The Oppressive Governments of The Hunger Games and The Handmaid's Tale
      
        The first six chapters of The Hunger Games reveal a dystopian society that somewhat resembles the oppressive government of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. While the two governments clearly differ in their approach and their policies, both restrict their citizens and ultimately create an unhappy living style. While Offred is faced with combating a society that wholly dictates her behavior, forcing her to become an object only valued for reproduction, Katniss must overcome a society in which she is starved and is forced to fight to the death against other teens.
        In both situations, the protagonist is neither able to speak ill of the oppressive government that controls them nor is she able to flee. Attempted escape is met with cruel punishment: Moira has her feet beaten with a cattle prod so she is unable to walk, and the redhead Katniss meets has had her tongue cut out.
        Additionally, both governments mostly choose the occupations of their citizens. In the case of The Handmaid's Tale, Offred and her peers are forced to become objects of reproduction, while others are forced to become nurses, and in the case of The Hunger Games, although each citizen is not forced to have one certain occupation, the districts are divided based on occupation (in Katniss' case, District 12 is the coal mining district). Katniss and her fellow District 12 citizens also have their lives largely dictated by their need for food. In a starving district, Katniss, as well as Gale, is forced to provide for their family through whatever means necessary, including taking tesserae, which increases their chance of being selected as a tribute to be placed into the Hunger Games, which, in itself, demonstrates the oppressive government of Panem as it symbolizes the governments' complete control of the other districts. Though the governments of The Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games differ, both rule oppressively, creating a dystopian society for their citizens.

I'll be completely honest right now. Currently, I am finding this book to be incredibly exciting and thrilling. My hands begin to tremble with excitement every time I turn the page. What I find to be the most interesting aspect of the book is how corrupted the government. I think this government can be most closely compared to the government of Handmaids Tale. They are both similar because they both create a dystopian society for their people. A fine example of this is in Hunger Games, the people of the districts in America live in an impoverished and primitive way. However, the capital, which houses the government, is extraordinarily  futuristic and luxurious. This is just like the government in Handmaids Tale lives in extreme luxury, when their civilians have to face tough living conditions. Also the government from both books both exploits their civilians. In Hunger Games the government summons kids to fight in a battle to the death, just to achieve amusement. The government in Handmaids Tale also enslaved most of their civilians. This represents how both governments in Handmaids tale and Hunger Games are corrupted and how they both exploit their people.

I find the governments in both A Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games, to be somewhat identical. They both control their people with mandatory jobs, roles, and  severe punishments.
But if you look deeper into them they govern completely different. In The Handmaid's Tale, they keep peace by putting people into distinct groups, handmaids, aunts, commanders, eyes. In The Hunger Games, the way they keep peace is by having the hunger games once a year (one boy& one girl, form each district- fighting to the death).
Although both governments are wicked corrupt, I think that the government in The Hunger Games is the most corrupt.

While reading the first six chapters of the The Hunger Games I was able to draw clear connections  to The Handmaids Tale. Although the style of The Hunger Games is much simpler, they both contain similar themes. First of all both societies are very structured. In The Handmaids Tale that can be seen through the strict social hierarchy and compartmentalizing of jobs, while in The Hunger Games the society is partitioned into districts according to occupation, and within each district there are clear social hierarchies. The purpose of this structure in both societies appears to be for control, the governments in both of these communities strive to have complete domain over their citizens, and feel that it is best achieved through a clear chain of command.
The government also attempts to inspire fear in its citizens, hopefully to keep them in line and obedient. In The Handmaid's tale the government seemed to be all knowing, thus citizens were afraid to deviate even slightly from the societal norms. Fear of the government can also be seen in The Hunger Games when Gale and Katniss are afraid to speak ill of the government even deep in the woods. But the government in the The Hunger Games takes this fear to another level through the tribute system. The whole purpose of the tribute system it to remind the citizens of The Hunger Games that their government is in fact all powerful; they defeated all of the districts once and they can do it again. This strategy seems to be working. The tribute day is one of fear for all citizens in district twelve and readers have seen little rebellion thus far in the book, suggesting that the people do not want to cross their government. And even when citizens do try to escape, as the redheaded girl that we meet in chapter 6 did, the punishments are so harsh, death, mutilation, and servitude, that it is hard to imagine many people actively going against such an all powerful and organized government.

Megan Ratcliffe