Inequality in The Hunger Games

I have reached the climax of The Hunger Games and am neck-deep in the novels action. The book is an easy read with straight forward prose and crisp sentences that move the story along briskly. Collins is a master of ending each chapter with a hook that compels the reader to read into the next chapter, and then on to the next. I am beginning to see why this book is recommended in the Common Core Standards 7th grade and higher complexity band. If it were not for the avalanche of reading assignments I have for MAT coursework, I could easily devour this book. I began thinking about how I could use this novel to touch on broader themes that students will inevitably encounter in other books as well as in real life. I like how the book’s futuristic setting and action draw the reader in without meandering around complex themes like economic inequality and social justice. Students would be able to empathize with the novel’s protagonist, Katniss, who comes from a poor district where food is a scarce commodity and her family’s survival depends on her ability to hunt. The economic conditions in the nation of Panem create an allegoric representation for economic inequality in the world today. In the annual spectacle of the Hunger Games two tributes drawn from the twelve districts are randomly selected and forced to fight to the death on national television. However, due to the tessera system which forces the children of poor families to enter their names in the lottery multiple times in exchange for food and oil, they are most likely to be selected as tributes. The children of rich families, known as Career Tributes, receive better preparation and training and thus have more of an advantage at survival than the poor tributes. There are many parallels that can be drawn from the modern world which I would leave to the students to think of themselves. Some example issues that can be touched in a discussion about the novel’s theme of inequality are: economic mobility, social justice, and the market versus command economies. These can be sensitive topics to discuss which may inevitably encroach into political territory, but I believe the novel does a good job of subtly introducing the theme of economic inequality and students at the 7th and 8th grade levels are capable of making allegoric connections.