Posted on 03/15/2012 7:45:47 AM PDT by SampleMan
My 13 yr old started reading the Hunger Games series and I picked up on the underlying theme of personal liberty, as she was telling me about it. I decided to read it this last Saturday, so that I could discuss it with her in depth.
I just finished the third and final book of the Hunger Games series and I think everyone here needs to know about it. It is a strong and powerful presentation of the evils that follow placing group needs above individual liberty/dignity.
It’s aimed at kids and is wildly popular with young teenagers. Freepers need to read this series and be able to discuss it in-depth.
I put this in the same category as Orwell’s 1984 and the Gulag Archipelago, accept written for a 13-18 yr old.
I’m not going to run through the plot, but it is a portrayal of the evils of subordinating personal liberty/dignity to the needs of the group. And it makes it clear by the end that it doesn’t matter what the intent of the government is, the effect is the same if the means is the same.
The end result of marginalizing the individual is demonstrated (not stated) throughout the series.
I have no idea what the movies will be like, except that I just can’t see Hollywood telling this story without changing the underlying plot, so you must read the books to help spread the message. You need to read this, so that you can intelligently discuss it with friends and family, and perhaps counter Hollywood’s take. (but I hope it goes over their heads and they just follow the books).
My recommendation to all fellow Freepers is read these books, and then buy them for you your children-grandchildren.
No sex, no profanity. Violence is brutal and harsh, but not gratuitously described.
In my opinion, it is suitable for most kids 12 and up, but not if they’ve had personal trauma/loss or are emotionally less mature.
No. I would not recommend them for a 11 and 12 year old. My son is 13 1/2 and I kind of hesitated to even let him read them but his dad lets him do combat type video games so I felt he could handle the violence. I told him he could read them but he just put the books aside and hasn’t done so yet.
The first book is, imo, very violent. The second book not so much. Like another poster mentioned, there is no vulgar language or sex other than mentioning that Katniss is viewed naked while being prepared for battle and there are some fleeting mentions of using your body to get favors or for survival.
We home school, too, but on a 1-10 scale of home school protectiveness we are about a 5. 1 being people who don’t watch any tv and wear dresses, 10 being people who home school but are worldly-wise on the same level as public schoolers.
Hippies liked LOTR? I can’t imagine hippies having the drive to finish a book(s) like LOTR.....
Hippies dug it.
Misty woods, pointed ears and little people smoking pipeweed.
What’s not to like?
Of course, as I said, it is at its core a story of the nobility of pain, suffering in a battle against evil. Not to mention self-sacrifice to save one’s friends and the world.
Which doesn’t fit well into an ethos of changing the world by getting high and screwing around.
(You may be able to figure out from this that I’m not a fan of hippiedom. Not then or now.)
Me either...I was just a bit young for the hippie generation and of course now I’m just too smart for it.
Perhaps I have.
Though I believe I said that people wouldn’t forget the concept of divinity, not wish for the old days in the country church. Practiced religion could believably be absent. Katniss is able, though never excited, to both perform and witness violence. It’s only once the final violent act happens that she “snaps” into despondency. There was never a need for redemption because Katniss was not the sinner. But the final violent event does leave room for hope—for something to survive for.
What’s the point of survival if there’s nothing on the horizon, nothing over the hill, nothing to live for? That thing begins as her family, becomes the cause, then ends as nothing. Perhaps the epilogue encourages us to believe it’s her family once again. But the nothingness is unsatisfactory.
I doubt all North Koreans are ignorant of God, and most (going only from a single documentary I watched, so I’m an expert) are told that the Kims are divine. I’d guess that some of the people in their work camps are there for saying that the Kims aren’t gods. Or that another god exists.
The Capitol never tried to be anybody’s god, just the boot on their necks.
I took the point of the hunger games to be the reinforcement of a sense of helplessness and total submission to the state.
Such a system would not tolerate a Christian faith. It is too much of a threat.
How many Christians are ther in Mecca? They have done thorough job of eradication.
Thanks for your review, these books were completely off my radar screen until I read this thread. Now I will give them a go.
I’m glad to hear FReepers give it good reviews. I just ordered it for my almost 14 year old daughter today, but I might read it first to see if she can handle it. I see it is a top seller in the Kindle downloads, so there must be something good about it.
I agree. Great books!
FYI: a couple of links to other discussions of the Hunger Games: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2852446/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2826901/posts
Gosh, SampleMan, I’m talking about the idea of divinity. Not Christianity. Just the idea that we’re not purposeless and alone. That’s absent from the book and it bothers me.
I have no idea about Christians in Mecca, but I’d bet there’s at least a few.
I do get and understand what you are saying. I do think it was purposeful as well, but I think the purpose was precisely to make the reader fully feel the hopelessness of the situation. Sorry if I got off on a tangent concerning current regimes.
If we presume that our sense of right and wrong is a manifestation of the holy spirit, then there is a strong spiritual message starting at the extreme of President Snow and moving to the other extreme of Peeta.
I apologize if I sounded snarky, I'm on my iPhone and trying condense my comments, sometimes to the expense of politeness.
What I like about the books is the fact that they are written for the younger crowd. What a perfect time for this generation to understand tyranny and be able to draw parallels between the story and what is happening in our world today.
In book three, the word Republic is used in a very good way so I think the author leans toward a conservative point of view. I’m 43 and I thought it was a great 1984-esque story. Hopefully the movie will stay true to the story and won’t lean to the left.
Bonus: President snow is played by Donald Sutherland, a true commie - perfect for the part!
My Dad ordered the book for my 9 year old, I am reading it first so if she has any questions. This book is a big hit in her school, and they only have one so the waiting list is long
If it depicted divinity sans Christianity, would you (generic “you”) be complaining that it depicted false gods? I’ve seen some complain mightily about the spiritual aspects of Lord Of The Rings.
Perhaps the story is better with no supernatural references, as opposed to improper ones.
I’d probably not complain about wider, obtuse ideas about gods or God. Just because I think that people as a species will always be able to realize that something smarter and more powerful than they are had a hand in their creation. That’s what’s absent from the book.
Where there is divinity, there is a spark of necessarily unreasonable hope. That is missing...
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