The Hunger Games: Child Soldiers Veiled as Tributes

The Hunger Games: Child Soldiers Veiled as Tributes

    War has and will always be a significant concern and topic of discussion in any society, evident with its prevalence in widely popular media that fictionalizes war for education or entertainment. Such can take on the task of distilling an explanation or lesson about war and its widespread detrimental effects to future generations, the thought of which is paralyzing to most. Suzanne Collins does so for young adult audiences through her massively popular series The Hunger Games. The first book outlines Katniss’s participation in Panem’s 74th Hunger Games, which serves as the catalyst for the subsequent uprising, rebellion, and war that follows in the later books. During an interview with Time Magazine, Collins discusses her motivations. She credits her father, who was a Vietnam and Korean war veteran, for serving as inspiration for the “larger goal [she] has, which is to write a war-appropriate story for every age of kids,” a result of his explanations about his role to her younger self. The Hunger Games encompasses an anti-war message to enlighten young adults about the dangers and effects of war, “you have young people at 18 who are enlisting in the Army, and they really don't have the slightest idea what they're getting into.” Despite the literal war between the Districts and Capitol in the latter books in the series, The Hunger Games’s 74th Games in itself can adequately serve as its own allegory as a war. Collins conveys her message through several elements within the literal Games such as children being drafted into the Games like young soldiers, victors and war survivors' shared experiences of having PTSD, and the dehumanization of tributes which is similar to the effects of war media coverage. 

    The focus of children from the districts as participants in the Hunger Games and therefore as an allegory of soldiers builds upon Collin’s purpose to write the Games as a form or symbol of war; The drawing of tributes serves as a parallel to the drafting of young soldiers. The youth of the children involved are comparable to the youth of soldiers who are often drafted to fight in wars, or the ages of soldiers who sign up without a comprehensive understanding of what they are in for. Katniss explains her impression of the Capitol’s power play, “Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins. Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch [...] [T]he real message is clear. ‘Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do.’” (Collins 18). Katniss uses repetition of aggressive wording, “forcing them,” “sacrifice them,” and “look how we take your children,” and finally, “nothing you can do.” The blunt and harsh diction clearly illustrates that most of the children are not willingly enlisting in the annual war and forced hatred between themselves that is orchestrated by the Capitol and Gamemakers, who serve as a symbol of the politicians in positions of power. The tributes are simply children, not a far cry from the fresh-faced soldiers enlisting in war, and they grow to hate each other, seeing each other as obstacles in the way of fulfilling their survival instincts. They use citizens and their children as pawns in their own power exchanges and greed, claiming it’s for the better good or good of the masses, which is hauntingly similar to Panem’s sentiments surrounding how the Games are “both a time for repentance and a time for thanks.” Such details are essential to understanding how Collins writes the Games as a kind of war in the dystopian society of Panem. 

    To build upon the concept of the Games as a war, one can conclude that tributes walk away with similar mental and literal scars, similar to a soldier’s experiences. The Capitol attempts to romanticize the annual tradition by orchestrating the perception of victors as celebrities, demonstrated by the “Careers” who volunteer because it is a great honor to win. As previously alluded to, the Careers serve as symbols of soldiers who enlist to fight in wars the moment they are of age, not realizing the more realistic fate of PTSD and mistreatment from the very government and country they fight for if they survive; Meanwhile, those who lose their life in the war may be similar to Cato, who met a brutal death. Katniss indirectly observes that there are no winners in the Games, which can also be said about real war. She notes that Haymitch, the only living District 12 victor, is inconsolable and spends his days drinking. By being drunk at the drawing, he is avoiding reliving being drawn as well as the doom he assumes for her and Peeta as well as of every mentee he’s had, “His breath reeks of liquor and it’s been a long time since he’s bathed. [...] he shouts, pointing directly into a camera. [...] is he so drunk he might actually be taunting the Capitol? [...] Haymitch [...] knocks himself unconscious.” (Collins 24). His behavior reveals much about the state of his life after winning the Games, and suggests an unfavorable fate for victors. When Katniss wins, she too comes to realize this, “[The aftermath is] so much worse than being hunted in the arena. There, I could only die. End of story.” (Collins 65). The Games ruin any participant's life, despite the popular belief that a victor is set for a life of luxury, wealth, and little to no worries. Both Haymitch and Katniss’s realization in her final moments in the Games, “‘You shoot me and go home and live with it!’ And as I say it, I know death right here, right now would be the easier of the two.” (Collins 343) reveal this. The theme of trauma is analogous to the fate of anyone involved in war, who may be forever distressed by the suffering of others or friends, like Rue, who passed, or generally the atrocities they had to witness. Those in positions of power find it easier to ignore the consequences when one can simply build Victors’ Villages or attach medals to survivors. Overall, the theme of victors having PTSD in the novel ties in with the common occurrence of PTSD in survivors of war.  

    Moreover, the dehumanization of tributes adds to the war-like nature of the Games, from deliberate scoring of them and numbering as data, as well as the constant monitoring of them as objects on a stage for entertainment, so far removed from the upper-class who are not participating. Most people living in first world countries or in positions of privilege who hear about war from the news can attest to the fact that it feels very far from their own reality, that the statistics and death counts all feel very numerical rather than representative of tangible human suffering and loss. To illustrate, Katniss ruminates on her stylists, “even though they’re rattling on about the Games, it’s all about where they were or what they were going or how they felt when a specific event occurred [...] Everything is about them, not the dying boys and girls in the arena.” (Collins 354). The specificity and repetition with which she describes their actions as they witnessed deaths communicates just how ridiculous she finds them, as a participant herself. The concerns of those watching are shallow and vapid to the parties directly involved, simply because viewers are unable to ever truly understand the experience or see the participants as humans just like them; This is similar to how war is viewed by distant parties who simply view footage on a screen as they go about their day. Katniss also elaborates on District 12’s mindset, “We grit our teeth and watch because we must and try to get back to business as soon as possible.” (Collins 354). The reaction of those who must witness the effects of war from media coverage, or even when war is discussed in their own lives has a similar nature; Avoidance is a common coping mechanism in the face of traumatic or complicated events. Tributes’ dehumanization is also clear from the scoring of their skills, District numbers flashing across the night sky rather than their names, and Peeta’s sentiment that he wants to be “more than just a piece in their Games.” (Collins 142). This is eerily similar to the sentiment about being involved in a war, that it may feel like one is just another statistic or number to send out and be forced to kill, fight, and die for the gain of distant people with power and status. Once again, the resemblance of the Games as a war in itself, is evident from its dehumanization of participants. 

    In conclusion, Suzanne Collins’ background and interviews coincides with the overall message of The Hunger Games series as a saga about a brutal reality show style fight, a consequential uprising, and finally a war. But close reading and evidence directly from the first book’s text reveals that the annual Games is a version of war within the Panem society, as discussed through the depiction and similarities of tributes as soldiers, the similar experience of trauma and PTSD, as well the dehumanization of both groups.

Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic Press, 2008. 

Grossman, Lev. “The Hunger Gamemakers: Interview with Author Suzanne Collins and Director Francis Lawrence.” Time, Time Inc., 25 Nov. 2013, https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2157467-1,00.html. 

Levithan, David. “Suzanne Collins Talks about 'The Hunger Games,' the Books and the Movies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Oct. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/books/suzanne-collins-talks-about-the-hunger-games-the-books-and-the-movies.html.