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Definition Dystopia

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This presentation chronicles the development of dystopian literature and describes some of its main characteristics.

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Utopian: a perfect society, an ideal world

Dystopian: almost exact opposite

Dystopian novels are often based on a society that is extremely oppressive and frightening, which is often the completely reversed of the goals in an utopian society. Equal rights and humanity are often overlooked in dystopian societies and are at times considered a nightmare to those living in the community.

These soceties are often broken down or in an opressed state. Societies greatest fears create a grim and hopeless environment in many instances of dystopian stories,

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LibGuides: Dystopian Novels: Classic Dystopian Fiction

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Utopian: a perfect society, an ideal world Dystopian: almost exact opposite Dystopian novels are often based on a society that is extremely oppressive and frightening, which is often the completely reversed of the goals in an utopian society. Equal rights and humanity are often overlooked in dystopian societies and are at times considered a nightmare to those living in the community.

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Best Dystopian Novels

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Humanity aims for constant progress, movement towards a superior standard of living.

But what happens when everything goes wrong instead? Speculating about a future that has taken a distinct turn for the worse is a mainstay of science fiction writing. There's no beautiful end point, only a joyless, dysfunctional dystopia.

We take a look at the 20 greatest novels focusing on the darker side of life. Vote for your favourite.

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

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Humanity aims for constant progress, movement towards a superior standard of living. But what happens when everything goes wrong instead? Speculating about a future that has taken a distinct turn for the worse is a mainstay of science fiction writing. There's no beautiful end point, only a joyless, dysfunctional dystopia.

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📎 Video
Dystopia / the codes
Dystopia / the codes
The Hunger Games /PANEM
The Hunger Games /PANEM
Dystopian Literature
Dystopian Literature

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How to recognize a dystopia - Alex Gendler

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The Hunger Games Chapter 1 analyses

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Summary: Chapter 1

Katniss Everdeen, who tells her story in the first person, wakes up. It is the day of the reaping. She sees her little sister, Prim (short for Primrose), asleep in bed with their mother across the room. Katniss puts on her clothes to go hunting. The area where she and her family live is called the Seam, and it's part of District 12. They are at the edge of the district, which is enclosed by a high fence, and Katniss often crawls under the fence and enters the woods outside, where she forages and hunts. Her father taught her these skills before his death in a mine explosion when she was eleven years old, and she uses a bow he made. Though trespassing in the woods and poaching are illegal, nobody pays attention, and Katniss even sells meat to the Peacekeepers who are supposed to enforce the laws. Most people in the district, she explains, don't have enough food.

She meets her friend Gale in the woods. They discuss running away, but both are the caretakers of their families. They catch some fish, then stop by the district's black market, called the Hob, to trade for bread and salt. They go to the mayor's house to sell strawberries they collected and talk to the mayor's daughter, Madge, whom Katniss is friendly with at school. Madge is dressed for the reaping in case she's chosen, and Gale becomes angry because of the injustice of the reaping process. Katniss explains that, at age twelve, your name is entered into the drawing once; at thirteen, it's entered twice; and so on up until age eighteen. But you can choose to have your name entered again in exchange for a tessera, a year's supply of grain and oil for one person. Poor people often need tesserae to survive, so the children of the poor end up having their names entered numerous times. Katniss, who is sixteen, will have her name in twenty times, and Gale, who is eighteen, will have his in forty-two times. Katniss's sister, Prim, is only twelve and has taken no tesserae, so her name is only in once. Katniss returns home, and after she gets ready, goes with her mother and Prim to the town square. That's where the reaping, which is televised and treated like a festive event, takes place in their district.

In the square, the mayor gives a speech that provides the history of the Hunger Games. Struck by droughts, storms, rising seas, and other natural problems, North America essentially dissolved, and the country of Panem rose up in its place. Panem was formed of a Capitol and thirteen districts, but the districts eventually rebelled. The Capitol defeated the districts, with the thirteenth being so badly destroyed that it ceased to exist. To punish the districts and remind them of their powerlessness, the Capitol holds the Hunger Games, in which a male and female "tribute" between twelve and eighteen from each district must fight to the death in a large outdoor arena. The tribute that survives wins, and that tribute's district receives extra food. Haymitch Abernathy, one of only two people from District 12 to win the Hunger Games and the only one still living, comes out on stage. He is drunk and tries to hug Effie Trinket, a public figure who acts as an escort to District 12's tributes. Effie Trinket then draws the name of the first tribute: Primrose Everdeen.

Summary: Chapter 2

As Prim walks up to the stage, Katniss, in a panic, rushes forward and shouts that she is volunteering as tribute. A volunteer is allowed to take the place of the person whose name is drawn, but this never happens in District 12. Katniss and Prim embrace, and Gale has to pull Prim away from Katniss. Katniss fights back any sign of emotion because crying will make the other tributes think she's weak. Effie Trinket asks for a round of applause, but the crowd remains silent and offers only a gesture of respect to Katniss. Haymitch falls off the stage while offering his congratulations.

The name of the boy tribute is drawn and it's Peeta Mellark. Katniss thinks about her interaction with Peeta years earlier. Her father had just died, and her mother fell into severe depression. They had run out of money and food-starvation is common in District 12, she says-and Katniss had wandered into the lane behind the shops of the wealthier townspeople. She searched the trash bins but found nothing. Suddenly a woman was screaming at her to leave from the back door of the bakery. Peeta, who was in Katniss's grade, was there, and he and the woman (his mother) went back inside. There was a commotion, then Peeta returned with two burned loaves of bread, his mother yelling behind him to feed them to the pigs. He had a welt on his cheek where his mother had hit him. He cautiously threw the loaves to Katniss instead. Katniss brought the bread home and fed her family. It made her hopeful they wouldn't starve, and she wondered if he had burned the bread on purpose to help her, despite knowing his mother would hit him for it. Later, she saw Peeta at the same time that she saw the first dandelion of spring. Recalling that dandelions are edible, she realized she would have to use the skills her father taught her to keep herself and her family alive, and she associates this realization with Peeta.

Summary: Chapter 3

Katniss is escorted into the Justice Building and left in a room. Her mother and sister are brought in to say their goodbyes, and Katniss makes her mother promise not to fall apart again. She tells them she loves them as they're led out. Peter Mellark's father, the baker, comes in. Katniss often trades him squirrels for bread. He gives Katniss cookies and promises to make sure Prim is being fed. Next, Madge enters. She gives Katniss a pin with a gold bird in the center and asks Katniss to wear it into the arena. Lastly, Gale enters. He tells Katniss to find a bow if she can, and he says he won't let Katniss's family starve.

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A summary of Chapters 1-3 in Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Hunger Games and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.

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1984 and The Hunger Games

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the dystopian country of Oceania is controlled by the Party. Many citizens of the nation have no freedom of thought, speech or knowledge. The Party brainwashes people into thinking the same way as it and kills those who so much as disagree with it. In the film version of the Hunger Games, originally written by Suzanna Collins, the country of Panem is controlled by the Capitol. The inhabitants of the Capitol live luxuriously and safely while the people of the twelve other districts that are in poverty and fear. Both fictitious stories have many similarities and differences.

In each world, the government unfairly controls its population and suppresses the peoples' freedom. The Capitol kills anyone who is disobedient, and they also hold an event called the Hunger Games. "Once a year, boy and girl 'tributes' are chosen by lottery from each district and forced to compete in the Hunger Games, an event is televised throughout the land and manipulated for maximum ratings. The last one left alive is the winner." This event gives the Capitol power because their citizens are constantly reminded of the Capitols power. In 1984, the three classes were the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the proles. The Inner Party brainwashes the other citizens by telling them lies and torturing them until they believe what the Party wants them to believe. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, and Katniss Everdeen, a girl from the districts, are the protagonist from each story. The two each disagree with the way their respective government's rule and they fight for that in which they believe in.

In the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen becomes one of the contestants in the Hunger Games. She allies herself with Peeta, a fellow player from her district. They end up being the last two standing and to rebel against the Capitol, and they decide they will kill themselves at the same time so that there is no single winner. The Capitol ends up letting them both win since the citizens of the Capitol would find it unacceptable if they were to both dies. At the same time, allowing two victors was interpreted as an act of rebelling against the government. This causes an uproar in the Capitol and shows the other districts that the government was weak. Katniss completed her mission by giving hope to the other districts and convincing them to fight back, therefore beginning a revolution.

Winston Smith decided to rebel against the Party by living part-time in an apartment with his girlfriend Julia in a location that the Party does not supervise. He also tries to find ways to convince the proles to rebel with him. The proles are weak-minded laborers who make up approximately 85% of Oceania's population and as Winston wrote it, "If there is hope, it lies in the proles." By saying this, he means that the only way the Party could ever be overpowered is by the proles turning against the Party itself. Living unsupervised with a girl and attempting to be freed from the Party's control were both for which the Party had no tolerance. When they caught him in the act of rebelling he was sent to be tortured and brainwashed until his old mentality was non-existent and he had truly become loyal to the Party. Winston and Katniss both fought for what they believed in, but only one succeeded in their goal because of the division of classes in their world.

Panem has a distinct division of classes. The high class is the Capitol which menacingly rules the country and its citizens have good jobs and healthy lives. The low class is comprised of the citizens of the districts who live in poor conditions and collect and manufacture primary materials that are used in the Capitol. The Capitol sits high above the districts, but its rulers fail to realize that the districts could one day rebel. Although the people from each district are too weak mentally to wrap their minds around the fact that they could rebel, Katniss reveals to them their true value. In the Hunger Games, not having a middle class weakened the high class since they were fooled into thinking that there was no threat from the low class.
Oceania is ruled by the Inner Party, which is a division of the Party. A small percentage of the population are members of the Inner Party, and they live like royalty. They all think alike, and it is their job to control their country's collective mind, but; "If an Inner Party member gets out of line they are dealt with the same as any other member of society, mainly through torture, imprisonment and/or being erased from history (becoming an "unperson")." There is also the Outer Party whose members do jobs that require intelligence, and the uneducated proles who produce goods for little pay. The proles are too feeble to rebel, but the Outer Party members are smart enough to think for themselves and could persuade the proles into an insurgency. The Inner Party knew the Outer Party could begin an uprising, so it used preventative counter rebellion tactics to maintain its position as the high class. These stories show that a middle class was crucial for the high class to remain in an authoritative position.

Winston and Katniss were both rebels. They did their best to rebel, but Winston was not as successful as Katniss since he was up against a more dominant form of government. There are three tiers of classes in Oceania, and the middle class was a known threat to the high class, so the high class incorporated precautions to prohibit the middle class taking away its power. The rulers of the Capitol did not think they had to worry about rebellion since the whole time they had been in power; the lower class was so far beneath them that they could not take over the high class. This blinded the Capitol to the fact that there was a chance that a citizen from a district could one day reveal to the lower class their true strength. As shown in these two unforgiving societies, the class structure is an important factor in the government maintaining or loosing their control.

Bibliography
* Eby, Douglas. "Suzanne Collins on The Hunger Games and Being a Writer." Psych Central.com, 22 Mar. 2012, blogs.psychcentral.com/creative-mind/2012/03/suzanne-collins-on-the-hunger-games-and-being-a-writer/.
* Orwell, George. 1984. Penguin, 2008.
* "The Hunger Games." Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2012.
* Bean Shadow. "The World of '1984': Class System." Writing As I Please, 11 Mar. 2013, writingasiplease.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/1984-class-system/.

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Essay: Comparison between 1984 and Hunger Games

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the dystopian country of Oceania is controlled by the Party. Many citizens of the nation have no freedom of thought, speech or knowledge. The Party brainwashes people into thinking the same way as it and kills those who so much as disagree with it.

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Hunger Games and 1984

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the dystopian country of Oceania is controlled by the Party. Many citizens of the nation have no freedom of thought, speech or knowledge. The Party brainwashes people into thinking the same way as it and kills those who so much as disagree with it. In the film version of the Hunger Games, originally written by Suzanna Collins, the country of Panem is controlled by the Capitol. The inhabitants of the Capitol live luxuriously and safely while the people of the twelve other districts that are in poverty and fear. Both fictitious stories have many similarities and differences.

In each world, the government unfairly controls its population and suppresses the peoples' freedom. The Capitol kills anyone who is disobedient, and they also hold an event called the Hunger Games. "Once a year, boy and girl 'tributes' are chosen by lottery from each district and forced to compete in the Hunger Games, an event is televised throughout the land and manipulated for maximum ratings. The last one left alive is the winner." This event gives the Capitol power because their citizens are constantly reminded of the Capitols power. In 1984, the three classes were the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the proles. The Inner Party brainwashes the other citizens by telling them lies and torturing them until they believe what the Party wants them to believe. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, and Katniss Everdeen, a girl from the districts, are the protagonist from each story. The two each disagree with the way their respective government's rule and they fight for that in which they believe in.

In the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen becomes one of the contestants in the Hunger Games. She allies herself with Peeta, a fellow player from her district. They end up being the last two standing and to rebel against the Capitol, and they decide they will kill themselves at the same time so that there is no single winner. The Capitol ends up letting them both win since the citizens of the Capitol would find it unacceptable if they were to both dies. At the same time, allowing two victors was interpreted as an act of rebelling against the government. This causes an uproar in the Capitol and shows the other districts that the government was weak. Katniss completed her mission by giving hope to the other districts and convincing them to fight back, therefore beginning a revolution.

Winston Smith decided to rebel against the Party by living part-time in an apartment with his girlfriend Julia in a location that the Party does not supervise. He also tries to find ways to convince the proles to rebel with him. The proles are weak-minded laborers who make up approximately 85% of Oceania's population and as Winston wrote it, "If there is hope, it lies in the proles." By saying this, he means that the only way the Party could ever be overpowered is by the proles turning against the Party itself. Living unsupervised with a girl and attempting to be freed from the Party's control were both for which the Party had no tolerance. When they caught him in the act of rebelling he was sent to be tortured and brainwashed until his old mentality was non-existent and he had truly become loyal to the Party. Winston and Katniss both fought for what they believed in, but only one succeeded in their goal because of the division of classes in their world.

Panem has a distinct division of classes. The high class is the Capitol which menacingly rules the country and its citizens have good jobs and healthy lives. The low class is comprised of the citizens of the districts who live in poor conditions and collect and manufacture primary materials that are used in the Capitol. The Capitol sits high above the districts, but its rulers fail to realize that the districts could one day rebel. Although the people from each district are too weak mentally to wrap their minds around the fact that they could rebel, Katniss reveals to them their true value. In the Hunger Games, not having a middle class weakened the high class since they were fooled into thinking that there was no threat from the low class.
Oceania is ruled by the Inner Party, which is a division of the Party. A small percentage of the population are members of the Inner Party, and they live like royalty. They all think alike, and it is their job to control their country's collective mind, but; "If an Inner Party member gets out of line they are dealt with the same as any other member of society, mainly through torture, imprisonment and/or being erased from history (becoming an "unperson")." There is also the Outer Party whose members do jobs that require intelligence, and the uneducated proles who produce goods for little pay. The proles are too feeble to rebel, but the Outer Party members are smart enough to think for themselves and could persuade the proles into an insurgency. The Inner Party knew the Outer Party could begin an uprising, so it used preventative counter rebellion tactics to maintain its position as the high class. These stories show that a middle class was crucial for the high class to remain in an authoritative position.

Winston and Katniss were both rebels. They did their best to rebel, but Winston was not as successful as Katniss since he was up against a more dominant form of government. There are three tiers of classes in Oceania, and the middle class was a known threat to the high class, so the high class incorporated precautions to prohibit the middle class taking away its power. The rulers of the Capitol did not think they had to worry about rebellion since the whole time they had been in power; the lower class was so far beneath them that they could not take over the high class. This blinded the Capitol to the fact that there was a chance that a citizen from a district could one day reveal to the lower class their true strength. As shown in these two unforgiving societies, the class structure is an important factor in the government maintaining or loosing their control.

Bibliography
* Eby, Douglas. "Suzanne Collins on The Hunger Games and Being a Writer." Psych Central.com, 22 Mar. 2012, blogs.psychcentral.com/creative-mind/2012/03/suzanne-collins-on-the-hunger-games-and-being-a-writer/.
* Orwell, George. 1984. Penguin, 2008.
* "The Hunger Games." Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2012.
* Bean Shadow. "The World of '1984': Class System." Writing As I Please, 11 Mar. 2013, writingasiplease.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/1984-class-system/.

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Essay: Comparison between 1984 and Hunger Games

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the dystopian country of Oceania is controlled by the Party. Many citizens of the nation have no freedom of thought, speech or knowledge. The Party brainwashes people into thinking the same way as it and kills those who so much as disagree with it.

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Hunger Games in short

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Katniss Everdeen wakes up on the day of the reaping, when the tributes are chosen who will take part in the Hunger Games. Her mother and little sister, Prim, sleep nearby. Her father died in a mine explosion years earlier. She goes hunting in the woods outside her district, District 12, with Gale, her best friend. That night, at the reaping ceremony, the mayor gives a speech describing how the governments of North America collapsed and the country of Panem rose up in their place. A war ensued between the Capitol and the districts. The Capitol won, and as a reminder of their defeat, the Capitol holds the Hunger Games every year. The mayor then introduces Haymitch Abernathy, District 12's only living Hunger-Games winner, and he's so drunk he ends up falling in his own vomit.

The district's female tribute is chosen, and to Katniss's horror, it's Prim. Katniss volunteers immediately in Prim's place. Then the male tribute is selected. It's Peeta Mellark, and Katniss remembers how years earlier, while searching for food for her family in the garbage bins behind the town shops, Peeta gave her bread from his family's bakery. Katniss credits him with saving her that day. Katniss and Peeta say goodbye to their friends and families and board a train for the Capitol. During the trip, she and Peeta convince Haymitch, their mentor in the Games and the person responsible for getting them gifts from sponsors, to take his duties seriously.

Once there, Katniss meets with her stylist, Cinna, who is designing her dress for the opening ceremony. At the ceremony, Katniss and Peeta wear simple black outfits lit with synthetic flames. The outfits are a huge hit with the audience and make Katniss and Peeta stand out among the tributes. The next day, Katniss and Peeta attend group training, and the tributes from rich districts who have trained for the Games their whole lives, called Career Tributes, show off their skills. Later, the tributes are interviewed by Caesar Flickerman, a television host. In his interview, Peeta reveals that he's had a crush on Katniss for several years.

Finally the time comes. From a small underground room, Katniss is lifted into the arena and the Games officially begin. All the tributes are there, and in front of her is the Cornucopia, which houses an abundance of supplies. Rather than fight, she runs away as Haymitch advised. She hikes all day before making camp. After dark, someone starts a fire nearby, and it isn't long before a pack of Career Tributes arrives and kills the person. To Katniss's shock, Peeta is with them. The next day Katniss goes in search of water. She walks for hours and collapses from exhaustion, but ultimately she finds a stream. She's woken in the night by a wall of fire moving in her direction, and as she runs away one of the numerous fireballs falling around her grazes her leg, injuring it.

That night, while she hides in a tree from the pack of Careers below, she notices a young girl named Rue from District 11 in a nearby tree. Rue points out a nest of tracker jackers, wasps engineered by the Capitol to be lethal, over Katniss's head, and Katniss cuts the branch holding the nest, dropping it onto the Careers. Two of them die from the stings and the rest scatter. Katniss is stung a few times as well, but as she's running away, she remembers one of the girls who died had a bow and arrows, the weapons she's become proficient with from hunting. She runs back to retrieve them, and Peeta happens to arrive as she's grabbing the bow. He yells at Katniss to run just as Cato, a very large and dangerous Career from District 2, shows up. Peeta stops him so Katniss can escape, and she passes out in a ditch shortly after.

Katniss encounters Rue again, and the two quickly form a bond. They are able to get food hunting and foraging, and Katniss realizes that the Careers would have difficulty surviving without the supplies at the Cornucopia, so she and Rue devise a plan. While Rue lights decoy fires, Katniss sneaks up to the Cornucopia. The supplies are in a pyramid away from the main camp, and after the Careers leave to investigate the fires, Katniss manages to blow up the supplies by cutting open a bag of apples with her arrows, which sets off the mines set to protect the pyramid. When Katniss doesn't find Rue at their meeting spot, she goes looking for her and finds her just as another tribute stabs her with a spear. Katniss kills the other tribute, and when Rue dies, she covers her body in flowers.

Katniss is depressed all the next day, until an announcement is made that there has been a rule change: Now, two tributes from the same district can be declared winners. Katniss goes looking for Peeta, and it takes her a day but finally she finds him. He's severely injured from his fight with Cato and can barely walk, but Katniss helps him to a cave where they'll be hidden. Thinking Peeta may die, Katniss impulsively kisses him. A moment later she hears a noise outside and finds a pot of broth sent from Haymitch. She realizes that Haymitch will reward her for playing up the romance between her and Peeta. The next morning Katniss sees that Peeta's leg is badly infected and he'll die without treatment. Another announcement is made, this time saying each tribute will find an item they desperately need at the Cornucopia. Katniss knows that means medicine for Peeta's leg, but Peeta thinks it's too dangerous and doesn't want Katniss to go. Using a sleep syrup sent from Haymitch, Katniss knocks him out.

At the Cornucopia, Katniss tries to run and grab the item marked for District 12, but she gets into a fight with a female tribute. The tribute is about to kill her when Thresh, the male tribute from District 11 who came to the Games with Rue, kills the girl instead. He spares Katniss because of the way she treated Rue, and Katniss makes it back to the cave. She injects Peeta with the medicine just before passing out. They stay there for a few days while it rains nonstop outside, and in this time the romance between Katniss and Peeta progresses. When the rain lets up, Peeta and Katniss need to find food. Katniss leaves Peeta in charge of foraging while she goes to hunt. She comes back hours later and finds a small pile of poisonous berries Peeta collected thinking they were safe. They discover the body of a tribute who Katniss nicknamed Foxface, and Katniss realizes she died from eating the berries. By this point Cato, who killed Thresh, is the only tribute left, and Katniss decides to keep some berries in case they can trick Cato the same way. Eventually the streams and ponds dry up, and they know the only source of water left is the lake near the Cornucopia. Without any other choice, they start walking to the lake.

By the lake, Cato comes suddenly barreling toward them. Unexpectedly, however, he runs straight by them. Katniss realizes there are strange creatures chasing him, and they all run to the Cornucopia and climb up. The creatures are mutant wolves engineered by the Capitol, and Katniss realizes they are actually the dead tributes, who have been turned into these monsters. Taking advantage of the situation, Cato attacks Peeta, but Katniss and Peeta manage to push him over the edge. The creatures overpower him, but because of the body armor he's wearing he remains alive for hours, until Katniss shoots him out of pity. Just as Katniss and Peeta think they've won, another announcement is made that there can only be one winner again. Neither Katniss nor Peeta will kill the other, so Katniss takes out the poisonous berries. Just as she and Peeta pop them in their mouths, the announcer shouts for them to stop and declares them both winners.

They go back to the Training Center and Katniss is kept alone for days while she recuperates. When she is let out, Haymitch warns her that she's in danger. The Capitol took her stunt with the berries as an act of defiance, so she has to convince everyone that she was desperate at the thought of losing Peeta and not being rebellious, or even her family could be at risk. In their final interview, she's reunited with Peeta, who lost his leg and now has a prosthetic. After, when Haymitch tells her she did great, Peeta wonders what he means, and Katniss explains everything, including the romance strategy during the Games. Peeta is angry and hurt, but as they arrive back in District 12, they hold hands one more time to greet the crowd and cameras.

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the hunger games free online study guide

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The Hunger Games: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes

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A short summary of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Hunger Games.

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Summary: Chapter I

On a cold day in April of 1984, a man named Winston Smith returns to his home, a dilapidated apartment building called Victory Mansions. Thin, frail, and thirty-nine years old, it is painful for him to trudge up the stairs because he has a varicose ulcer above his right ankle. The elevator is always out of service so he does not try to use it. As he climbs the staircase, he is greeted on each landing by a poster depicting an enormous face, underscored by the words "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."

Winston is an insignificant official in the Party, the totalitarian political regime that rules all of Airstrip One-the land that used to be called England-as part of the larger state of Oceania. Though Winston is technically a member of the ruling class, his life is still under the Party's oppressive political control. In his apartment, an instrument called a telescreen-which is always on, spouting propaganda, and through which the Thought Police are known to monitor the actions of citizens-shows a dreary report about pig iron. Winston keeps his back to the screen. From his window he sees the Ministry of Truth, where he works as a propaganda officer altering historical records to match the Party's official version of past events. Winston thinks about the other Ministries that exist as part of the Party's governmental apparatus: the Ministry of Peace, which wages war; the Ministry of Plenty, which plans economic shortages; and the dreaded Ministry of Love, the center of the Inner Party's loathsome activities.

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
See Important Quotations Explained

From a drawer in a little alcove hidden from the telescreen, Winston pulls out a small diary he recently purchased. He found the diary in a secondhand store in the proletarian district, where the very poor live relatively unimpeded by Party monitoring. The proles, as they are called, are so impoverished and insignificant that the Party does not consider them a threat to its power. Winston begins to write in his diary, although he realizes that this constitutes an act of rebellion against the Party. He describes the films he watched the night before. He thinks about his lust and hatred for a dark-haired girl who works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth, and about an important Inner Party member named O'Brien-a man he is sure is an enemy of the Party. Winston remembers the moment before that day's Two Minutes Hate, an assembly during which Party orators whip the populace into a frenzy of hatred against the enemies of Oceania. Just before the Hate began, Winston knew he hated Big Brother, and saw the same loathing in O'Brien's eyes.

Winston looks down and realizes that he has written "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" over and over again in his diary. He has committed thoughtcrime-the most unpardonable crime-and he knows that the Thought Police will seize him sooner or later. Just then, there is a knock at the door.

Analysis: Chapter I

The first few chapters of 1984 are devoted to introducing the major characters and themes of the novel. These chapters also acquaint the reader with the harsh and oppressive world in which the novel's protagonist, Winston Smith, lives. It is from Winston's perspective that the reader witnesses the brutal physical and psychological cruelties wrought upon the people by their government. Orwell's main goals in 1984 are to depict the frightening techniques a totalitarian government (in which a single ruling class possesses absolute power) might use to control its subjects, and to illustrate the extent of the control that government is able to exert. To this end, Orwell offers a protagonist who has been subject to Party control all of his life, but who has arrived at a dim idea of rebellion and freedom.

Unlike virtually anyone else in Airstrip One, Winston seems to understand that he might be happier if he were free. Orwell emphasizes the fact that, in the world of Airstrip One, freedom is a shocking and alien notion: simply writing in a diary-an act of self-expression-is an unpardonable crime. He also highlights the extent of government control by describing how the Party watches its members through the giant telescreens in their homes. The panic that grabs hold of Winston when he realizes that he has written "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" evidences his certainty in the pervasive omniscience of the Party and in the efficiency of its monitoring techniques.

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A summary of Part X (Section1) in George Orwell's 1984. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of 1984 and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.

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Suzanne Collins' inspirations

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The Hunger Games is based on the first of three novels by Suzanne Collins, the film is a post-apocalyptic story in which 21-year-old American actress Jennifer Lawrence plays heroine Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take her sister's place in a televised fight-to-the-death battle. This is what we know about Collins:

Her background:
She was born in Connecticut in 1962, the youngest of the family with two older sisters and one older brother. She joked once: "I hold them largely responsible for the trouble I got into growing up. I believe as the youngest child, that is my right."
Her high school was the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she was a Thaetre Arts major. She graduated from Indiana University with a double major in Drama and Telecommunications. She went on to earn her MFA. from New York University in Dramatic Writing. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.

Her literary tastes:
Collins has praised her junior school English teacher Miss Vance for introducing her to Edgar Allan Poe stories. She recalled: "I remember all of us sitting around just wide-eyed as she read The Telltale Heart or The Mask of the Red Death. She didn't think we were too young to hear it. And we were riveted. That made a huge impression on me."

Her father's Vietnam experiences:
Collins was in the American Air Force and a Vietnam veteran. He was also a doctor of political science. Collins said: "He talked about war with us from very early on. When I was a kid, he was gone for a year in Vietnam. It was very important to him that we understood about certain aspects of life. So, it wasn't enough to visit a battlefield, we needed to know why the battle occurred, how it played out, and the consequences. Fortunately, he had a gift for presenting history as a fascinating story. He also seemed to have a good sense of exactly how much a child could handle, which is quite a bit. If you went to a battlefield with him you didn't just stand there. You would hear what led up to this war and to this particular battle, what transpired there, and what the fallout was. It wasn't like, there's a field. It would be, here's a story."

Television background:
She moved to New York at the age of 25 and worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For pre-school viewers, she wrote multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days,and a freelancer on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! It was children's author James Proimos who talked her into giving children's books a try.

Inspiration for The Hunger Games:
Collins was lying in bed channel-surfing between reality TV and coverage of the Iraq War. She said: "Those two things kind of fused together. Sort of a combination of young people being killed and the nation watching it on TV." She was also influenced heavily by Greek Mythology. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur is a favourite story.

Knowledge of the wilderness:
Her father grew up during the Depression, as she explained: "For his family, hunting was not a sport but a way to put meat on the table. He also knew a certain amount about edible plants. He'd go into the woods and gather all these wild mushrooms and bring them home and sauté them. My mom wouldn't let any of us go near them! But he'd eat them up and they never harmed him, so I guess he knew which ones were safe, because wild mushrooms can be very deadly. I also read a big stack of wilderness survival guidebooks. And here's what I learned: you've got to be really good to survive out there for more than a few days."

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The Hunger Games: Who is author Suzanne Collins?

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The Hunger Games is based on the first of three novels by Suzanne Collins, the film is a post-apocalyptic story in which 21-year-old American actress Jennifer Lawrence plays heroine Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take her sister's place in a televised fight-to-the-death battle.

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Suzanne Collins Answers Questions about The Hunger Games Trilogy

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1984

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1984  | Book 1 | Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis |  George Orwell

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1984

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Dystopian literature without a doubt has sealed its place as a prominent genre among juvenile and adult readers alike. The genre only continues to grow in popularity and diversity. "Young adult (YA) dystopian literature is a trend that is taking the nation by storm. Since September 11, 2001, the genre has gained a strong backing from academics, authors, and YA readers; after Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (2008), however, YA dystopian literature has become the forefront of teen reading," (Ryan 1). However, this popularity among readers poses the question, what exactly makes this genre so appealing to readers? This may be due to the relatability of the themes and characteristics common in dystopian literature and how they reflect the real world. "Constant surveillance, oppressive ruling regimes, lack of freedom, and forced conformity are all aspects of adolescent life that teenagers deal with on a daily basis," (Ryan 2). These themes and conflicts that are prevalent in dystopian literature not only reflect aspects of life for teenagers but also are implicative of the real world.

To fully comprehend how dystopian literature reflects the real world, one must understand what a dystopia is; per English instructor Terri Chung of North Seattle Community College, a dystopia in the literary sense is, "A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control." Despite dystopian literature taking the conditions of the real world and spinning them to extremes, the themes and elements present in dystopian societies are still applicable to real-life society. The Hunger Games and the other books of the trilogy are some of the most popular books in the dystopian genre, and while this may be largely due to the romantic elements of the story, its success can also be derived from the relatability of the themes touched on in the story. In the case of The Hunger Games, these themes include but are not limited to social-class divisions, outlandish beauty standards and ideals, and ideas of what is considered entertaining in the media.

In the story, the districts are divided based on the good or commodity that they provide for the Capitol. The importance of the good a District provides along with simply how close it is to the Capitol determines the quality of life in that District and the how wealthy its population is. Although the Capitol likes to push that all the districts are equal, the clear-cut social-class divisions from district to district are too glaring to gloss over. This drastic division in the quality of life and the government's message of equality is an almost obvious nudge at the state of the real world and touches on the theme of equality versus equity. For example, right here in America, which claims to be the land of equal opportunity, one can see the obvious distinctions between places such as Compton and Beverly Hills with the cities having a per capita income of roughly $13,000 and $85,000 respectively according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, the gap between the Capitol and the Districts reflects the gap between the richest one percent and the rest of the population. In an article from BBC News, Oxfam, a confederation of 19 organizations worldwide in a fight against poverty, "... calculated that the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population."

In The Hunger Games, the people of the Capitol are described as having outlandish features about them cosmetic-wise. For example, one of Katniss' two stylists, Venia, is described as having, "... aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows." The citizens of the Capitol are always changing their facial and body features to match the newest Capitol trends even to the point of going through body modification procedures to keep up with these trends and be considered beautiful, handsome, etc. However, not just in the story but also in the real-world people are willing to go to great ends to keep up with all the latest beauty trends; this includes purchasing products or performing actual body modification procedures all for the sake of being considered pretty. Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the actual Games, the tributes are put through a thorough cleaning and grooming process and are dressed up in the fanciest Capitol wear even though they are about to be sent to their deaths. This reflects today's society because people of all ages today still spend vast sums of money on beauty products and body modification procedures; in fact, the beauty and cosmetics market is worth about $62 billion as of 2016 per MarketResearch.com. Nevertheless, things get worse than just over-indulging in cosmetics and beauty products in the Capitol and in reality.

Although a group of 24 teenage children are being sent to their imminent deaths, the citizens of the Capitol view the Hunger Games as nothing more than a show; the Capitol simply shrugs it off and chalks the practice up to sport. This twisted sense of what is considered entertainment, while not quite exhibited to this degree in real life, can be seen easily in today's media. Television broadcasts such as UFC, where opponents brutally beat down each other in a bloody brawl, and almost every reality television show, in which people draw entertainment from the drama and conflict in famous people's lives, can be seen all too clearly in today's society. In an article discussing the negative effects of reality television on adolescents, a Penn State Psychology student wrote, "Several adolescent televisions shows these days are full of fun, partying, fighting, and drama. Many of these shows can be categorized as reality television shows." Another aspect of the games in relation to television is the tributes having to put on acts (e.g. Katniss and Peeta's love) in order to get sponsors to increase their chances to live in the Games. This reflects the wave of adolescents today that think that they can "make it big" by simply doing something over-the-top and crazy to get discovered and become famous overnight. While it is a means of survival in The Hunger Games, in the real world it leads to undriven children who aren't willing to really work for anything because they're holding out for their "big break."

In conclusion, several of the themes and principles of dystopian societies can be related back to the real world. Issues faced in dystopian societies are issues faced by not only young adults but people of all ages, albeit not quite to the same extent as in dystopian literature. In The Hunger Games, themes such as social class divisions, beauty standards, and ideas of entertainment are all present in today's society, and this relatability is part of what makes the book series so successful. Perhaps this is where the allure of dystopian literature stems from, people can see reflections of their own lives in stories like The Hunger Games. The connections that can be drawn from the story to the real world allow people to better understand the world they live in and how to keep it a better place than the broken, dysfunctional world they dove into.

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Dystopian Literature Essay: The Hunger Games

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Dystopian literature without a doubt has sealed its place as a prominent genre among juvenile and adult readers alike. The genre only continues to grow in popularity and diversity. "Young adult (YA) dystopian literature is a trend that is taking the nation by storm. Since September 11, 2001, the genre has gained a strong backing...

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Mockingjays

The mockingjay represents defiance in the novel, with the bird's symbolism deriving initially from its origins. The mockingjay, we learn, came about as a result of a failed project by the Capitol to spy on the rebellious districts, and since then the bird has served as a reminder of this failure and the districts' recalcitrance-Katniss describes them as "something of a slap in the face to the Capitol." The mockingjay pin Madge gives to Katniss is at first an emblem of that resistance. Later in the novel, however, the birds come to symbolize a different sort of defiance. Mockingjays become a link between Katniss and Rue, with the two using the birds to communicate. When Rue dies, Katniss decorates her body with flowers as a means of memorializing Rue, but also to defy the Capitol. When Katniss later sees mockingjays, they remind her of Rue, and that memory inevitably stirs her hatred of the Capitol and her wish to rebel, and take revenge, against it. The mockingjay consequently takes on an additional layer of symbolism, representing not only a general rebellion against the Capitol, but also Katniss's specific desire to defy it.

Panem

Panem is the country in which The Hunger Games takes place, and it symbolizes a dystopian United States. The word panem is Latin for "bread," and given the similarity of the Hunger Games to the gladiatorial Games of Ancient Rome, it recalls panem et circenses, or "bread and circuses." The phrase refers to the Roman Caesars' strategy of quelling public discontent by providing the people with plenty of food and entertainment. The entertainment, of course, was largely provided by gladiatorial Games. In the novel, these gladiatorial Games are crossed with reality television to create the Hunger Games. Setting Panem in the location of the present-day United States, and retaining parts of U.S. culture like the mining industry of Appalachia that we see in District 12, draws a link between the two. But the metaphor gets more complicated because of the Ancient Roman influences of Panem. The result is a triple metaphor that uses Panem to draw connections between Ancient Rome and the modern United States, and it suggests that the modern United States has something like its own panem et circenses strategy in place, with reality television taking on the role of the gladiatorial Games.

The metaphor offered by Panem, however, does not align perfectly with Ancient Rome's panem et circenses formula. For one, that formula is designed to keep the people content, but the people of Panem are decidedly not content, at least not in the poor districts. In fact, the Hunger Games, unlike the gladiatorial Games which appeased the masses, play a significant role in their dissatisfaction. The Games were created as a reminder to the districts of their powerlessness after their uprising against the Capitol ended in defeat, and it is the children of the districts who are drafted involuntarily into the Games to be killed. Second, a key element of the panem et circenses strategy missing from Panem is the bread. Most of the people in the districts are severely underfed, and again this is a cause of much of the people's discontent. It leads directly to various forms of rebellion, such as Katniss's illegal hunting and the existence of a large black market in District 12. Rather than commenting on the fictional Panem, it instead comments the real United States in the ways described above, thus offering a valuable criticism of modern culture in the U.S.

Katniss's dresses

The dresses Cinna designs for Katniss not only give Katniss her epithet, "the girl who was on fire," but also come to symbolize her spirit. Cinna designs the first dress to reflect the main industry of Katniss's home district, coal mining, and since coal's purpose is to burn, Cinna creates a dress that would be lit with synthetic flames. This dress begins the association between Katniss and fire while also giving Katniss her epithet, "the girl who was on fire." That epithet comes to describe Katniss generally, however, and not just how she appears in Cinna's designs. Haymitch, for instance, explains Katniss's high training score by saying the judges must have liked her temper and her "heat." (Katniss also thinks the Gamemakers may have targeted her with fireballs in the arena as a reference to "the girl who was on fire.") The dresses, notably the first one for the opening ceremony but also the more subdued versions Cinna creates for Katniss's interviews, serve as outward, nearly literal representations of Katniss's inner "fire."

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A summary of Symbols in Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Hunger Games and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.

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History of Panem: Origin Story (Hunger Games Explained)

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// The Hunger Games

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Dystopian literature without a doubt has sealed its place as a prominent genre among juvenile and adult readers alike. The genre only continues to grow in popularity and diversity. "Young adult (YA) dystopian literature is a trend that is taking the nation by storm. Since September 11, 2001, the genre has gained a strong backing from academics, authors, and YA readers; after Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (2008), however, YA dystopian literature has become the forefront of teen reading," (Ryan 1). However, this popularity among readers poses the question, what exactly makes this genre so appealing to readers? This may be due to the relatability of the themes and characteristics common in dystopian literature and how they reflect the real world. "Constant surveillance, oppressive ruling regimes, lack of freedom, and forced conformity are all aspects of adolescent life that teenagers deal with on a daily basis," (Ryan 2). These themes and conflicts that are prevalent in dystopian literature not only reflect aspects of life for teenagers but also are implicative of the real world.

To fully comprehend how dystopian literature reflects the real world, one must understand what a dystopia is; per English instructor Terri Chung of North Seattle Community College, a dystopia in the literary sense is, "A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control." Despite dystopian literature taking the conditions of the real world and spinning them to extremes, the themes and elements present in dystopian societies are still applicable to real-life society. The Hunger Games and the other books of the trilogy are some of the most popular books in the dystopian genre, and while this may be largely due to the romantic elements of the story, its success can also be derived from the relatability of the themes touched on in the story. In the case of The Hunger Games, these themes include but are not limited to social-class divisions, outlandish beauty standards and ideals, and ideas of what is considered entertaining in the media.

In the story, the districts are divided based on the good or commodity that they provide for the Capitol. The importance of the good a District provides along with simply how close it is to the Capitol determines the quality of life in that District and the how wealthy its population is. Although the Capitol likes to push that all the districts are equal, the clear-cut social-class divisions from district to district are too glaring to gloss over. This drastic division in the quality of life and the government's message of equality is an almost obvious nudge at the state of the real world and touches on the theme of equality versus equity. For example, right here in America, which claims to be the land of equal opportunity, one can see the obvious distinctions between places such as Compton and Beverly Hills with the cities having a per capita income of roughly $13,000 and $85,000 respectively according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, the gap between the Capitol and the Districts reflects the gap between the richest one percent and the rest of the population. In an article from BBC News, Oxfam, a confederation of 19 organizations worldwide in a fight against poverty, "... calculated that the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population."

In The Hunger Games, the people of the Capitol are described as having outlandish features about them cosmetic-wise. For example, one of Katniss' two stylists, Venia, is described as having, "... aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows." The citizens of the Capitol are always changing their facial and body features to match the newest Capitol trends even to the point of going through body modification procedures to keep up with these trends and be considered beautiful, handsome, etc. However, not just in the story but also in the real-world people are willing to go to great ends to keep up with all the latest beauty trends; this includes purchasing products or performing actual body modification procedures all for the sake of being considered pretty. Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the actual Games, the tributes are put through a thorough cleaning and grooming process and are dressed up in the fanciest Capitol wear even though they are about to be sent to their deaths. This reflects today's society because people of all ages today still spend vast sums of money on beauty products and body modification procedures; in fact, the beauty and cosmetics market is worth about $62 billion as of 2016 per MarketResearch.com. Nevertheless, things get worse than just over-indulging in cosmetics and beauty products in the Capitol and in reality.

Although a group of 24 teenage children are being sent to their imminent deaths, the citizens of the Capitol view the Hunger Games as nothing more than a show; the Capitol simply shrugs it off and chalks the practice up to sport. This twisted sense of what is considered entertainment, while not quite exhibited to this degree in real life, can be seen easily in today's media. Television broadcasts such as UFC, where opponents brutally beat down each other in a bloody brawl, and almost every reality television show, in which people draw entertainment from the drama and conflict in famous people's lives, can be seen all too clearly in today's society. In an article discussing the negative effects of reality television on adolescents, a Penn State Psychology student wrote, "Several adolescent televisions shows these days are full of fun, partying, fighting, and drama. Many of these shows can be categorized as reality television shows." Another aspect of the games in relation to television is the tributes having to put on acts (e.g. Katniss and Peeta's love) in order to get sponsors to increase their chances to live in the Games. This reflects the wave of adolescents today that think that they can "make it big" by simply doing something over-the-top and crazy to get discovered and become famous overnight. While it is a means of survival in The Hunger Games, in the real world it leads to undriven children who aren't willing to really work for anything because they're holding out for their "big break."

In conclusion, several of the themes and principles of dystopian societies can be related back to the real world. Issues faced in dystopian societies are issues faced by not only young adults but people of all ages, albeit not quite to the same extent as in dystopian literature. In The Hunger Games, themes such as social class divisions, beauty standards, and ideas of entertainment are all present in today's society, and this relatability is part of what makes the book series so successful. Perhaps this is where the allure of dystopian literature stems from, people can see reflections of their own lives in stories like The Hunger Games. The connections that can be drawn from the story to the real world allow people to better understand the world they live in and how to keep it a better place than the broken, dysfunctional world they dove into.

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Dystopian Literature Essay: The Hunger Games

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Dystopian literature without a doubt has sealed its place as a prominent genre among juvenile and adult readers alike. The genre only continues to grow in popularity and diversity. "Young adult (YA) dystopian literature is a trend that is taking the nation by storm. Since September 11, 2001, the genre has gained a strong backing...