger at its Ugliest: Sociological Analysis of Suzanne Collins’ the Hunger Games” contends that “just as Suzanne Collins had intended it, the Hunger Games is full of sociological concepts ranging from the most prominent Marxist ideologies to the more subtle functionalist and interactionism theories”. In one of the sections of her paper titled the Capitol and Marxism, she looks at the dynamics that the Capitol holds with the Districts, with emphasis on Katniss’ home District 12. Castro posits that the Capitol plays the undeniable role of capitalist by positioning the economy in such a way that the whole system serves only to add more power to the Capitols monopoly. This creates a society with inequalities where other Districts and the Capitol have better resources and privileges as evidenced by the careers in the games that have special training before they enter the games.
Sparknotes (2015) in their thematic analysis of the Hunger Games largely explore the dynamics between the rich and the poor in Panem. They assess that in this world, wealth seems to be heavily concentrated in the hands of the rich, especially those who are living in the Capitol and some of the districts which results in a huge disparity between the lives of the rich and the lives of the poor. They continue to comment that even the somewhat richer entries from the districts have huge advantages in the games because they are better fed and have had more time and resources to train and thus win the games. This only highlights the largely obvious inequalities that are existing amid the two classes, inequalities which inevitably lead to conflict between the two classes.
We can see from this brief overview of what other authors have written in their various works on the texts that no one else has written on the class inequality and struggle that is ubiquitous in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy. Thus it will be very groundbreaking to assess this theme in this paper.
4.0 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In the assessment of these three novels, the Marxist theory that was developed by German philosopher Karl Marx will be employed. The paper will largely utilize two aspects of the Marxist theory specifically the class theory developed by Karl Marx himself with the utmost emphasis on the notion of class struggle and the theory of hegemony that was developed by another Marxist Antonio Gramsci.
Marx’s class theory rests on the premise that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Coser, 1977, pp. 48-50). This premise simply denoted that from the beginning of society mankind has been locked in a struggle between two classes which are infinitely in dispute in their pursuits of class interests. Society usually has two distinct classes, one making up the rich and privileged and the other making up the poor and the disadvantaged that are always in a struggle for the resources that that society has to offer. Predicatively, it is the rich, who he terms the bourgeoisie, who own all the resources and the means of production, while the poor, who he terms the proletariat, are left to scramble for limited resources and sell their labor to the rich to get by. “Class is thus determined by the ownership of property and not by other factors like income or status” (Rummel, 2015).
Marx makes the observation that the inequalities that are there in the society create chances for those who are privileged while reducing the chances of those in the lower class because the former have more resources at their disposal. This type of favoritism and privilege creates tension and jealousy among the people as the rich seek to retain their privileged positions while the poor look to usurp the position occupied by the rich. Class interests are the force that brings similar people together to form a class, a class which then sets out to further its own interests and oppose the interests of other classes. “Out of similar interests, people come together to achieve similar goals and in most cases that involves one class wanting to replace the other. Thus society systematically generates conflicts of interest between persons and groups differentially located within the social structure, and, more particularly, in relation to the means of production” (Coser, 1977, pp.48-50). It is these conflicts and disagreements that Marx terms as the class struggle. Marx believes these struggles will escalate with time and eventually lead to a full blown revolution that will create a new order in society.
Therefore, Marx’s class struggle arises as a result of the inequalities in and amongst the classes. He believes that conflict mostly arises in the scramble to acquire and own the means of production. Marx asserts that in a capitalist society, it is the ownership of the means of production, land and raw materials that determines who the top class is in the society. Thus the bourgeoisie are the bourgeoisie by virtue of them owning land which contains raw materials. They turn these raw materials into end products that they then sell back to the poor in the society using their means of production, be it factories or workshops. The proletariats are the poor class whose only asset in the society is their labor which they sell cheaply to the bourgeoisie. This labor helps make products which the proletariat themselves buy, using their little pay. Marx believes that because of their station, the proletariats resent the privileged position that the bourgeoisie occupy in the society. Thus, there is an unspoken struggle between the classes with the proletariats seeking to overthrow the bourgeoisie. As a result this struggle will inevitably lead to the revolution of the many proletariats against the few bourgeoisies.
The theory of hegemony, or cultural hegemony, is another Marxist theory that was developed by one of Karl Marx’s followers Antonio Gramsci. “Hegemony in this case means “the success of the dominant classes in presenting their definition of reality, their view of the world, in such a way that it is accepted by other classes as ‘common sense’” (Goldberg, 2015). “Under hegemonic conditions the majority – usually a large majority – of a nation’s citizens has so effectively internalized what the rulers want them to believe that they genuinely think that they are voicing their own opinion, but there is always room for dissent” (Bertens, 2001, p.88).The general ‘consensus’ is that it is the only sensible way of seeing the world. Any groups who present an alternative view are therefore marginalized. One example of hegemony is given by Edward Said when he writes his views on Orientalism in his book Orientalism (1979).
Said refers to Orientalism as “the stereotypical views of the Orient developed by many generations of western writers and scholars, with their prejudiced views of Orientals as inherently criminal and deceitful. He includes evidence, not only from literature, but also from such sources as colonial government documents, histories, studies of religion and language, travel books etc.” (Carter, 2006, p.116).
For Said, “all the representations of the Orient by the West constituted a determined effort to dominate and subjugate it. Orientalism served the purposes of western hegemony, and that is to legitimize western imperialism and convince the inhabitants of such regions that accepting western culture was a positive civilizing process” (Carter, 2006, p.116).
As a result, it was easy for the imperialists to come in and take over since the locals had already accepted their point of view as the rightful one.
Marx’s class theory and his notion of class struggle are directly linked to the theme being assessed in this paper. Panem is also rife with ideology while the Hunger Games themselves are tools of hegemony that the Capitol uses to enslave the poor people in the Districts.