Insights from The Hunger Games Trilogy

Ok, so I waxed poetic earlier in a post about my new found love for Suzanne Collins' series The Hunger Games Trilogy and have hinted at the ways it has made me rethink my surroundings and habits.  I will try and not give away particulars about the books but if you are loathe to know details prior to reading a novel, then you may want to skip this post altogether.

This sums it up: I am intensely aware of the freedoms I have every day due to the future setting of these books.

The more detailed explanations and thoughts:
Food: So one might think that with a name like The Hunger Games, the books are centered around some sort of competition for food.  And in one sense you would be completely right...and completely wrong. The setting of this series is in the future in North America. The United States no longer exists, instead there are only 13 Districts and a Capitol. Each district is responsible for a trade that keeps the Capitol running.  Our heroine is from what we know as Appalachia. In her world, hunger is an ever present concern - how to get enough to eat, how to get outside the Fence to hunt, to use whatever she has gathered and killed to barter for other supplies or payment, how to avoid having her mother and sister starve.  In order to accomplish all of these tasks, she has to break the law, because this future allows no individual thought. She can't just walk outside and sit in a deer stand with a rifle to take down a buck every now and again.  She has to provide daily by escaping the electric fence and then using a bow and arrows to hunt small game, to use what the woods gives up as a natural supermarket. Literally living from the land because the Capitol will not provide for it's people. I won't even get into what the Hunger Games actually are because that's a whole post on it's own. Suffice to say, Katniss has to use those skills within the Games in order to survive.

I have found myself being very aware of the abundance of food and the ease with which I can procure it since reading this series. The ability to go to a store and choose what I would like to eat, to not have to hunt or harvest my food, to decide when I would like to eat and to be secure that, at least for the foreseeable future, there will be no shortage of food. I have been conscious of what other people are eating, buying, choosing. I have come to one conclusion: I take it for granted that I have a vast amount of freedom to not have monetary or governmental restrictions on my capability to feed myself. I take it for granted that I never have to have an empty stomach unless I plan poorly or choose to go hungry. I have also come to a resolution: I will attempt to be more aware of the money and resources I spend on food as well as being more sentient about what I am eating and being appropriately thankful for the simple blessing of having enough to eat.

Frailty: Of our bodies and of our society. The whole deal with food was easiest to put into words. The concept of how we're frail and our freedoms (in the next paragraph) are much harder for me to pin down in words. I guess I'll start at the easiest most obvious point. Out human frailty is amazing when you stop to think about it. I work in a pediatric hospital setting, so perhaps I am more tuned in to this fragility than some people. It is no small miracle that we are all born developed as we are, that we are equipped for basic survival, with the ability to learn how to better survive. It is terrifying to think of the myriad of ways that endanger our survival every day.  I sit on my balcony and am in imminent danger from a badly shanked golf ball. Every time we get in a car and proceed from the parking spot we are moving targets. Our own bodies can betray us in a heartbeat, literally. When faced with an adversary, how long would I last? A minute, an hour? Could I out run or out maneuver? What if they were armed? I can't run fast but I can run long. I am crap at anything that requires any adept hand-eye coordination so hand to hand combat is out. I'm not a bad shot, but that'd be a complete gamble. What if we are not our own worst adversaries?

Despite the strangle hold that the Capitol keeps over the people, there is a fragility to the whole enterprise that one teenage girl is able to threaten with a handle of berries. This world is a carefully constructed house of cards or some other such construct. No District knows anything about the others except what the Capitol tells them. How hard can you squeeze people before they shatter? How fragile is our own government and the way it cradles us? Are we as secure or as perilous as we think? It is clear that some of us do not accept what is given to us through media or other sources through the dissent seen in our papers, online and spoken of person to person. However, hesitate a moment and consider how large a percentage of the population this is. I have no earthly idea myself whether the loudest of us are a good cross section of what we all really think. Do I close my eyes to situations around me or do I peer into the corners in search of what is not there? If we could be brought down with a handful of berries, would any of us have the will to fight for what we need or would we accept it and proceed with life as dictated?

Freedom: The books also deal with the idea of no democracy existing in any of the Districts or the Capitol. This future world is kept under strict reign by one man. Not sure whether he would be a dictator, a communist, a totalitarian, a tzar, or just a complete control freak. Whatever the inspiration is for this character, I sincerely hope that I never have the opportunity to be in a place where a man or woman of this design would dictate my quality of life. The freedoms I have as I sit here in my apartment are a wealth and, again, I take them for granted. I can attend church without fear of retribution and punishment, and then discuss the sermon afterward in public. My simple blog is something that I assume will still be here tomorrow. I can write pretty much whatever I want and there is no censorship to stop me. (Except for my mother, that is.) I have the freedom to say what I think, where and when I want. Sure there may be consequences, but those generally include a huge dose of foot in mouth for me. I have the common sense to not endanger my job. What if simply stating an opinion on the current government or policies would result in far harsher punishment?  Would I still speak my mind or would I become part of the cowed crowd?

Well, these are some of my overriding thoughts and stirrings that this particular series has brought to the front of my mind. The amount of thought the books have spawned makes me want to buy copies and give them to everyone I know and meet.  Collin's publisher would love that!