Lifetime Reading List: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I bought the Hunger Games trilogy boxed set earlier this year, excited to read these books for the first time.

As it turns out, I’ve already read these books – in high school, like almost every other book on this Lifetime Reading List so far in 2020. So, I suppose it’s safe to say these books didn’t make a lasting impression on me. I think of Harry Potter references and use Rowling’s tales as examples quite often, but when it comes to Panem and Katniss Everdeen, though, I readily recall Josh Hutcherson’s nickname for Jennifer Lawrence during filming (Katpiss Neverclean, by the way, as she reveals in her Unscripted interview) and very little about the books themselves.

But my life now at almost twenty-five is a lot less chaotic than in was a decade ago, so even once I realized I’d already read these books, I found myself invested in a way I don’t recall being last time.

It may not surprise some of my long-term readers that, this time, I read The Hunger Games through the motherhood lens. During the Reaping, as Effie prepared to draw each tribute’s name, I felt myself growing anxious, a feeling which introduces perhaps one of the most profound elements of The Hunger Games.

What happens to children when their parents’ love can’t protect them?

Of course, in regard to Mrs. Everdeen, she’s been emotionally checked out since her husband died when Katniss was eleven. This is one piece of the story I discussed with my fellow author friend, Valerie Storm, who says, “She’s not a huge influence in Katniss’s life, and…you can tell Katniss has more or less emotionally let go of [her]. She’s important, but only because she’s ‘mom.’ Katniss has had to take care of her. Her support would’ve been really nice, but from Katniss’s point-of-view, if she had loved Katniss, I don’t think Katniss would have done half as well as she did. Her lack of love gave her the ability to be a little apathetic when she needed to.”

We started talking about the grief Mrs. Everdeen must’ve felt following her husband’s death, so close to her eldest child’s first Reaping. I believe that Mrs. Everdeen had to emotionally distance herself from Katniss because she couldn’t bear to lose two of her dearest loved ones. However, this emotional chasm is made even more evident in Mrs. Everdeen’s treatment of Prim, who we first meet the morning of the Reaping, where she is literally being cuddled by their mother.

While one daughter is cuddled, another grows stronger. Katniss’s obligation to provide for her mother and sister toughened her while simultaneously protecting Prim, making her soft – Katniss knows Prim will die if she goes to the Games, and so Katniss must be the shield of the family once again.

As Katniss shares with the reader, she’s been busy providing for the family; she hasn’t had time for love or terms of endearment. In the world Suzanne Collins created, as Valerie said, “There’s not much room for love and kindness.”

In order to remind the people of the protection and provision of the Capitol, their children are sacrificed on the altar of image. The Capitol must appear strong so that the citizens appear weak. The Capitol needs the Districts dependent so they can be a savior. And because each citizen is beholden to the governmental machine, with each child’s twelfth birthday comes a blunt reminder that a mother’s (or father’s) love cannot protect their children from every danger – either in the Games, or the world (as evidenced by the starvation within the Districts).

Its my opinion that this quandary – What happens to children when their parents’ love can’t protect them? – is the eternal lesson of The Hunger Games. If parents cannot protect their children from the government, what does that say about life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness? Collins has confirmed that Panem is a futuristic rendition of the United States, but that trinity of inalienable rights applies to each person on the planet. The parent-child relationship is the most basic in biology, in nature, so what happens when something man-made, such as the government, thwarts the natural order?

Parents are supposed to provide for and protect their children. But in Panem, the government takes that role.

I started this blog post with the intention of saying The Hunger Games is a good book, but not necessarily a must-read. However, as Valerie and I spoke and discussed that, in the absence of parental protection and affection, children either “become independent and strong on their own, or they die,” I’ve concluded that The Hunger Games’ central point is an essential question we all must entertain. Perhaps one of the oldest political qualms “How big is too big for a government to be?” is answered in this book.

In the United States, in this election year, in the middle of a pandemic as we face shortages, reading The Hunger Games felt a little too prophetic for my liking. Circumstances in many countries have grown desperate (or, in many cases, have always been dire) and the people have turned to the government for salvation. But what happens when we grow dependent on the government? What happens when charities and churches decide you’re ineligible for aide, no matter how desperate you may be, and the government is all that is left?

What happens when the churches and charities close their doors, and the government is all that is left?

What happens when it becomes too difficult to feed and provide for you own family because of wage disparity with the standard of living? The government steps in somehow.

For years, I’ve believed that we, as a society, as the human race, need to keep the power in the people. We must help one another, the way Katniss and Gale work together to hunt, trap, and gather. We must support one another, the way Katniss and Rue come together for protection. We must provide for one another, the way Peeta snuck Katniss bread when her family was starving.

We must overlook our differences to see that, in the end, we’re really the same. We’re all hungry, for food and love above all else.

In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins certainly exemplifies the most basic of human quests, and for that reason, I agree that The Hunger Games is a must-read book.

Stay tuned for my book review of Catching Fire next week, and make sure to follow Valerie Storm on Twitter by clicking here.