This semester in Literature we read two best-selling science fiction books, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Divergent by Veronica Roth. There are many similarities between the two books in setting, characters, plot, and themes. Both The Hunger Games and Divergent take place in dystopias after some future apocalypse in North America. Both books have a 16-year-old female protagonist as the main character, and both books have events early on in the story that help set the plot of the book. As many similarities as the two books have, it’s the differences that set them apart and make them unique. By comparing and contrasting these similarities and differences we will see why these books are popular and continue to be best sellers.
The first similarity between the Hunger Games and Divergent is that both stories take place in dystopias in North America after some apocalypse in the future. The biggest difference in the dystopian settings is that the Hunger Games take place in Panam which is spread out over North America, while Divergent takes place in the futuristic city of Chicago. Both distopias are similar in that they are divided into different sections. These sections are similar in that they are very isolated from each other. In both books, the different districts and factions have little or no communication with each other. In Hunger, Games Panam is divided into 12 Districts. Each district has its own job to do which is the life of the people in that district. For example, Katniss is from District 12, the coal mining district. While in Divergent the people are divided up into 5 Factions with each faction representing a virtue: honesty, intelligence, bravery, selflessness, and peace.
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However, there are a few differences in the settings of both books. The districts in The Hunger Games are much poorer than the Factions in Divergent. People in poorer districts like District 12 are almost to the point of starvation and struggle to stay alive. In Divergent the Factions don’t seem to have this same struggle for survival. Another difference in the settings is that the Districts in The Hunger Games are clearly controlled by The Capitol, while the government that controls the 5 Faction in Divergent really isn’t clearly identified. Another big difference in the way the districts and factions are set up is the fact that in Divergent, people have the ability to choose which faction they want to join. The people in the Hunger games have no choice in which district they belong to.
Another big similarity between the two books is that the main character in each story is a 16-year-old female. Katniss from The Hunger Games and Tris from Divergent are both brave and rebellious teenagers that play major roles in their nations' futures. Katniss stands out in The Hunger Games by volunteering to be a tribute in the games, to replace her sister. Something which is unheard of especially in poor districts like District 12. Tris stands out in Divergent because she is divergent. This means she has qualities from different factions which is considered dangerous and if found out she could be killed. Both characters are similar in the fact that they were willing to sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of others. Katniss first sacrifices her own life to save the life of her sister by volunteering as a replacement tribute. She later sacrifices her life again to save Peeta's life by offering to eat poison berries so that she does not have to kill him to win the Hunger Games. Similarly in Divergent Tris offers to end her life in one of the simulations rather than kill her own family. Both Katniss and Tris play major roles in their nation's future, but the difference is that Katniss becomes more of a symbol of hope for the districts while Tris is more of a soldier fighting for change.
One common theme in both the Hunger Games and Divergent was young love. I wouldn’t really say there was “true love” happening in Hunger Games. We do know that Katniss did care for Peeta and feared he would die in the games. There were even some moments when it seemed she might be falling for Peeta. Katniss could not bring herself to kill Peeta to win the games, even offering to take her own life rather than kill him. Still Katniss never fully allows herself to fall in love with Peeta. Instead, she is caught up in a love triangle. Struggling with her feelings for her best friend Gale and her developing feeling for Peeta. Her inability to figure out her feelings almost interferes with her safety in the games. Haymitch reminds Katniss about the role she needs to play and says to her “you’re supposed to be in love sweetheart. The boy’s dying. Give me something I can work with!”. In Divergent, However, I never expect love to happen, but a relationship developed between Tris and Four. Unlike Katniss, Tris is not caught up in a love triangle and she and Four kiss each other. At the end of the story, both Tris and Four admit that they love each other. The book even quotes that they want to kiss each other for as long as they want. Katniss and Peeta on the other hand are barely on speaking terms, with Peeta convinced that Katniss’s feelings for him were all an act for the games.
Both The Hunger Games and Divergent start off with big events that set the tone for the plot of the book. The Hunger Games begins with the “Reaping Ceremony” while Divergent begins with the “Choosing Ceremony.” Both these events set the tone for the rest of the books. The biggest difference between the two ceremonies is that in the Reaping Ceremony, the tributes are selected randomly from a fish bowl. They have no choice or say in their destiny. While in the Choosing Ceremony, the 16-year-olds are allowed to choose the faction of their liking. While the plot of The Hunger Games seemed to be more about survival, the plot of Divergent seemed a lot less urgent and more about choosing a faction that you could commit to for life. The importance of this commitment was shown in a quote from Tris’s textbook, “Faction before blood.” This quote implied that the faction you choose is more important than the one that raised you.
In conclusion, I think both Hunger Games and Divergent deserve to be bestsellers because they both have great plots and characters that we can identify with and cheer for. When you read The Hunger Games you get really interested in the story and what is happening with each of the characters. I feel like The Hunger Games was better than Divergent because it had a lot more action. I also liked the character development in The Hunger Games more than the character development in Divergent. I feel like you got to know the characters in The Hunger Games better and more quickly. While in Divergent I sometimes found that the character development took longer and I sometimes forgot about certain characters.
The Hunger Games kept me on the edge of my seat and when I reached the end of the book I was left wondering, with many questions about what would happen next. The same thing goes for Divergent, even if I didn’t enjoy the book as much, it still left me wondering what will happen next especially since Tris and the others are now factionless. For these reasons, I believe both The Hunger Games and Divergent deserve to be on the bestseller list.
- Collins S. (2008) Hunger Games. United States. Scholastic
- Roth V. (2011) Divergent. United States. HarperCollins
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