Hunger Games Response
February 11, 2010
Aboyd20
After hearing my peers talk about the book and reading reviews regarding The Hunger Games, I was excited to start reading it. I was able to find many similarities between this text and Little Brother, and I thought both books raised good questions about governmental control and regulations. This whole concept of fighting to the death is just appalling to me, and this made me think of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.” Also, this text especially reminded of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 because of the harsh setting and also had the same futuristic feel to it almost.
The really good thing about this book is the fact that it could appeal to both a female and male young adult audience. Due to the fact the main character is a girl; this could possibly demonstrate a non-typical female role for young women. Katniss was the main provider for her family which entailed her hunting and tracking their food and resources. This presents a different type of female character to the female audience. The male audience would be engaged because of the brutality of the game and fighting.
A reoccurring pattern in both of the novels had to do with teen romance. This seems to be all the rage for young adult literature as well as films. Why is this? Well in the novel, I think it gave both Peeta and Katniss a sense of hope and something to look forward to after the competition. Furthermore, I think this confusing element of teen romance is something most teams can relate to.
In bringing this text into the classroom, I think it would make for good discussion to connect it with an older text such as Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World and see how they can compare the two, and even go as far to compare criticisms and see if they can find similarities. I even started some research of my own when I thought of this and found a link via google scholar. This document is pretty much a list of books and how they connect the “end of the world” texts, both old and new. Check it out!
VS
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1.
bblumenshine |
February 15, 2010 at 10:10 pm
The teen romance aspect of both novels is something I picked up on too and found interesting. At first look, it seems as if both these books are just about the mission or end goal, but I think the romantic side of things helps people see the characters with actual feelings and emotions.
2.
erincoleman |
April 25, 2010 at 7:13 pm
I agree that I feel these books could be appealing to both males and females, and it is one of the reasons I love them so much. All of my reading over the past couple of years has been read with the questions in my mind:
1. Could I teach this book in the classroom?
2. Would students like this book?
3. What could I use this book to teach outside of the text itself?
I think both of these books are near the top of my list as far as these questions are concerned.
Erin Coleman