"And the song. I get to sing every note of the song. Something inside me shuts down and I'm too numb to feel anything. It's like watching complete strangers in another Hunger Games. But I do notice they omit the part where I covered her in flowers. Right. Because even that smacks of rebellion" (Collins 363).
It seems that the recurring theme of governmental control and censorship comes up throughout the course of the novel. When I read this passage in the book, I could feel exactly what was happening to Katniss while I read it. When she said that she started to feel numb, I could understand that she was beginning to realize that no matter what kind of person she was, it didn't matter, because the people who broadcast the Hunger Games would make her out to be the character that they want her to be. If that character they want her to be is a relentless killer, then they can make her that way. It happens specifically in this passage when Katniss eliminates one of the competitors in the Games, but they omit the part where after she kills her, she covers her in flowers, because Katniss actually cares, and feels sorrow for having to kill another competitor, but that is just the nature of the Hunger Games. She adds a bit of irony at the end, saying that covering another competitor in flowers after killing them just screams rebellion.
Again, the purpose has to deal with the censorship of the government feeding viewers of The Hunger Games whatever information they want to feed them. Like previously mentioned, the author uses irony to convey the point of censoring meaningless things that wouldn't convey a certain message that wouldn't even have a huge affect on the viewing audience. It was just a kind gesture. The purpose that goes along with the passage is that by this point, Katniss knows what the game is, and to this point, she feels nothing, because her actions don't mean anything for her, they mean whatever the game makers want her to mean. Since the Hunger Games is so widely viewed as a sporting event like the Super Bowl would be viewed by us now, it is a form of propaganda to remind citizens that this is a consequence for the rebellion that happened in District 13.
It puts things into perspective and makes one think what if your life was only known by other people as portrayed by somebody else? That is in reality of the novel, what is happening in this passage. Their depiction of the future in connecting the Hunger Games to large sporting events today, reveals that in the present, we are heavily influenced by propaganda, and we may not even know it. The media can present whatever information they want to us, and we choose to believe it. The media uses images and language in a manner where, it seems plausible and believable, so we choose to believe it. But in the end, this passage shows that being human, isn't about what others see about you, but what your underlying character is that makes you a good human being as Katniss is.
This passage actually reminds me of the future of screen technology post that I had talked about before. The idea of the screen technology seemed far fetched to me when I viewed it. The user reshapes and resizes the screen to his liking, and in addition bends the concepts of physics and reality. But yet again, this is just what we choose to believe. This is what media is feeding to us, but in contrast to the Hunger Games, the idea of this touch screen seems too unbelievable to be true, and that is why I choose not to believe it.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Phase 2: Unknown Districts
"It's interesting, hearing about her life. We have so little communication with anyone outside our district. In fact, I wonder if the Gamemakers are blocking out our conversation, because even though the information seems harmless, they don't want people in different districts to know about one another" (Collins 283).
Imagine a life in the present, where you weren't aloud to know anybody outside of your hometown. I don't know what I would do if I was stuck in Malden, knowing that if I tried to leave, I would be dead or killed. This is in a nutshell, what Katniss is saying in this passage. As this is her first time hearing about another person's life outside of District 12, she finds is interesting. She then comes to the realization that the government has such relentless regulations that she doesn't know anything about anybody else outside of her District. Is this a technique of the government? she wonders. She then adds that although the information that is exchanged between one another between districts may be harmless, that the government further protects each district from one another as a safety precaution. I feel like the government is scared that if rebellion does break out, they won't have anything to do if all the districts collectively rebel.
The overall effect of the passage is that Katniss has been thinking about the life that she has been living. Beginning to evaluate this life she has lived is prompting her to realize how stifled she has been her whole life. Collins purposely makes her interactions with other characters this way to show the growth of Katniss as a character developing into a dystopian protagonist. In the context of the passage, since she had just found out about the life of another, she realizes that the makers of The Hunger Games controls the information each district knows about each other, and therefore helps the government by making each district unknown by others. This censorship of information keeps each district isolated and therefore easier to manage.
Again, this connects to the question on what it means to be human. With freedom there is knowledge of exploration. One of the important things about being human to me, is that humans gain knowledge. And by leaving the walls of our home, and meeting new people, that knowledge is expanded by a great amount. But the passage also reveals that in the present by contrast we are free and we are fortunate enough not to live in the relentless regulations that they have to go through in each District in Panem. However, this future does make me think in perspective of if the government ever tried to control us this way, what would I do? I believe that especially growing up in a Democratic state such as Massachusetts, that there would be too many protesters collectively from all over the country that would make such control impossible.
This passage reminds me of Wall-E and the fact that Wall-E was stranded on Earth while all other inhabitants moved up into space. All of Wall-E's life was spent on Earth cleaning the rubbish junk that was left there after the natural disaster. Wall-E had no information of what life was beyond his job cleaning Earth just as Katniss and other inhabitants of the district have no idea what life is outside of their own.
Imagine a life in the present, where you weren't aloud to know anybody outside of your hometown. I don't know what I would do if I was stuck in Malden, knowing that if I tried to leave, I would be dead or killed. This is in a nutshell, what Katniss is saying in this passage. As this is her first time hearing about another person's life outside of District 12, she finds is interesting. She then comes to the realization that the government has such relentless regulations that she doesn't know anything about anybody else outside of her District. Is this a technique of the government? she wonders. She then adds that although the information that is exchanged between one another between districts may be harmless, that the government further protects each district from one another as a safety precaution. I feel like the government is scared that if rebellion does break out, they won't have anything to do if all the districts collectively rebel.
The overall effect of the passage is that Katniss has been thinking about the life that she has been living. Beginning to evaluate this life she has lived is prompting her to realize how stifled she has been her whole life. Collins purposely makes her interactions with other characters this way to show the growth of Katniss as a character developing into a dystopian protagonist. In the context of the passage, since she had just found out about the life of another, she realizes that the makers of The Hunger Games controls the information each district knows about each other, and therefore helps the government by making each district unknown by others. This censorship of information keeps each district isolated and therefore easier to manage.
Again, this connects to the question on what it means to be human. With freedom there is knowledge of exploration. One of the important things about being human to me, is that humans gain knowledge. And by leaving the walls of our home, and meeting new people, that knowledge is expanded by a great amount. But the passage also reveals that in the present by contrast we are free and we are fortunate enough not to live in the relentless regulations that they have to go through in each District in Panem. However, this future does make me think in perspective of if the government ever tried to control us this way, what would I do? I believe that especially growing up in a Democratic state such as Massachusetts, that there would be too many protesters collectively from all over the country that would make such control impossible.
This passage reminds me of Wall-E and the fact that Wall-E was stranded on Earth while all other inhabitants moved up into space. All of Wall-E's life was spent on Earth cleaning the rubbish junk that was left there after the natural disaster. Wall-E had no information of what life was beyond his job cleaning Earth just as Katniss and other inhabitants of the district have no idea what life is outside of their own.
Phase 2: They Don't Own Me
"Gale's voice is in my head. His ravings against the Capitol no longer pointless, no longer to be ignored. Rue's death has forced me to confront my own fury against the cruelty, the injustice they inflict upon us. But here, even more strongly than at home, I feel my imptotence. There's no way to take revenge on the Capitol. Is there?
Then I remember Peeta's words on the roof. 'Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to... to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games.' And for the first time, I understand what he means.
I want to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do is a part of every tribute they can't own. That Rue is more than a piece in their games. And so am I" (Collins 236-237)
In this powerful passage, Katniss begins to harden her mold of being a rebellious character in the Hunger Games. Before, she seemed like she was reluctant, and that she was still conforming because she had no idea what to do with herself, if she were to begin to rebel against the government. But in this passage, she seems to have a change of heart by showing her conviction and determination to show the government officials of Panem that she is not a force to be reckoned with, and that she is no puppet. Katniss recalls on the quotes and ideas of Gale and Peeta who feel the same way as she does. It does in addition, touch upon the censorship idea in the government, because if three of these characters in the book feel this way, perhaps all other citizens especially in District 12 feel this way as well.
All along, Katniss had been talking to Gale and Peeta about life in general in District 12. Both Gale and Peeta expressed their discerning outrage on the fact that the government owns the people. Yet Katniss never understood the full meaning of their words until this point where she finally realizes and agrees with their outlooks on the subject. The passage is to show that all along, Katniss's doubt is finally turning into realization, even though it took her until she was in the Hunger Games to realize that she had all along been a puppet to the government, and that she finally wants revenge just like Gale and Peeta. She even says that for the first time, she understands what Peeta means when he talks about how he wants the Capitol to know that they don't own him.
In the end, the passage touches upon the question of what it is to be human. Being human is much more than what they experience in The Hunger Games and District 12. To them, life has been all about conformity and staying alive without any freedom. But to us, as humans, we believe that we have rights, and that they should not be taken away from us. Though we don't have relentless regulations reminding us that we could be killed for any reason, to be human to us first and foremost means that we retain our rights and individuality. We are encouraged to explore and find out what else is out there in the world. Being human is also about finding one's self, and it seems that the characters in The Hunger Games spend so much time worrying about their lives and government, that they never find the time to find self-realization.
This passage reminds me of the picture of the rich man walking away with money as other working class people are left on a plank to fall over a cliff. It tips the balance of society, and to me, the rich man walking away is the government in The Hunger Games and Katniss is just one of the people hanging over the cliff in the picture. It connects to the idea of inequality of government control in the Capitol and Panem. No government should have absolute control of their citizens. Actually there should be no absolute control in general.
Then I remember Peeta's words on the roof. 'Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to... to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games.' And for the first time, I understand what he means.
I want to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do is a part of every tribute they can't own. That Rue is more than a piece in their games. And so am I" (Collins 236-237)
In this powerful passage, Katniss begins to harden her mold of being a rebellious character in the Hunger Games. Before, she seemed like she was reluctant, and that she was still conforming because she had no idea what to do with herself, if she were to begin to rebel against the government. But in this passage, she seems to have a change of heart by showing her conviction and determination to show the government officials of Panem that she is not a force to be reckoned with, and that she is no puppet. Katniss recalls on the quotes and ideas of Gale and Peeta who feel the same way as she does. It does in addition, touch upon the censorship idea in the government, because if three of these characters in the book feel this way, perhaps all other citizens especially in District 12 feel this way as well.
All along, Katniss had been talking to Gale and Peeta about life in general in District 12. Both Gale and Peeta expressed their discerning outrage on the fact that the government owns the people. Yet Katniss never understood the full meaning of their words until this point where she finally realizes and agrees with their outlooks on the subject. The passage is to show that all along, Katniss's doubt is finally turning into realization, even though it took her until she was in the Hunger Games to realize that she had all along been a puppet to the government, and that she finally wants revenge just like Gale and Peeta. She even says that for the first time, she understands what Peeta means when he talks about how he wants the Capitol to know that they don't own him.
In the end, the passage touches upon the question of what it is to be human. Being human is much more than what they experience in The Hunger Games and District 12. To them, life has been all about conformity and staying alive without any freedom. But to us, as humans, we believe that we have rights, and that they should not be taken away from us. Though we don't have relentless regulations reminding us that we could be killed for any reason, to be human to us first and foremost means that we retain our rights and individuality. We are encouraged to explore and find out what else is out there in the world. Being human is also about finding one's self, and it seems that the characters in The Hunger Games spend so much time worrying about their lives and government, that they never find the time to find self-realization.
This passage reminds me of the picture of the rich man walking away with money as other working class people are left on a plank to fall over a cliff. It tips the balance of society, and to me, the rich man walking away is the government in The Hunger Games and Katniss is just one of the people hanging over the cliff in the picture. It connects to the idea of inequality of government control in the Capitol and Panem. No government should have absolute control of their citizens. Actually there should be no absolute control in general.
Phase 2: Reminder of Our Weakness
"After the war, the capitol destroyed all the nests surrounding the city, but the ones near the districts were left untouched. Another reminder of our weakness, I suppose, just like the Hunger Games. Another reason to keep inside the fence of District 12" (Collins 186).
In this passage, the narrator is referring to the mutant tracker jackers in the nests surrounding the city. Early on in the novel, we find out that is is forbidden to go out into the wild nests surrounding each district for there are deadly, rabid animals found in there that could kill in a heartbeat. Even Katniss, the hunter that she is now, was afraid and reluctant to go out into this wilderness at first. But without her exploration of the nest, Katniss would never have attained her great hunting skills. I find this tactic by the government a bit extensive, but I'm am not surprised at all by this feat. Think about all the control the government already has on their citizens in each District. They control their economy, their actions, their words, and their location. It is no wonder why Katniss feels trapped in District 12.
The purpose of the passage is simple, and it is to further shine the light on the governmental take-over that has already taken place in all the Districts. Ever since the event that caused District 13 to become ashes, there is no room for any other district to even try to rebel, or else they will suffer the same fate. That is in essence what The Hunger Games is a reminder of. And the author uses this as another example when Katniss says that this is just another reminder of their weakness, just as The Hunger Games are. It further elaborates on the absolute control the government has over them. To the point that each citizen is reminded how weak, and feeble they are. Especially because District 12 is one of the worse off districts, no one would even dare to try to leave through the nest, although Katniss and Dale did think about doing so before the reaping at the beginning of the book.
This passage connects to one of our greater questions on manipulation of one's mind. How does one do so? In this case, the government is planting images of danger and destruction in these nest areas. These mutant tracker jackers are a form of governmental control in that, all citizens begin to have an image of danger associated with rebellion. In that way, the government retains every citizen in each of their Districts because all citizens know that to leave the district means that they might as well call it suicide.
In one of my older posts, I mentioned The Anti-Christ, and this post seems to be related to it in the way that we think about the Anti-Christ. Immediately when people think of the Anti-Christ terms such as The Second Coming come to mind, and we all have images associated with it. It seems as though the image of leaving the district in The Hunger Games seems to have the same connotation of death and leaves a sense of foreboding among many of the citizens in Panem.
In this passage, the narrator is referring to the mutant tracker jackers in the nests surrounding the city. Early on in the novel, we find out that is is forbidden to go out into the wild nests surrounding each district for there are deadly, rabid animals found in there that could kill in a heartbeat. Even Katniss, the hunter that she is now, was afraid and reluctant to go out into this wilderness at first. But without her exploration of the nest, Katniss would never have attained her great hunting skills. I find this tactic by the government a bit extensive, but I'm am not surprised at all by this feat. Think about all the control the government already has on their citizens in each District. They control their economy, their actions, their words, and their location. It is no wonder why Katniss feels trapped in District 12.
The purpose of the passage is simple, and it is to further shine the light on the governmental take-over that has already taken place in all the Districts. Ever since the event that caused District 13 to become ashes, there is no room for any other district to even try to rebel, or else they will suffer the same fate. That is in essence what The Hunger Games is a reminder of. And the author uses this as another example when Katniss says that this is just another reminder of their weakness, just as The Hunger Games are. It further elaborates on the absolute control the government has over them. To the point that each citizen is reminded how weak, and feeble they are. Especially because District 12 is one of the worse off districts, no one would even dare to try to leave through the nest, although Katniss and Dale did think about doing so before the reaping at the beginning of the book.
This passage connects to one of our greater questions on manipulation of one's mind. How does one do so? In this case, the government is planting images of danger and destruction in these nest areas. These mutant tracker jackers are a form of governmental control in that, all citizens begin to have an image of danger associated with rebellion. In that way, the government retains every citizen in each of their Districts because all citizens know that to leave the district means that they might as well call it suicide.
In one of my older posts, I mentioned The Anti-Christ, and this post seems to be related to it in the way that we think about the Anti-Christ. Immediately when people think of the Anti-Christ terms such as The Second Coming come to mind, and we all have images associated with it. It seems as though the image of leaving the district in The Hunger Games seems to have the same connotation of death and leaves a sense of foreboding among many of the citizens in Panem.
Phase 2: Trained Dog
"All I can think is how unjust the whole thing is, the Hunger Games. Why am I hopping around like some trained dog trying to please people I hate? The longer the interview goes on, the more my fury seems to rise to the surface, until I'm literally spitting out answers at him" (Collins 117).
This passage actually reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, when the main character Guy Montag from one of my previous posts began to re-evaluate the reason for not reading books. In this passage, Katniss begins to evaluate her role in The Hunger Games and society in itself. I would be furious at the thought of being somebody's puppet as well, and since she has been this way her whole life, no wonder why she feels this way. It is even worse for her, because the government is full of people whom she hates, yet she has to comply to any one of their demands in fear of the fact that at any moment, her rebellion could mean her demise. As she is further being interviewed in this passage, she seems to get filled with more anger, more rage, at the thoughts of her domestication in the games.
Collins purposefully takes this passage as a way to develop the character of Katniss more. Throughout the book, we can see that Katniss begins to rebel more and more against the government, as she sees that this really is a governmental taken over society. The author uses this passage to establish pathos to further connect with the reader, since at this point of the book, the reader fully realizes the fury bottled up inside of Katniss. Unfortunately, at this interview, Katniss can't even begin to talk about the reality of the games, and automatically censors herself. If she hadn't then she would have had to suffer a grave fate. This is just another example of the censorship that Katniss has to go through, hiding the fact that The Hunger Games are barbaric, unjust, and awful, and as a result she sits there in her anger, giving answer after answer to the interview questions.
A vision of the future such as this one prompts me to evaluate the government of the present.
Perhaps the government already has too much power, and we don't realize it. But thinking about our censorship laws, they seem plausible and our government doesn't seem to have too much power over us. From what I see as a normal citizen, most of the laws are meant to protect us. But what if that is what I am supposed to think? Maybe I have already fallen into the trap. Though, one can never really know the underlying reason for many of the government's decisions, they could as well be hiding information from us, which I am sure they are. Maybe there is a lot more to the present that we don't even know about yet. At this point, maybe I am beginning to take shape into a Guy Montag, and a Katniss Everdeen, and becoming the dystopian protagonist I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.
This passage actually reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, when the main character Guy Montag from one of my previous posts began to re-evaluate the reason for not reading books. In this passage, Katniss begins to evaluate her role in The Hunger Games and society in itself. I would be furious at the thought of being somebody's puppet as well, and since she has been this way her whole life, no wonder why she feels this way. It is even worse for her, because the government is full of people whom she hates, yet she has to comply to any one of their demands in fear of the fact that at any moment, her rebellion could mean her demise. As she is further being interviewed in this passage, she seems to get filled with more anger, more rage, at the thoughts of her domestication in the games.
Collins purposefully takes this passage as a way to develop the character of Katniss more. Throughout the book, we can see that Katniss begins to rebel more and more against the government, as she sees that this really is a governmental taken over society. The author uses this passage to establish pathos to further connect with the reader, since at this point of the book, the reader fully realizes the fury bottled up inside of Katniss. Unfortunately, at this interview, Katniss can't even begin to talk about the reality of the games, and automatically censors herself. If she hadn't then she would have had to suffer a grave fate. This is just another example of the censorship that Katniss has to go through, hiding the fact that The Hunger Games are barbaric, unjust, and awful, and as a result she sits there in her anger, giving answer after answer to the interview questions.
A vision of the future such as this one prompts me to evaluate the government of the present.
Perhaps the government already has too much power, and we don't realize it. But thinking about our censorship laws, they seem plausible and our government doesn't seem to have too much power over us. From what I see as a normal citizen, most of the laws are meant to protect us. But what if that is what I am supposed to think? Maybe I have already fallen into the trap. Though, one can never really know the underlying reason for many of the government's decisions, they could as well be hiding information from us, which I am sure they are. Maybe there is a lot more to the present that we don't even know about yet. At this point, maybe I am beginning to take shape into a Guy Montag, and a Katniss Everdeen, and becoming the dystopian protagonist I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.
Phase 2: The Hunger Games
"When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. Do my work quietly in school. Make only polite small talk in the public market...even at home, where i am less pleasant, i avoid discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or The Hunger Games. Prim might begin to repeat my words and then where would we be?" (Collins 6).
It is a shame how Katniss feels that she has to be the head of her household, but even more a shame that she has to live her life feeling like she has been censored. In this passage Katniss explains her experience as a child when she scares her mother by talking about the rulers of District 12 from the Capitol. The mere fact that her mother was so paranoid about this is a testament to the fact that their society in District 12 is dystopian. More specifically, this is a dystopia in which the government has so much control over the citizens that they have a fear of the outside world, they conform to the uniform expectations, citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance, and that propaganda is used to control the citizens of the society.
The purpose of the passage is to provide a setting for the rest of the book. The beginning of the novel is used to synthesize the world that they live in. Collins uses techniques in this passage such as using specific examples and metaphors of an indifferent mask throughout the beginning sections of the book to establish the dystopian society. By the end of the first few chapters it is evident that the overall affect is has on the audience is that the society they live in especially in District 12 is one of poverty and the unfortunate lifestyle of miners who are in constant surveillance, and must conform to the norms of the expectations of government officials, or else they will suffer the same fate as the former District 13.
In essence when we think about how this applies to us now, being human in a world that we think is not corrupt, perhaps we think that being human entitles us to our own thoughts. Since this passage seems to establish that the humans in The Hunger Games live in a dehumanized state in the Districts, being human in our current society basically means the opposite of what they are being put through. As humans we enjoy the luxury of freedom, and the depiction that Collins draws about the future, makes it seem that with all the theories of 2012 and the end of the world, that maybe instead of this being propaganda, it will soon be the fate of us humans in about a year. This does however, go back to a previous post about the God-like figure who had seen the future, and is telling people of the present to go back. Maybe the future really does hold a similar fate as it does in The Hunger Games, so we should listen to the man, and go back to the past where things seem simple, and we can live life as we have always known it to be.
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