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The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 64 years before the original.

This article is about the book series. For its first installment, see The Hunger Games (novel). For other uses, see The Hunger Games (disambiguation).

Author

United States

English

  • 2008–2010
  • 2020

3 originals, 1 prequel

The novels in the trilogy are titled The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010). Each was adapted for film, establishing The Hunger Games film series, with the film adaptation of Mockingjay split into two feature-length motion pictures. The first two books in the series were both New York Times best sellers, and Mockingjay topped all US bestseller lists upon its release.[1][2] By the time the film adaptation of The Hunger Games was released in 2012, the publisher had reported over 26 million Hunger Games trilogy books in print, including movie tie-in books.[3]


The Hunger Games universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a North American country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 13 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the first 12 districts are selected via lottery to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games.


The 13th district was also subjected to this, but led a rebellion against the Capitol. Since District 13 specialized in nuclear weaponry, the Capitol quickly surrendered and agreed to a peace deal. The two sides agreed that the residents of District 13 would all move underground and the land above would be bombed to make it seem like the Capitol had won.[4]


The novels were all well received. In August 2012, the series ranked second, exceeded only by the Harry Potter series in NPR’s poll of the top 100 teen novels, which asked voters to choose their favorite young adult books.[5] On August 17, 2012, Amazon announced the Hunger Games trilogy as its top seller, surpassing the record previously held by the Harry Potter series.[6] As of 2014, the trilogy has sold more than 65 million copies in the U.S. alone (more than 28 million copies of The Hunger Games, more than 19 million copies of Catching Fire, and more than 18 million copies of Mockingjay). The Hunger Games trilogy has been sold in 56 territories in 51 languages to date.[7]


A prequel novel, titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, about the early days of the Hunger Games, featuring a young Coriolanus Snow as the protagonist, was released on May 19, 2020.[8] The prequel has been sold by Stimola Literary Studio into 35 territories to date.[9]

Setting

The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in an unspecified future time, in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, located in North America.[10] The country consists of a wealthy Capitol city, located in the Rocky Mountains,[11] surrounded by twelve (originally thirteen) poorer districts ruled by the Capitol. The Capitol is lavishly rich and technologically advanced, but the districts are in varying states of poverty. The trilogy's narrator and protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the poorest region of Panem, located in Appalachia,[11] where people regularly die of starvation. As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol (called the "Dark Days"), in which District 13 was destroyed, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve remaining districts, between the ages of 12 and 18, are selected by lottery to compete in an annual pageant called the Hunger Games. The Games are a televised event in which the participants, called "tributes", are forced to fight to the death in a dangerous public arena. The lone victor and their home district are then rewarded with food, supplies, and riches. The purposes of the Hunger Games are to provide entertainment for the Capitol and to remind the districts of the Capitol's power and its lack of remorse or forgiveness for the failed rebellion of the current competitors' ancestors.

Structure

Each book in The Hunger Games trilogy has three sections of nine chapters each. Collins has said this format comes from her playwriting background, which taught her to write in a three-act structure; her previous series, The Underland Chronicles, was written in the same way. She sees each group of nine chapters as a separate part of the story, and comments still call those divisions "act breaks".[12]

Origins

Collins says she drew inspiration for the series from both classical and contemporary sources. Her main classical source of inspiration is the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, in which, as a punishment for past crimes, Minos forces Athens to sacrifice seven youths and seven maidens to the Minotaur, which kills them in a vast labyrinth. Collins says that even as a child, she was stunned by the idea since "it was just so cruel" to force Athens to sacrifice its own children.


Collins also cites as a classical inspiration the Roman gladiator games. She feels three key elements create a good game: an all powerful and ruthless government, people forced to fight to the death, and the game's role as a source of popular entertainment.[13]


A contemporary source of inspiration was Collins' recent fascination with reality television programs. She says they are like The Hunger Games because the Games are not just entertainment but also a reminder to the districts of their rebellion. Collins says that while she was channel-surfing the television on a quiet night, she saw people competing for a prize and then saw footage of the Iraq War. She described how the two combined in an "unsettling way" to create her first ideas for the series.[14]

Themes

Major themes of the novels include distrust of authority (of adults and the government), class discrimination and caste, resistance, the ethics of entertainment, and most notably, the origins and effects of war.[20] Social inequality, unaccountable governance and violence against children have also been suggested as prominent themes. "In the world of the 'Hunger Games', the Capitol lives a life of extravagant wealth and consumption. Meanwhile, out in the 'districts', millions of people work dangerous jobs with low pay. As the Capitol wallows in excess, the districts can barely afford to feed their children."[21] Author Suzanne Collins also mentions the themes of "just war", gladiatorial combat and hunger.[22] War as a result of climate disaster, and the power and illusions of television have also been cited as themes.[23] Others have mentioned revolution and rebellion as themes. "Although it’s... aimed at young adults, it presents potentially quite subversive ideas of mass revolution, economic sabotage and the populist fight against oligarchy."[24]

Reception

Critical reception

All three books have been favorably received. Praise has focused on the addictive quality, especially of the first book,[25] and the action.[26] Young adult fiction author John Green, writing for The New York Times, compared The Hunger Games with Scott Westerfeld's The Uglies series.[27] Catching Fire was praised for improving upon the first book,[28] and Mockingjay was praised for its portrayal of violence,[29] well-realized worldbuilding, and romantic intrigue.[30]


The series received criticism regarding its reality TV "death game" theme being derivative of earlier works, particularly Battle Royale,[31][25] as well as The Running Man, The Long Walk,[25] The 10th Victim,[32] and Series 7: The Contenders.[33] The series was also criticized for the romantic plotline: Rollie Welch of Ohio's The Plain Dealer criticized the characters' lack of resolute behavior,[34] and Jennifer Reese of Entertainment Weekly stated that there was little distinction between Peeta and Gale and the series lacked the "erotic energy" seen in the Twilight series.[35]


J.C. Maçek III of PopMatters stated, "While the film saga does capture the action of The Hunger Games, the novels are most assuredly the heart of the story. They are nothing less than 'The Writer’s Cut' of the films themselves."[36] In his review Mike Ruiz argues that The Hunger Games film does not have the first-person narrative that is in the original novel. As a result, Ruiz contends the novel is better than the film.[37]


The last book, Mockingjay, was criticized by Dan Shade of SF Site, who felt that Katniss is a weaker character than her comrades and less resolute in her journey to the Capitol, and that with respect to her vendetta against President Snow, her actions in the finale are inconsistent with her established character.[38]


On November 5, 2019, the BBC News listed The Hunger Games on its list of the 100 most influential novels.[39]

, a 1924 short story about a big game hunter who is hunted down by another hunter on an isolated island

The Most Dangerous Game

, a 1979 dystopian novel about a deadly contest

The Long Walk

, a 1999 dystopian novel with a similar premise

Battle Royale

The U.S. Scholastic Website