Sunday, May 5, 2013

The Hunger Games vs. The Road

       As I continue to read further on into The Hunger Games, I am struck by the similarities between this novel and our previous novel, The Road. Although the two authors clearly differ in their approach, as The Hunger Games utilizes a much more family-friendly writing style, while The Road often attempts to shock the reader in the brutality of the post-apocalyptic world, both novels delve into the same themes.
       The Hunger Games and The Road both explore the choices humans must face in an environment where their survival is constantly tested and, often, selfishness is an easier road to survival. The characters are commonly faced with the decision between retaining their humanity or ensuring their survival, for the time being, at least. While The Road clearly takes a more gruesome look at these choices, The Hunger Games still is addressing the same choices. As the Man and the Boy are met with choices like becoming cannibals or starving to death, or whether or not to help out wanderers by offering up some of their scarce resources, Katniss knows she will inevitably end up facing the choice of killing Rue and Peeta or dying herself.
      The situations that the protagonists face in both cases involve overcoming selfishness in favor of retaining one's humanity. In fact, Katniss' current predicament in the Hunger Games is the direct result of her loving choice to volunteer for her district so that her little sister, Prim, would not be chosen as a tribute. As the novel draws closer to its end, it will be interesting to see what choices Katniss will make, as we already know that in The Road, both the Man and the Boy largely retain their humanity in an even more barbaric world.

3 comments:

  1. You're right - both texts examine the very difficult question of morality in the face of tremendous fear and suffering. I'm not sure that Katniss is as selfless in the Arena as she was in volunteering to step in for Prim. She retains her humanity, sure, but her actions are all predicated on the TV audience and her need to stay alive. But I suppose that's not unlike the man's willingness to shoot the road rat or steal from the thief on the beach. Katniss, though, is surviving for herself rather than for someone else (the man for his son, for example).

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  2. The struggle between retaining one's humanity and simply surviving seems to be a prominent theme in dystopian novels. In both The Road and The Hunger Games it seems that the characters are really making a decision between two positive things. Their survival is positive as the characters seem to be fundamentally good. Maintaining their humanity is also a positive goal. In A Clockwork Orange, Alex is forced to lose his humanity through a series of treatments that take away his ability to make his own decisions. This is a very different situation, however, as Alex's loss of humanity prevents him from committing horrible crimes. In The Hunger Games and The Road, it is easy to root for the characters to retain their morals but in A Clockwork Orange, there is an interesting struggle between feeling pity for Alex having lost his ability to make decisions and feeling as though he deserves to lose that which makes him human.

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  3. Although the Hunger Games and 1984 are not exceedingly similar they do have some common themes and plot elements presented. In 1984, the citizens of Oceania are also constantly tested, but not by means of survival. They are tested in their ability to follow the rules and stay in line by virtue of being watched constantly. Each day they know that one false step could have them killed and erased from history altogether. The theme of trust is also present in both novels; nobody knows who to turn to and who is genuinely good, which results in the majority of the people conducting themselves in a solitary manner. Both of these characteristics are commonly found in over controlling governments in the dystopian texts that we have read and it is really interesting the commonalties that we can find across these publications.

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