For my text review I chose to analyze the Hunger Games. In this dystopian novel there are twelve districts and the capitol. The twelve districts are much less affluent than the capitol, with district one being the richest and twelve being the poorest. Each year the capitol hosts the hunger games where two children from each district are chosen to fight to the death with one victor at the end. The novel has many themes with one being power. None of the citizens living in the capitol are required to enter in the hunger games. The citizens in the capitol have power over the people from the twelve districts because they are wealthier and of a higher class. I think this parallels with our society today. More affluent Americans do not have to endure any real struggles as they are handed all the resources to stay in a higher class than others. Less affluent people are stuck in a cycle as they do not have the best resources such as access to the best education. It is not their fault for being born into this cycle much like it is not the fault of the citizens of the twelve districts to be born into potential hunger games participants. This idea also relates to the fact that in most years, the wealthier districts like district one, two and three, are usually the victors at the end of the hunger games. They are the wealthier districts which one again demonstrates the advantages of coming from a higher class. This relates to a topic we learned this semester called the “One” and the “Other.” In the hunger games, the “One” is the capitol and the districts are the “Other.” This means that the citizens of the districts are treated differently and looked down upon by the citizens of the capitol. 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe focuses on the life of Okonkwo, a Nigerian man who lived through the time period where European colonists infiltrated Africa. The story follows Okonkwo’s demise and how he’s exiled from his community which eventually leads to his death by suicide. British colonialism stole the Nigerians way of life and forced their culture onto the population. As I researched further into British colonialism in Nigeria I found that many natives were kidnapped and sold as slaves. I cannot imagine the trauma endured by the children witnessing their parents and themselves be ripped apart from their families forever. Over the course of 20 years about 2000 slaves were sold each year in Nigeria alone. The British enslaved the Nigerians for many purposes, one is to retrieve resources. The slaves were used to collect palm fruits, and manufacture palm oil, which was a popular resource used to trade in for guns and gunpowder.

I sometimes find myself forgetting that slavery was not only practiced in the United States, but in multiple other countries around the world. It is also shocking to hear that slavery is still occurring around the world in present day. There are different forms of modern day slavery including human trafficking, forced labor, and forced/early marriage. There is an estimated amount of 40 million people enslaved today, 71% of them being women and young girls. We have definitely witnessed slavery occurring right in front of us but we do not know. Most people are threatened by their enslavers and cannot seek help in fear of the consequences. It is important to bring this issue to light because this could happen to anyone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have heard way too many stories of people being tricked into enslavement and never seen or heard of again.

Sources:

“The Arrival of the British.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria/The-arrival-of-the-British.

“What Is Modern Slavery? – Anti-Slavery International.” Anti, 29 July 2020, www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/.