How Might The Government Be Described As ‘Oppressive’ In the
Hunger Games.
In this piece of writing, I will be comparing the
governments in reality and In the Hunger Games to answer the question: How
might the government in the Hunger Games be described as ‘oppressive’ in the
hunger games?
To begin with pointing out the obvious, the government of
The Hunger Games make teenagers from each district fight one another to the
death. The reason that
the Hunger Games are held every year is so the districts know that the Capitol
is "the one". The reason there are Hunger Games is because the
districts did not like the way the Capitol was running things, so they started
a rebellion. They caused a lot of trouble, but eventually the Capitol took over
again. To prevent another rebellion, they have the Hunger Games. It is to show
the people how strong the Capitol is and that they actually can kill everyone
if they want to-since they are letting kids from 12-18 die. They just want the
people to understand that they are still in charge and make them pay for what
they did. To make the idea seem more ‘fun’, this became a reality TV show, so
everyone could watch the children murder each other shamelessly for their own
entertainment.
Whereas
in reality, all of this is illegal and some sort of ‘show’ that related to this
in any way would be banned and the directors are likely to be arrested. Any
rebels in reality are likely to be arrested, and being imprisoned means they
will not make the same mistake – or at least not until they are released. If
so, the rebels will probably be arrested again.
Another
oppressive measure of the Hunger Games government is keeping food supplies
scarce, so citizens are always hungry and scared. This is probably another
punishment against the rebellions. Again, in reality, this would be an unlikely
idea. However, our government does raise the prices of food and other supplies,
meaning money and food might be scarce for those short of money, creating a
similarity between the two governments.
The
Capitol has ‘Peacekeepers’ to enforce the law – not police. These Peacekeepers
are dressed in white armor, most likely dressed appropriately for another rebellion. In the book ‘The Hunger
Games’, Katniss Everdeen (the main character) says,
“Most
Peacekeepers turn a blind eye to the few of us who hunt because they’re as
hungry for fresh meat as anybody is”.
This
shows how Peacekeepers don’t seem as harsh as our police today, and they will
let the little things be committed because they understand how the few who hunt
feel, and probably get some of the meat that is hunted down.
Another
detail about the Peacekeepers is very important: In the Hunger Games – Catching
Fire, they brutally attack Cinna and drag him away before Katniss’s very eyes.
This is something one of our police will not perform unless the criminal uses a
weapon against them, or if they fight back. Which is something I doubt Cinna
would do.
Contrary
to this, our police men and women are very strict with law, and will not let
these little things slip because they are not as deprived as the people who
live in Panem. They have a big salary, and basically work with the government
to control the law and keep things in order. Any crime committed will result in
an arrest until the prisoners release date. Police today are much better than
peacekeepers, who, again, will not brutally attack any criminals unless it is
severely needed.
To
conclude, with all the evidence gathered, I think that the government in The
Hunger Games might be described as ‘oppressive’ because of one rebellion that
they want to prevent from happening again by making innocent children brutally
murder each other, by keeping food supplies scarce, so that citizens are always
hungry and scared; and having ‘Peacekeepers’ enforce the law. All of which can
come across as oppressive acts.
* * * * * * * *
I did not write this - it is the work of another of my granddaughters. Megan Withers is the author here and the piece was written about two years ago when she was about 15 years old.
