Literature Analysis #4: The Hunger Games

FICTION ANALYSIS

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
     - In a dystopian style future, a girl Katniss Everdeen who lives in an outlying district of a futuristic colonial society, becomes a player in the Hunger Games, a sport much like gladitorials in which random people fight to the death. She is pitted against other "tributes" and male from her District; Peeta Malark, who is seen as an enemy until she realizes he's helping her. They work together to survive the games, making an example of n iron fisted Capitol that treats the districts like slaves.
     The story tells of an obvious conflict between the rulers and the ruled, that unfair treatment is upsetting and immoral. Besides the obvious, we discover that Katniss, the main protagonist, has issues trusting people, but mainly subconsciously only looks to serve herself in her actions and choices. We learn this by the way she detests being in-debt to people.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
     - Some themes are; suffering provides entertainment, inequality between people, and the importance of appearances. The first one, is the main event of the book. Even the story builds it up and exemplifies it as the most important part. The displays of humanity at war are disturbing, but the citizens are inducted to agree. Second, the rich and poor people are separated, hundreds of miles apart. Divided, they work to provide for the Capitol, receiving meager supplies and being abused. Third, people are put on pedestals for insignificant, or even untrue, things. They are waved around as a sort of item or perfection.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
     - The author looks to illustrate a path that democracies could head down, given that wealth inequality is one of the greatest dividers. It creates further division and tension between the haves and have-nots. This is not an impossible future. It is even set in the once United States. "In school, they tell us the Capitol was built in a place called the Rockies. District 12 was in a region known as Appalachia." The idea that this could happen in time sets a tension that needs no explanation. It signals the spiral of society into one of domination and slavery. It is designed to scare people into picturing them as the ones on the outside, the ones in the dirt. "Besides basic reading and math most of our instruction is coal-related. Except for the weekly lecture on the history of Panem. It's mostly a lot of blather about what we owe the Capitol." It's created to make you disdain the Capitol, it's residents, and it's control. It sets the tone for most of the actions.

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
     - Pg 150 - "I don't want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster I'm not." This is foreshadowing to later on in the story, where Peeta becomes a different person, not by his own hand, but by his captors'.
     - Pg 151 - "Give my best to my mother when you make it back, will you?" Peeta remarks that he isn't strong enough to make it through the games, that he will fail. He remarks Katniss' abilities while still hoping for any positive outcome.
     - Pg 156 (and others) - "Cornucopia" It's an average word. It means a plentiful and varied assortment of things, usually food. In thins, it refers to a large, often metal, cornucopia where, during the games, large amounts of supplies are stored for tributes to use. It represents bounty while also representing the death that may await you as you try and use it's advantage.
     - Pg 162 - "Maybe it's better, if he's gone already." Katniss ponders whether it's better if Peeta dies at the hand of another, or herself. It shows that, while she cares some for others, she mostly cares about her own survival.
     - Pg 193 - "All my bravado is gone." Katniss has been temporarily put in an awkward position and must take on mounting odds to live. She once had the upper hand, but now, she's been reduced and must re-muster her courage.
     - Pg 194 - "For a while we hold each other's gaze...points to something above my head." Rue and Katniss exchange a mutual feeling of helplessness as they've both been running from their stronger enemies. Rue decides to help Katniss even though they have never really met. It shows that in desperate times, allies are indispensable.
     - Pg 205 - "I think, at last, this is over, but it isn't." She realizes that, no matter how bad things get, they can always get worse. That there is no limit to pain and suffering.
     - Pg 207 - "...Because for some reason Gale and Peeta do not coexist well together in my thoughts." WE see that Katniss has several internal conflicts that aren't even full understood yet. These two mean very different to her, they exist differently, they serve different purposes. They exemplify her fears in some ways; people in her life.
     - Pg 207 - "I find I'm actually anticipating the moment with pleasure." Katniss gets a hold of a weapon, a weapon she's incredibly skilled with, putting her into an offensive position. This changes the rest of her time in the game.
     - Pg 211- "She reminds me of Prim" Her sister. Rue's place in the games, being that she is small yet fast, makes her an excellent runner, an outlast-er, that she'll adapt. She reminds Katniss that these are still children, and that they can't always defend themselves.

CHARACTERIZATION 
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
     - (D) Katniss can very often be blunt about a situation and not try to lie or hide at all. She has little fear when it comes to human emotional interaction. This is throughout the book.
     - (D) Peeta is also up front but doesn't take people for granted. He protects those he means to without hesitation and without second thoughts or ulterior motives.
     - (I) Katniss has problems communicating, probaly due to a lack of healthy relationships with family and due to their either leaving or their misuse of her trust. She disdains unnecessarily conversation as well as others' topics.
     - (I) Peeta is a good person. He doesn't say it, nor does anyone else, but a few know it. Katniss realizes that Peeta has been her best ally the whole time, even though she mistreats him and put him down. She uses him throught the book, but Peeta stays by her to protect the one he wants most to.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?
     - There's not much character switching, if any at all. The story is told though the mind of Katnisss, and what she sees, we see. She explains things in great detail, removing most other character thought explanation.

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
     - I think Katniss is incredibly static. She begins the story in one fashion, and ends it in the exact same one. She doesn't grow as a character, she doesn't learn anything, but most importantly, we realize that she disregards other's for her own gain, basically destroying any hope for any character changes through forced partnership.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

     - I feel like I know Katniss decently well, but from what I've read, I wouldn't much like to meet her. She does what she wants and will probably ignore any useful additions to an already light group of contacts. "Were they dealing with me because I was my father's daughter, or because of my ability to bring trade to the table. I always thought of them as my own, but I was never sure and it didn't matter." It may be sad to some, but she chooses to work the way she does, for better or worse. So far, it worked out, but in the Games, she had to enlist unlikely, and unwelcome, assistance for survival.

Hafta/Wanna

There's a difference between high school and everything after it. It would seem to me, one is structured, while the other is not. We can attempt to replicated a similar experience throughout life, and some succeed more than others. That is not to say, people inherently desire this, but it exists. It can be a quick change or it will never wear off, the feeling of having your life dictated by the government for your benefit. You're thrust upon life's doorstep, expected to make a lasting impression, one that lasts, hopefully, for the rest of your working life. It's important to not lose sight of what's important because, when the world is spinning around you, everything can change. Don't let it change you, be who you are, and love what you do.

Vocabulary: #4 Spring

accolade - noun a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction



acerbity - noun a sharp sour taste; a sharp bitterness; a rough and bitter manner



attrition - noun the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction; a wearing down to weaken or destroy; sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation; the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice; erosion by friction



bromide - noun any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; formerly used as a sedative but now generally replaced by safer drugs; a trite or obvious remark



chauvinist - noun an extreme bellicose nationalist; a person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his or her own kind



chronic - adj. being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long suffering



expound - verb add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing;state



factionalism - noun of a faction or factions, self-interested; partisan


immaculate - adj. completely neat and clean; free from stain or blemish; without fault or error



imprecation - noun the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil (and usually serves as an insult); a slanderous accusation



ineluctable - adj. impossible to avoid or evade:"inescapable conclusion"



mercurial - adj. relating to or containing or caused by mercury;relating to or having characteristics (eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god Mercury; relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the planet Mercury; liable to sudden unpredictable change



palliate - verb provide physical relief, as from pain; lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of



protocol - noun code of correct conduct; forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state; (computer science) rules determining the format and transmission of data



resplendent - adj. having great beauty and splendor



stigmatize - verb mark with a stigma or stigmata; to accuse or condemn or openly or formally or brand as disgraceful



sub - noun a submersible warship usually armed with torpedoes;a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States; verb be a substitute



rosa - noun large genus of erect or climbing prickly shrubs including roses



vainglory - noun outspoken conceit



vestige - noun an indication that something has been present



volition - noun the act of making a choice; the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention

Vocabulary: #3 Spring

apostate - adj. not faithful to religion or party or cause;noun a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.



effusive - adj. extravagantly demonstrative; uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm



impasse - noun a street with only one way in or out; a situation in which no progress can be made or no advancement is possible
euphoria - noun a feeling of great (usually exaggerated) elation



lugubrious - adj. excessively mournful



bravado - noun a swaggering show of courage



consensus - noun agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as a whole



dichotomy - noun being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses



constrict - verb become tight or as if tight; squeeze or press together



gothic - adj. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque; of or relating to the Goths; of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths; characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German; as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened; noun a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches; a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries; extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas



punctilio - noun strict observance of formalities; a fine point of etiquette or petty formality



metamorphosis - noun a complete change of physical form or substance especially as by magic or witchcraft;the marked and rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some animals; a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances



raconteur - noun a person skilled in telling anecdotes



sine qua non - an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient.

quixotic - adj. not sensible about practical matters; unrealistic



vendetta - noun a feud in which members of the opposing parties murder each other



non sequitur - An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence; A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it.

mystique - noun an aura of heightened value or interest or meaning surrounding a person or thing



quagmire - noun a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot



parlous - adj. fraught with danger

Life After...

High school. More or less a; "What do you want to be when you grow up?" kind of question. Where here, we get to say just about whatever, not just our career ideas. But to me, you think that far, and you start setting expectations. To me, I'd rather work it out as it comes to me. To me, it makes more sense, to others, it sends their life into a tailspin to ignore the distant future. While I could make up some pathetic story of how I expect things to be in some distant time, I'll just get it done in due time.

"But Dale, that's not creative nor interesting at all!" Exactly. Try setting your expectations a little lower, and you'll be amazed by your accomplishments, too. It's hard for some and natural for others. It calms me down some and let's me focus on what's happening right in front of me. I'm as happy as I want to be at this very moment, and that's satisfying to me.

Visual Storytelling

Sound. It sets the mood, it influences the way you think and feel about a scene. Its and consciously tells you things that you might not know or wouldn't understand otherwise. It can be obvious or hidden. But music can alter our perception from just the way it sounds.

Emotion. It helps us understand why a person does what they do. It explains the character and determines the atmosphere. Not only the character, but also locations among other things. It is direct or indirect, telling us how to feel or allowing us to create our own ideas and interpretations.

Entertainment. It draws you in, and it keeps you throughout the story. You want to know what will happen. People are looking for certain types of distraction, and different stories bring in different people and make them feel different things. Genres categorize what we see.

Profile In Courage

Courage is inherent. It lives inside all of us. What we are courageous about or for, may not be what everyone else is, but we are in our own right. The best ability of courage is to stand up for something, or do something that needs to be done. It is the ability to go against, or rise above. People have courage, they display it, they are it. Some will never use it, others live by it. Every second, it drives them to do, to act, to lead. It lends no hands to others, those who choose to ignore it or those who let it ignore them. It isn't always a choice, but when it is, it stands for something else.

It can stand for people. People who became the essence of the word. Who looked at what they had and rose above. There's no definition, there's no single way, there's no guide. There is only the things you do, and what people see. Being courageous is not the absence of challenge, or fear, or danger, or any other evil. It is knowing that, no matter the cost, it will be done. No matter the sacrifice, it will happen. It doesn't happen on it's own, you must bring it out, use it. You can be, but only if you let yourself.