Author: Suzanne Collins
Title: The Hunger Games
Could you imagine waking up one day, taking the place of your little sister in a homicidal arena, and fighting to the death? I couldn’t either. The Hunger Games authored by Suzanne Collins, envisions a dystopian society facing the issues of overpopulation. To cure the fatal issue of overpopulation, the futuristic government dedicates a day to blindly selecting twenty-four teenagers thirteen through eighteen to fight in an artificial biome until one victor walks out, “The Reaping” they called it. As the hundreds of boys and girls of District twelve file into a sectioned-off enclosure, parents kiss and hug their children as if it could be their last time holding their offspring. As Katniss Everdeen, a low-class poacher guides her through Reaping Day for the first time, Primrose Everdeen, Katniss’s sister, flinches at the prick of a needle to test her DNA. As the two sisters both get pulled to opposite sides of the assembly, parents knaw at their fingernails wondering which child will be chosen. As Effie Trinket, the government official reaches into a bowl full of girls' names and shuffles her hand around, she pulls out a folded piece of paper and reads aloud “Primrose Everdeen.” As the rest of the girls let out a sigh shaking the world, Katniss full of rage and anger, runs out and irrationally but heroically volunteers herself as tribute in place of her little sister. Moments later Effie announces the male tribute Peeta Mellark, a young boy who gifted bread to Katniss when she was in famine. Katniss later discovers that she could survive the games. Reading this novel as it leaves me on the edge of my seat every page, I experience the growth that Katniss experiences throughout the novel, and learning how she could learn to love and live. Reading lines where I envisioned Katniss picking up her weapon of choice, lifting it to the sky, aiming her bow and arrow, it took my breath as she were to let go of the string relinquishing the arrow from her grasp and her hands puncturing through a target or person.
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