District Eleven.

District 11 is the largest, and one of the poorest districts in Panem. Their industry is agriculture, so we would expect the people of this area to be better fed than those is 12 but this is not the case. The Capitols control over 11 is totalitarian. Almost everything they produce goes straight to the Capitol, despite the evident starvation. Food production is so vital, and so the Peacekeepers are a lot tougher here then they are in other districts. If a citizen in 11 is caught eating crops; they are to be whipped in public and used as an example for the rest of the workers. 

 

 

We learn a lot about 11 from Rue. Rue is the female tribute from 11, and the youngest of all the tributes at age 12. It is through her we learn about the rough treatment of the Peacekeepers - they have no qualms about killing people, even small children, if they break the rules. 11's tributes never really fare well in the games, as they arrive underfed and well underprepared for what is ahead of them. However, as Rue was the oldest of 5 children, she is used to going without much food for long periods of time which is beneficial in the Games. She can also recognise edible plants and berries due to the fact she has worked outside for most of her life. 

Food plays such an important role in many Young Adult fiction books, but it is the lack of food which makes it important in The Hunger Games. By withholding something so important, something so vital from the people in these outer districts, the Capitol is ensuring they remember their place in the hierarchy of the nation; which is of course, the very bottom. 
 

It is a simple concept, and one that hits close to home in reality and modern society. Those with all the wealth and power have all the food and those with nothing are left to starve. Food is a large indicator of class in these novels, and because 11 are of the lower class they are left to starve by the Capitol. Despite the importance of food production and the fact that 11 provides all fruit and crops to the nation, they are not treated with any importance by the government. And so it can be argued that in this text, the function of food is to highlight the differences in social class. Food serves as a reminder to those in poorer districts as to where they stand in the social hierarchy of the nation.

District Twelve.

District Twelve is one of the most important districts in The Hunger Games. It's where our protagonists Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark live. It is also the poorest district in the nation of Panem, with a population of around 8000 people. 

Katniss lives in the poorest part of the district; the Seem. It's were all the coal miners live and it is incredibly hard to find food here. It's the most impoverished area, where there is much death as a result of starvation.

Children from 12 are also more likely to sign up for tessera. After you sign up, you receive tokens for a years supply of oil and grain, and you can sign for every member of your family. However, every time you sign up for tesserae, your name is added additional times to the reaping; and its cumulative. Katniss has taken out tesserae for every member of her family since she was 12, which means that by the 74^th Games, there are 20 slips of paper with her name on them. This happens a lot with kids from the seem, for every 1 person that takes out terresa from District 1, there are 800 kids from 12.

Katniss's father taught her how to hunt before he died and she is incredibly skilled with a bow and arrow, she is able to catch squirrels, pheasants, and sometimes even larger game that she is able to bring home for her family, or to sell in 12's black market - The Hob. Katniss's father was the breadwinner in the family, and after he died in a coal mining accident when she was just 11 years old, Katniss had to step into the role of sole provider for her family. 

Knowing the dangers of his job and the fact that many children in the Seem die of starvation, Mr Everdeen tries to equip Katniss with the knowledge she would need in order to survive. Both Katniss and her sister Primrose were given their names for a specific reason. Both are edible plants, that are easily recognised and enough to sustain them.

I knelt down in the water, my fingers digging into the roots. Small, bluish tubers that don’t look like much but boiled or baked are as good as any potato. “Katniss,” I said aloud. It’s the plant I was named for. And I heard my father’s voice joking, “As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.” (4.22)

 Peeta is from the Merchant Village, his family own a bakery and so he has never had to struggle for food the way other people in this district have. He and Katniss are in completely different classes in society; while the Mellarks are far from wealthy they have never been on the brink of starvation the way Katniss and her family have been. 

Katniss’ ability to hunt is essential to her survival. If she did not have these skills, there is a high probability that she may have starved to death, like many other children do in 12.  Hunting is forbidden, and is an offence that Katniss could be shot for. However, it is also her only chance of survival due to the lack of food and complete poverty in 12.

Works Cited:

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Print.

The Hunger Games; a quick overview.

For those of you who have yet to experience The Hunger Games trilogy, here is the back story to help make sense of future posts;

The Hunger Games is set in the fictional nation of Panem, which a post apocalyptic version of North America. Panem is made up of 12 districts and the Capitol. Each district specialises in a different industry, with varying levels of wealth. 

74 years ago, the people of Panem organised a huge uprising against the rule of the Capitol. A war was fought and ultimately lost, with the Capitol defeating the rebels. As a reminder of the war, and the 'forgiveness from the Capitol' the Hunger Games was created. Two children from each of the 12 districts (one male, one female, aged 12-18) would be chosen to fight to the death in an arena, broadcasted live as entertainment for the citizens of the capitol.

Here is the propaganda video shown to the districts on the day of the reaping (the process in which the tributes are chosen):

So we know that the districts of Panem are controlled by a totalitarian government, there is a class system in place to ensure that the people of each district know where they stand in society. The outer lying districts are poverty stricken, and are left to starve by their government, while districts closer to the capitol are much wealthier and less oppressed. 

That's The Hunger Games in a nutshell, stay tuned for my next blog post which will be about District 12!