The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a young adult dystopian novel that tells the story of the sixteen year old girl, Katniss Everdeen. This girl lives in a country called Panem, formerly called North America, which is divided into 12 districts and a capitol. In the districts, the people are poor, struggle to access food, and are forced to participate in an annual game where two tributes from ages twelve to eighteen must fight to death with only one remaining victor for the entertainment of the capitol. In the book, Katniss expresses her frustrations at the abuse of the president’s power and how the citizens of the capitol do not look at the young tributes as real people but instead look down upon these individuals who they consider to be worthless pawns only useable for leisurely enjoyment.
This book brings into focus the problems that arise in a society when there are alterns and subalterns. One prominent problem in the story is that the needs of the poverty stricken people in the districts are not being taken care of. They are expected to continually work and produce goods for the benefit of the capitol while basic necessities such as food, water, and adequate shelter are not made available for them at home. Neglecting the needs of the less fortunate is still a prevalent issue in many places including the United States. Lower class citizens, or the subalterns, are expected to work for low wages which in turn helps boost the status of those already in higher classes, or the alterns. This is all occurring while basic tools like educational or economic/financial resources are rarely or never accessible to these people in need.
By the end of the story, Katniss and many other district citizens have retaliated against the unjust system and created a world to benefit all people equally. In the same way, labor movements and educational reforms have proven to be effective as more rights have been granted to people attempting to advance in the workforce and schooling institutions. Collins’ goal of addressing these systemic inequalities makes the reader thoroughly analyze the abuses of political power and also inspires a conversation to look into the interactions between different areas of classes, whether it be social, financial, or academic, and how it affects the way one can live his or her life.
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