Suzanne Collins`s The Hunger Games trilogy, a dystopian story set in post-apocalyptic North America - now Panem, has been heralded as one of the greatest Young Adult book series, losing only to Harry Potter in NPR`s poll of the one hundred best teen novels. The Hunger Games is largely a tale of conflict, exploitation, and rebellion, with political and economic issues at the narrative`s core. Karl Marx argues that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle, and I believe that The Hunger Games serves as an example of the proletariat realizing their position in this class struggle, and rising up against the bourgeoisie as represented in the novels by those in the Capitol. In this essay, I will attempt to show how Collins`s series can be viewed from a Marxist perspective as a representation of the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie that exists in a capitalist society. The Districts of Panem - the proletariat, are subjugated to a poor quality of life, alienated from their labor, and pitted against one another. However, the inhabitants of Panem eventually gain class consciousness; breaking free from the chains of their oppression and successfully enacting a Communist revolution, as Marx predicts will happen in any capitalist system.
Panem is divided into 13 Districts, all of which specialize in a sector of production of which the produce goes to the distant city of the Capitol in order for them to live their lives of luxury. The specialization ranges from coal and crops in Districts 12 and 11, to jewelry and weapons in Districts 1 and 2. The borders between districts, like the borders of our capitalist society, seek to divide us by stoking an us-vs-them narrative, embodied in our modern world by Trump`s Wall. Like our nations, the Districts are fractured both culturally and physically, and this division aims to distract from the overall horror of the current system by setting the focus on doing what is best for your immediate circle rather than for the collective; the globe, and Panem. Districts 1 and 2 believe they are in conflict with Districts 11 and 12 when really the fight is between the proletariat comprised of all of the Districts, and the bourgeoisie living in the Capitol. Districts 1 and 2 can be seen as the middle class of Panem, however, Marx states that the middle-class are still a member of the proletariat, as the proletariat is recruited from all classes of the population, and this distinction functions only to turn the proletariat against each other rather than against the bourgeoisie. Even within District 12, there is a lack of class consciousness between the lower middle-class bakery owners and Katniss, the daughter of a coal miner: suddenly a voice was screaming at me and I looked up to see the baker`s wife, telling me to move on and did I want her to call the Peacekeepers and how sick she was having those brats from Seam pawing through her rubbish. The proletariat has been fed the narrative of us-vs-them to the extent that despite being in poverty themselves, they are angered by those more hungry and dejected than them looking for food in their refuse. Poverty is commonplace in the Districts, Katniss reveals that starvation is not an uncommon fate in District 12, showing just how desperate their lives have become as a result of bourgeois exploitation.
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Regardless of the substantial production levels of each District, the occupants still live in poverty, this is because the members of all the Districts exist to provide for the Capitol. The Districts have been turned into production centers in a fully integrated economic system that bleeds the people of their potential power and wealth to sustain itself. Despite their labor producing a great deal of capital for the Capitol, they see none of the wealth themselves; Katniss is shocked to learn that Rue and the rest of District 11 are as poor and starving as those in District 12, despite being the supplier of crops to the Capitol, Rue says oh we`re not allowed to eat the crops, showing how the proletariat is alienated from their production. The workers are also alienated from their labor, as Marx writes: [the] work of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him. This idea is reflected directly in The Hunger Games, as Katniss tells us our part of District 12, nicknamed the Seam, is usually crawling with coal miners heading out to the morning shifts at this hour. Men and women with hunched shoulders, and swollen knuckles, many of who have long since stopped trying to scrub the coal dust out of their broken nails, the lines of their sunken faces. Not only are the workers exploited by the Capitol - the bourgeoisie - their work is also boring and repetitive and does not challenge them, thus alienating them from their labor.
In order to keep the proletariat from rebelling against the systematic oppression of the bourgeoisie, as they had 74 years prior to the events of The Hunger Games, the Capitol hosts an annual Hunger Games. This tradition is used to keep the districts in line, by reinforcing the ultimate power that the Capitol holds. Katniss tells us in punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve Districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes the last tribute standing wins Taking the kids from our Districts, and forcing them to kill one another while we watch this is the Capitol`s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. The Games serve two purposes, firstly as described by Katniss they remind those in the districts of the Capitol`s relentless power, but they also entertain a superficial crowd within the Capitol which revels in the conspicuous consumption that the system provides the fruit of rugged capitalism that feeds on the twelve Districts. The tributes for the Hunger Games are selected through the process of reaping, its very name reinforcing the extent to which the Capitol has turned the members of the Districts into capital, a commodity harvested for the Capitol`s appetite. Additionally, those eligible for the reaping are able to receive one year`s supply of grain in exchange for a tessera, however, each tessera requires the individual to enter their name additional times into the lottery, significantly increasing their chances of being selected for the Games. Thus, reaping is a microcosm of the broader society, as it further disadvantages the poorest citizens who must increase their odds of being reaped in order to receive the minimum amount of food needed to survive.
The Games themselves are one of the most easily identifiable instances of one`s class defining their position in society. The likelihood of winning the Games is significantly impacted by traits such as one`s District, most clearly expressed through the Career Tributes from the symbolic middle class of Districts 1 and 2, who have been trained over their entire lives solely for success in the Games. The Career Tributes are not at an advantage solely because of their skill, due to living in the wealthier districts they also have more potential for sponsors and wealthy donors who can pay the Capitol to have gifts dropped to the tributes during the Games, again increasing their likelihood of success. The training that the Career Tributes receive is analogous to private schooling in our own society, which gives those with more money better tools for success later in life. The Games may seem to be a fair competition in concept, but in reality, they are decided by background, much like the capitalist myth of meritocracy. Furthermore, the games further the divide between the Districts: the Capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every District against the others. By having only one winner of the Games it removes any chance of cooperation and pits people even from the same District and class against one another removing any chance for collective action and enforcing the kind of rugged individualism that capitalism promotes. Through setting the Districts against each other, citizens focus on their own District winning The Games, rather than ending them. To end this hegemony would require cross-border solidarity, and this comes about through Katniss's compassion towards Rue: who wins? Not us. Not the districts. Always the Capitol. But I`m tired of being a piece in their games. Towards the end of the first novel in The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss sparks the fire of revolution through her and Peeta`s double-suicide plan, forcing the Capitol to amend the rules regarding their only being one victor. This act of rebellion is the culmination of economic and political struggles that undermine a nation, eventually uniting Panem`s Districts in the struggle for justice.
Catching Fire and Mockingjay are largely concerned with the revolution that Katniss sparked following her actions in both of the Games that she is forced to participate. Katniss can be seen to have gained class consciousness following the Games: to hate this boy from District 1 seems so inadequate. It`s the Capitol I hate, and as President Snow says if a girl from District Twelve of all places can defy the Capitol What is to prevent, say, an uprising? Marx predicts that when the conditions of class conflict become too strained, the proletariat will rise up and he does not believe that this will be through reformation: the proletariat cannot stir, cannot raise itself up, without the whole superincumbent strata of official society being sprung into the air. Marx`s ideas of Communist revolution are evident in The Hunger Games trilogy, the Districts have been subjected to poverty for decades in order to satisfy the Capitol and now their situation has become so desperate that they have stirred, developing class consciousness and unity through their hate for the Capitol. Their labor makes the bourgeoisie strong, but it can also make them weak, as shown through the general strikes and destruction of hydroelectric power plants in the books: what the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, is its own grave diggers. The text shows us that Capitalism, which is in itself designed to be Dystopian, oppressive, and totalitarian, cannot be reformed, it must be abolished. Marx explains that the union between the proletariat is helped by the improved means of communication it was just this contact that was needed to centralize the numerous local struggles, all of the same characters, into one national struggle between classes. This idea is directly reflected in Mockingjay; following the events of Catching Fire, Beetee and the rebels are able to hijack the Capitol`s nationwide broadcasting system and for the first time, the Districts are able to communicate, which makes the organization of the revolution significantly more effective. Collins sends out a strong message at the revolutionary ending of the trilogy, she shows that one must not surrender in the face of bigotry and oppression. Instead one should stand up to eradicate the discrimination between the powerful and the powerless within society, which seems to agree with Marx`s revolutionary summons to workers: let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
The Hunger Games is a hugely popular Young Adult novel, the subjection, marginalization, and marginalization of the working class can influence teens across the world into viewing their own lives as a struggle between the classes, indirectly introducing them to Marxist theory from a young age. Collins offers readers something both uncommon and refreshing: progressive or radical fiction for young readers that involves collective action on a large social scale.
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