Dystopian literature is well evident in the book “The hunger games” by Suzanne Collins. The book defines various social contracts that are usually expressed through dystopian literature. Different social contracts have been identified in the book and they represent extensive range on the bases of the Panem districts. Through exclusive analysis of the capitol various tools were used to indicate the social contract defined in the book. The elements are uniquely portrayed through the tools used by the author of the book.
Through excellent presentation in the book, Suzanne Collins has been able to delineate unique elements that label social contracts in the in Panem. The first element that has been illustrated is the existence of social class. There is exclusive evidence that there existed super power in the region. There is an indication that there is presence of single absolute rulers with extensive power. Also, there are people in the middle class who just survived by their lives. Lastly, there are poor class people who do not have anything. “I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about district 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far off city called the capitol” (Collins 6). These are word that resulted from Katniss who was an actor in the book. This is a suggestion that since the first class individuals are powerful the lower class people are scared of them as well as their consequences.
The lower class people will always have big trouble. This is because they have to always stake their life on the line to do something that they may be unnecessarily free to do. The individuals are always lacking on the basic needs, which includes lack of money. According to the author, the poor had to be happy as well as satisfied of what they have “No one in the Seam would turn up their nose at a good leg of wild dog” (Collins 11). These are words uttered by soup seller in district 12. This line indicates that people will be jovial that they can have a taste of meat instead of being choosy on whether it was a goat, cow, pig, or any other type of meat. The poor are in deep trouble as they starve and no individual has the right to be choosy on what comes their way.
Suzanne Collins defines a set of districts in Panem. Although, there are no ways by which the districts could have been similar, the author succeeds to bring in some similarities as well as differences that would make them viable to form Panem. This is indicated through consistent comparison that runs the book o the activities that took place in different districts. These comparisons have been able to bring out extensive differences among the districts that form Panem. The author pens “A monstrous boy who lunges forward to volunteer from District 12. A fox faced girl with sleek red hair from District 5.A boy with a crippled foot from District 10.” (Collins 45). This is an indication that the different districts experienced different problems, which are shown through the children that described in the above quote. However, though out the book there have been extensive comparisons of the rest of the district to district 12. This is another affirmation that there are exclusive differences among the counties in question.
Liberty is a choice that any region may choose. In this case, all districts at Panem had unique traits that portrayed private existence. Hand holding supportive of each other, district 12 showed peace and love. It was the choice of every district to have uniqueness defined in terms of behavior and conduct towards a given social element. The extensive differences would be significant to define the choices that every society was at liberty to choose. Some of the liberties are common one of the common liberties is existence of leadership by the rich only who are referred to as the first class in the region.
Capitol has been extremely creative in promotion of social contracts in the book. Hunger games are some of the tools that have been used to define the social contracts evident in the book. Also, the capitol has involved other competitions in form of dances that would have been useful in defining the status of different districts in Panem. Social elements such as corruption and hatred are other tools used to define the social contracts that exist in different districts.
Dystopian fiction has become a trend of writing which has been embraced by different authors. They find it as a unique tool to enable them to define key social elements concerning the societies that they target. The author tries to critique social contracts concerning the kind of leadership that is witnessed in the region. She is against the form of government that can only be led by the rich people. She is also critiquing existence of extremely hungry individuals from certain districts while others are satisfied. Her critique is effective as all people in any society should be eligible to govern provided they have necessary skills. Also, all parties are subjected to proper feeding for healthy living for the members of the society.
Work Cited
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. Print.
