Starting from 2008 American writer Suzanne Collins has published three novels about a young girl, Katniss Everdeen who is the inhabitant of a post-apocalyptic country, Panem, located in the place of the former North America. This is the Hunger Games trilogy which includes three novels – the Hunger Games, Сatching Fire, and Mockingjay. This is a dystopian future which is strictly divided into the wealthy and the poor – the mighty Capitol plus twelve poor Districts surrounding it. This Capitol is a totalitarian police state which borrowed ideology from the ancient Rome. These communities are under Capitol’s thumb. They are being exploited for their goods and recourses and cheap labor to be protected by the Peacekeepers, the law enforcement and military organ of this country. There was the thirteenth District once that was completely wiped out by the Capitol – it started a civil war against the Capitol totalitarian regime. Those days are called the Dark Days. After their defeat, this government is treating people from the outside like slaves.
Being wealthy, coddled, and bored, the Capitol conducts an annual deadly competition known as the Hunger Games for kids from these poverty-stricken Districts to play a part in it by killing each other in the pursuit of food. Their government knows no remorse or forgiveness. This murderous competition was created in the form of the punishment and warning for those who want to rise against the regime, and they had been conducted for seventy-four years so far. A boy and a girl aged twelve to eighteen are picked up in every District. They are named the tributes – these children should fight to death while it is broadcasted on television all over Panem. The kid that wins and kills all the others is provided with food supplies to feed their entire district. District Twelve is considered to be the neediest in the country. Once a prosperous coal-mining city, now it’s evicted from natural resources by the greedy residents of the Capitol.
The main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen or Catnip, is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in this District her whole life. People are regularly suffering from starvation there, and she has various survival skills – she hunts and takes care of herself plus her younger sister, Primrose. When her sister is picked up from the Reaping to take part in this annual death match, Katniss decides to step forward for Primrose. She understands why all tributes want to win and has no intentions to hurt anybody. After the Games started, her hunting instincts, determination, and acquired skills just dictated the young girl to fight back and cling to life. Peeta Mellark has also been chosen to be a tribute from their community. They were schoolmates with Katniss – he even rescued her in hunger times by feeding her with bread from his father’s shop. During the television program, Peeta uncovers his romantic interest towards Katniss which excite the residents of the Capitol. Tributes are giving such interviews to gain sponsors that can present them special gifts which can save their lives.
The Games begin, and almost half of the participants are murdered on the first day on the arena. They are fighting ruthlessly to win food to feed people in the community. There is a sudden rule change – all those tributes from one District who are still alive can be the winners if they combine forces. Katniss unites with Peeta, and together they manage to survive this death toll and defeat other tributes. However, tricky authorities abolish the previous rule change. Katniss is forced to compete with him, though she has romantic feelings for him…
How had this happened to me? I was only twelve. It wasn’t like I had had an abundance of entries in the Reaping; only five. And it was my first Reaping! But it had happened. And nothing could be done about it now.
I was a contender in the dreaded Hunger Games. Continue reading “Condemned to Death” »