Finally, we have reached the last and the most recent of the
fantasy novels I’m going to be looking at for my blog. This is none other than
The Hunger Games (2008) by Suzanne Collins. I wanted to particularly look at this
novel as it brings us into a whole different genre within fantasy fiction which
none of the other three series cover- dystopian fantasy. Dystopia, as described
by the Collins English Dictionary is “an imaginary place where everything is as
bad as it can be” (176). The imaginary land makes the book fit into the fantasy
genre, whilst still separating itself from other subgenres within fantasy due
to the societal changes of the world. Basically, dystopian fiction depicts
utter corruption, and in the case of The Hunger Games it makes no exception
with even demonstrating the corruption of food.
The Hunger Games uses food as a symbol of control. We know
this by the stark contrast by the lack of food we are shown in District 12
compared to when the characters travel to the Capitol, the richest land in this
dystopia which controls all of the districts, and witness the consumption of
food so grand they can barely believe their eyes. The readers first introduction of food is when Gale and Katniss meet in the forest to go hunting in order to feed their families. Collins writes:
""Look what I shot." Gale holds up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it...It's real bakery bread, not the flat, dense loaves we make from our grain rations. I take it in my hands, pull out the arrow, and hold the puncture in the crust to my nose, inhaling the fragrance that makes my mouth flood with saliva. Fine bread like this is for special occasions." (8)
The description of this "real bakery bread" suggests an unfamiliarity to something that us readers, who are not apart of this society, would find unfathomable. That is because Collins is presenting this bread, a common and rather bland food, as something utterly incredible, to the point where the characters are drooling over it. It also shows just how poor these characters are if "fine bread like this is for special occassions", proving how they eat worse on a regular day to day basis.
If we are to contrast this with the presentation of food in the Capitol, the over the top decadence in the Capitol is noticeable and questionable, as why if a whole district was starving do they feel the need to have such lavish food? At Katniss' first meal in the capitol she describes a meal that comes at the press of "a button on the side of the table" and consists of "chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, pudding the colour of honey" (79). This description here is so enticing and is something that would make anyone else salivate, unlike the poor characters from district 12 who salivate over bread. Katniss continues with her description by imagining how she would create the meal herself back home. She notes how chickens are "too expensive" so would have to replace it with a "wild turkey", however she would have to shoot an extra turkey "to trade for an orange" and continues to think about how she would be able to replicate this meal and how much more of a struggle it would be compared to it coming in "a press of a button" (79). The Capitol obviously have access to whatever they please as they are the controllers of their society. It is to be suggested that they give this lavish food to people that visit from the poorer districts before they enter the hunger games not only to strengthen them up but to perhaps make them more happy and stop them from resisting their rules.
Ultimately, they want all of the districts on side and through them sharing their wealth in the form of food this could help aid that. As well as this, food is an assertion of dominance, therefore by the capitol withholding it from the poorer districts it asserts the societies hierarchy. The use of reading food as a weapon for control works well within the dystopian genre due to the corrupt nature of the societies these worlds are set in, as this is considered their norm.
Thanks for reading,
Emily
Works cited-
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. UK: Scholastic Ltd, 2009.
"Dystopia". Collins English Dictionary. 1st ed. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers. 2008.
""Look what I shot." Gale holds up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it...It's real bakery bread, not the flat, dense loaves we make from our grain rations. I take it in my hands, pull out the arrow, and hold the puncture in the crust to my nose, inhaling the fragrance that makes my mouth flood with saliva. Fine bread like this is for special occasions." (8)
The description of this "real bakery bread" suggests an unfamiliarity to something that us readers, who are not apart of this society, would find unfathomable. That is because Collins is presenting this bread, a common and rather bland food, as something utterly incredible, to the point where the characters are drooling over it. It also shows just how poor these characters are if "fine bread like this is for special occassions", proving how they eat worse on a regular day to day basis.
thehungergames.wikia.com
If we are to contrast this with the presentation of food in the Capitol, the over the top decadence in the Capitol is noticeable and questionable, as why if a whole district was starving do they feel the need to have such lavish food? At Katniss' first meal in the capitol she describes a meal that comes at the press of "a button on the side of the table" and consists of "chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, pudding the colour of honey" (79). This description here is so enticing and is something that would make anyone else salivate, unlike the poor characters from district 12 who salivate over bread. Katniss continues with her description by imagining how she would create the meal herself back home. She notes how chickens are "too expensive" so would have to replace it with a "wild turkey", however she would have to shoot an extra turkey "to trade for an orange" and continues to think about how she would be able to replicate this meal and how much more of a struggle it would be compared to it coming in "a press of a button" (79). The Capitol obviously have access to whatever they please as they are the controllers of their society. It is to be suggested that they give this lavish food to people that visit from the poorer districts before they enter the hunger games not only to strengthen them up but to perhaps make them more happy and stop them from resisting their rules.
viraluck.com
Ultimately, they want all of the districts on side and through them sharing their wealth in the form of food this could help aid that. As well as this, food is an assertion of dominance, therefore by the capitol withholding it from the poorer districts it asserts the societies hierarchy. The use of reading food as a weapon for control works well within the dystopian genre due to the corrupt nature of the societies these worlds are set in, as this is considered their norm.
Thanks for reading,
Emily
Works cited-
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. UK: Scholastic Ltd, 2009.
"Dystopia". Collins English Dictionary. 1st ed. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers. 2008.
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