As a dystopian novel, The Hunger Games contains a lot of commentary about the state of the current world. One of the more obvious points made by Suzanne Collins throughout the novel has to do with economic systems and the role they play in wealth inequality. Much of this is criticism of capitalism, which helps to enforce socioeconomic standings, rather than allow people to climb the ladder. This phenomenon is also seen within the fictional country of Panem.
In The Hunger Games, the system set up by the Capitol should provide each district and its citizens with equal opportunity to win the games. Theoretically, each district should have victors, which help to bring in extra resources for the rest of the district, seeing as how Katniss mentions that the victor’s “district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food” (Collins 19). With these extra resources, all of the districts should be able to maintain a certain level of prosperity. However, the disparities between the districts is glaringly obvious. Some of the districts, 1, 2 and 4 in particular, are already granted more resources due to their importance to the Capitol. As a result, their citizens do not have to spend as much time worrying about how to survive day-to-day, and can put in time training for the games. This extra training comes in handy, seeing as how most of the victors end up being from these career districts. They then bring home resources that help to sustain their lifestyle. On the other side, the poorer districts often provide tributes who are close to death before they even step foot in the arena. These are usually not the winning tributes, so there are no extra resources from the Capitol, and the cycle of poverty continues on.
To compare this to real life, many of the economic systems employed by countries like the United States similarly encourage the continued oppression of the people who are already at the bottom. Take the ideology of neoliberalism, for example, which supposedly helps to uplift the poverty-stricken individuals of the world by creating more economic growth within certain countries. Under neoliberalism, countries with free trade zones receive money to set up factories and infrastructure. But because the countries themselves see very little of the profit, the people who work in the factories, often poorer residents of that country, become the ones who must work harder to pay off these debts. As such, the poor people remain poor while the rich people become increasingly richer.
While Collins may not have been specifically concerned with the role of neoliberalism within the United States’ implementation of capitalism, it is easy to see the similarities between the damaging effects of neoliberalism and the Capitol’s resource distribution system. Ideally, governments, both in reality and within The Hunger Games, would work tirelessly to ensure the entire population was being taken care of. However, that is not the case, and at least when it comes to Panem, this inequality results in a huge revolution.
The analysis of the comparison between the wealth inequality presented in the novel to the wealth inequality of the United States today changed my perspective of the novel as an extreme work of fiction to a novel that may have some content relative to the modern world. The better treatment that some districts receive as a result of their importance to the Capitol hinders the other districts from prospering, which decreases their odds of having a victor from the games. Even Peeta’s family owns a bakery but cannot afford the food that they make, leading them to consume stale food. Katniss’ statement of the prize for the victor’s district to include food further demonstrates the economic inequality suffered by the poorer districts that leads to a lack of basic necessities. The analysis of poverty as a continuous cycle in the novel strongly relates to the static nature of socioeconomic standings in the United States today. Although it is possible to gain the status and respect needed to improve social standing and net income, capitalism often operates on a system in which the poor stay poor while the rich get richer. This can be seen in even things that seem trivial, such as attending college. For these reasons, I agree that the wealth inequality seen in the novel strongly relates to the wealth inequality and the highly static socioeconomic levels in the United States today.
ReplyDeleteAs you have mentioned, Hunger Games is written in a dystopian setting, which has several undertones of our current society. There is a focus within the novel on resource distribution, wealth inequality and climate change.
ReplyDeleteThe capitol has established a capital system which controls various districts and only provides resources to each based on certain allocations. If we compare this capitol system to modern society, we can draw comparisons to communist systems, where everyone receives fixed resources as well. The system is built on accomplishments where if someone wins the hunger games, their district is “showered with prizes, largely consisting of food”(19). A central power system decides when and where people gain increased resources similar to a communist system where the government controls everything and only when permission is granted, do people have the opportunity to gain additional resources.
The wealth disparity between the rich and the poor districts in the novel can be compared to the disparity between rich and poor in capitalistics systems. In the novel, there are districts such as district 12 that are stuck with poverty while there are neighboring districts that are living lavishly in significantly better conditions. This draws a parallel between rich nations and poor nations in the world, and how certain countries are living lavish lifestyles in comparison to poverty-stricken nations.
And finally, the novel addresses the potential outcome of climate change and how it can cause discord in the near future.