TOPIC 1-Dystopian..: Hunger Games Divergent

This document discusses dystopian societies and elements in two popular young adult fiction series: The Hunger Games trilogy and the Divergent series. It analyzes how The Hunger Games trilogy, set in the totalitarian state of Panem ruled by President Snow, exhibits classic dystopian characteristics like a repressive government, lack of individual rights and freedoms, constant surveillance, and social control through fear and division. The annual Hunger Games competition serves to maintain the Capitol's control over the districts. Similarly, the faction system in the Divergent series limits identity and restricts freedom of choice, though its society is less corrupt than Panem. Both works use exaggerated versions of current social issues to critique aspects of modern culture

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TOPIC 1-Dystopian..: Hunger Games Divergent

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Lala Alal

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TOPIC 1- Dystopian..

A dystopian society simply means an imaginary futuristic places that is dehumanizing and as insufferable
as possible.

YA dystopian trilogies, all figuring young people fighting against an adult’s world

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Greek word ‘utopia’ – coined by Thomas More – means
‘no place,’ and thus describes an imaginary, non-existent world. It is often confused with ‘eutopia,’
which means ‘good place,’ and which is thus the correct opposite to ‘dystopia,’ literally meaning ‘bad
place.’ For convenience’s sake, this thesis will employ the word ‘utopia’ to define an imagined and
idealized society. In contrast, the word ‘dystopia’ defines a place, or a society, which ought to be
shunned because there is something very wrong with it.

HUNGER GAMES DIVERGENT

 The Hunger Games, she argues, is perhaps  Although Roth’s urban society is
more post-apocalyptic than dystopian, sometimes presented as having utopian
because unlike the latter genre, Panem is potential, the faction system actually
not “presented like an ideal world” and makes it very much dystopian.
was not “founded out of some misguided  the faction system is this society’s main
attempt to create one” (“Defining Genre”). dystopian quality because it limits people
However, as Keith Booker writes, “mostly to categorizations which inevitably cause
natural and environmental disasters have prejudice and conflict
created a crisis that is made even more
severe by the human response to the
crisis” (xxiii), and an oppressive
dictatorship terrorizes Panem’s twelve
districts, which makes it rather dystopian
after all.
 the “Hunger Games” trilogy draws upon
our own fears of total governmental
control, universal surveillance and the
danger of mass media, exaggerating them
so that readers are forced to think
critically about how and to what extent
these themes are present in their own
societies.
 The annual Hunger Games are probably
the best example of the Capitol’s total
control as well as of their politics of
completely dividing the districts, and
therefore it is a fundamentally dystopian
element of the trilogy. Panem literally
“demands children as sacrifice for
entertainment” and even forces the
districts’ inhabitants to celebrate it as “a
festivity, a sporting event” (Hunger 16)
 The Capitol uses the competition Blokker
21 to ensure repression of and division
amongst the districts, instead of letting
them communicate, consolidate and
eventually unite against the regime.

Collins’s trilogy is clearly dystopian because it enhances and distorts current social, cultural and political
issues. First, Panem is ruled by dictator Snow, who maintains his absolute control over the districts by
constant surveillance, public punishments, and social division. In this society, people are stripped of
rights which most readers will perhaps take for granted, such as freedom of movement, free speech,
and democracy. The right to privacy, threatened even in our time because of public surveillance cameras
and the internet, is almost completely eliminated in Panem. Panem’s omnipresent surveillance, as in
Bentham’s panopticon, serves to maintain order and discipline in the districts. The trilogy even evokes
worldwide social issues such as poverty, starvation, and inequality. Finally, with the Hunger Games
themselves Collins critiques the negative influence of media and mass culture; not only do reality
Blokker 29 television shows desensitize people to real-life suffering, but they also shift value to a
constructed reality. Capitol citizens have become desensitized to the real violence inflicted on children in
the Games and to the deprivations in the districts, although they likely do not even know what happens
there. Unlike the district’s population, they are not aware of their own oppression.

Similarly, the citizens in the Chicago experiment are completely unaware of being oppressed, or being
limited by the dystopian faction system. Even to Tris, the faction system is so familiar that it is initially
inconceivable to her to try and change it. Most people are not Divergent and thus do not struggle with
trying to belong somewhere as much as she does, and hardly anyone even questions the principle of
‘faction before blood.’ To be fair, this society is not as corrupted as Panem, and most citizens are
reasonably well-off. Although Divergent sees a cry for democracy – or rather for more luxury – everyone
is taken care of by the Abnegation government and even the factionless get their (meagre) share. Most
dystopian are the extreme limitations resulting from the faction system, both regarding identity
development and freedom of speech and movement, as well as the invasive simulations used
throughout the books. Nevertheless, ambiguous feelings remain because the faction system, with its
categorization and communal identity, appeals, even comforts. Ultimately, it is probably easier to follow
predetermined paths in life than follow one’s own conflicted hopes and dreams.