Gladiators refer to a group of armed combatants, who were used in entertaining audiences through violent confrontations in the Roman Empire. The gladiators confronted with wild animals, condemned criminals, and other gladiators. Just like the ‘Hunger Games’, it hard to explain the reason as to why a civilized country could enjoy watching human beings fight to the death. According to the Romans, public violence was ritualized and acted as their favorite source of entertainment. The war of Gladiators in the Roman Empire started as a funeral ritual. This practice was performed after the death of a tribal chief. It was the role of the warriors to make a blood sacrifice to the spirits of the chief by fighting until death by his tomb (Park & Love 2010, 48).
In Roman Empire, the game by gladiators was performed in amphitheaters. The gladiators were taken into arenas, and given names according to the sand that covered the ground. The gladiators were then soaked up in blood, and left to fight to the death. During the contests, there were crowds of thousands cheering the gladiators as they fought. During the contests, there were five types of gladiator, in which they used different weapons. In northern Italy, the Etruscans held games including events such as the chariot races, sacrifice to gods, and gladiator battles (Riggs, K. 2011, 72). In Roman, the aim of the games was to keep the unemployed, and the poor people occupied, and entertained. The Rome emperor wanted to ensure that the poor people would not revolt, through distracting then from poverty. According to the Romans, the first gladiators were slaves. These slaves were made to fight until death during the funeral of Junius Brutus Pera, who was a distinguished aristocrat. A large number of the gladiators were slaves, who were subjected to a high-energy diet, training, and given good medical attention. However, some of the gladiators were not slaves, but volunteers.
Both the Roman gladiators and the Hunger Games believe in a fight to the death. They both fought under the amusement of fans who wanted nothing more than blood. The Hunger Games has some elements that are similar to the game of gladiators. This is because, in both games, one had to work until the time of death. In the hunger games, one has to fight between twenty-four tributes until death. In the war of gladiators, the warriors were supposed to fight and kill each other anytime the king wanted them to fight. However, the war of gladiators took place in an arena. Anyone who wanted to be a gladiator attended a special school in which he was taught on being a human weapon. In both the Gladiators and the Hunger Games, some people were taken from their families, and put into a life in which they were supposed to fight and kill each other. Referring to the Hunger Games, children were selected from district one, two, and three, and taken to special schools where they were taught on how to survive. Similarly, in the Gladiators, in case a person wanted to be a gladiator, the person had to attend a special school for training (Park & Love 2010, 56). The people considered both the Gladiators and the Hunger games as sporting events. Moreover, the winners of both the Hunger Games and the Gladiators were rewarded with praise, and money.
The audience was excited and cheered loudly in anticipation on seeing the gladiators fight to the death. The aim of the gladiators in these wars is to entertain the audience. However, the gladiators circle each other with the objective of trapping the opponent rather than to kill him quickly. The gladiatorial contests were meant for entertainment. However, the upper class was fed up by the brutality of the activities that took place during the contests. Because of this, Seneca, who was a philosopher wrote a letter to his friend discouraging him from attending the contest (Riggs 2011, 79). Despite the comments by Seneca, the games continued to be popular. The games were the backbone of public entertainment in the Roman Empire.
The theme of strength is used in the book ‘The Hunger Games’, to give entertainment to a wide range of the audience, through the provision of different characteristics. The book is composed of an exciting story that is unforgettable because it is entertaining. Different characters are displayed through the theme of strength, which enhances the ability of the readers to understand the qualities of different characters in the book. In the book ‘Hunger games’, the theme of strength does not only refer to the physical strength, but also to other qualities such as patience, kindness, loyalty, resilience, and honesty.
Strength is what makes Katniss be a ruthless girl throughout the book. Katniss portrays her mental strength in the book, when she was being taken to the railway station. During this moment, Katniss managed to keep her face neutral in the presence of the reporters (Collins 2008, 167). This was an emotional time, but Katniss managed to keep her face free from feelings. This portrays Katniss’s mental strength that she had gained after a long time experience. Katniss explains that she had taken years of practice in order to acquire the hard experiences. After the death of Katniss’s father, her mother became mentally unstable. Due to this death, Katniss had to take the role as the head of the family because she felt that their mother had abandoned them. This clearly shows the strength that Katniss had. She did not leave her sister after being abandoned by their mother. Katniss took the role as the head of the family.
The theme of strength is also portrayed where the players in the games battle on two fronts. These fronts include; the primitive hand combat and with any weapon that comes in hand. In this front, the players are supposed to fight with whatever the weapons that come to hand. In the hand-to-hand combat, the players were supposed to defend themselves using no weapons, but their hands only (Collins 2008, 102). Katniss shows her strength in both her physical strength and her reactions during the war. She is an expert in the field of bows and arrows, which gives her the strength to survive in the games.
Moreover, Katniss portrays her strength whereby she seduces the viewers so that they can send her both medicine and food. For Katniss to survive in Panem, she had to be strong. This is because; there is a huge disparity between the lives of the poor. Wealth in Panem is concentrated to the people living in Capitol, and a few districts. Some of the disparities revealed are lack of food. In district 12, starvation is common. This forces Katniss to be strong, and engage in illegal hunting that she does beyond the borders of her district in order to feed her family. Katniss is strong because she is able to feed her family, given that, in district 12, most of the residents do not know how to hunt.
During the reaping ceremony, Katniss avoided crying in front of the cameras because she did not want to the audience to perceive her as being weak. Katniss and her team use their external appearances that are inclusive of their behavior and speech, in order to control the thoughts of the audience against them (Collins 2009, 85). Katniss fakes her love for Peeta in order to acquire gifts from the sponsers. This shows mental strength and wisdom. The hunting techniques of Katniss are the ones that gave her the reason to be alive during the hunger games. According to Katniss, hunting was a positive experience (Egan, and Collins 2012, 42). This is because, during the hunger games, there was no food to be found. Moreover, Katniss explains that there is no difference between hunting animals, and human beings. The difference between hunting human beings and animals was the arena. This called for strength to Katniss so that she could be able to kill human beings instead of animals.
References
Collins, S. 2008. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press
Collins, S. 2009. The Hunger Games. London: Scholastic
Collins, S., & Fournier, G. 2009. Hunger Games. Paris: Pocket Jeunesse
Egan, K., & Collins, S. 2012. The world of the Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic
Park, L., & Love, T. 2010. The Roman gladiators. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
Riggs, K. 2011. Gladiators. Mankato, MN: Creative Education
