PTSD

Has it ever occured to you after you read a book how much research its author put into it? Suzanne Collins not only thoroughly understands the topic of a dystopian world, but also several psychological disorders born from the issues that such a home would cause. I wasn't aware of just how much time that she put into this series however, until after I read 'Bent, Shattered, and Mended.'

Things we take for granted now wouldn't apply in a world like the arena, or even the regular life of District 12. There's hardly ever happiness, and even then, there is always the knowledge that the Capitol can take that away whenver it wants to. Maybe that is why that I didn't really connect to Katniss as a character at first, until I realized that she would do anything for her extended family.

I wonder if we would be just the same as Katniss, Peeta, Gale, and others are if we were forced to be part of a dictatorship. Would we feel that giving someone your trust is handing them a gun that's pointed directly at you? Would we think that owing someone is an edge that they have over you? Little things like a handshake could have dozens of hidden strings, and it's too risky to ignore any small detail. As 'Bent, Shattered, and Mended' said, the brain goes into hyperdrive.

That must be the reason why Katniss communicates so well with Haymitch. He recognizes himself in her in the way that she looks at every small detail in the world and doubts that it's genuine. This is also why he knows that she will pick up on the strings attached to a bucket of soup.

So despite all of the pyschological torture that the Capitol puts the Districts through to control them (The Hunger Games), bonds can happen too, even in the arena. So is it all worth it? If it hadn't been for the miserable circumstances in the world of the President Snow's dictatorship, Katniss would have noticed Peeta only in passing, and never have spoken to Haymitch. Prim might not mean as much to Katniss, because she would no longer be the one constant in Katniss's life. Her father would still be alive, and she might be just like any other normal teenage girl. Once again, is it worth it? In the end of 'Mockingjay', Katniss marries Peeta, and all of her mental trauma finally heals enough to let her have a family with Peeta.

I think the Capitol never took into account that the Hunger Games was also a spark that started the rebellion, or more specifically, started Katniss. Even though the tributes loose their individuality as a person in the interviews ('...erase my face with a layer of pale makeup'), showing that they are only an ornament, they still understand each other in the sense that most of them would never willingly take another human life. In some degree, all of the tributes feel resentment for being thrown into the world of the arena.

That is something that the Capitol will never understand, having never faced poverty, hunger, or lack of anything.

Was It All a Lie?

Peeta loves Katniss. There is no question about it. I don't even think it is up for debate. 

Katniss didn't start off liking Peeta, but she ended up falling for him. Did she fall for him for her, or for the games? Personally, I think it was a bit of both.

Katniss was all about survival. Survival for her family (her sister more so than her mother, but her mother too) and for herself. At the beginning of the book, when she was on the train, she was thinking about all the possible outcomes of the Hunger Games for herself. She was thinking about what would happen to her FAMILY after she shot the arrow at the Game Makers. She thought they would hurt them, maybe even kill them. For a moment she was worried, but she realized that the Game Makers couldn't hurt her family. They couldn't hurt them without giving away what happened in her session, and they absolutely couldn't do that. 

Katniss had some serious walls put up around her. The only people who could truly penetrate them were Prim and Gale. Even with Gale, it took her a long time to let him in. Before the games, she always kept track of the boy with the bread, only because she felt she was in debt to him. Once she was put in the Games with him, she got the chance to pay back that debt, but only after he had done more for her than she had ever imagined. He saved her out of love-Katniss saved him because of the feeling that she owed him, and she would never stop owing him (and yes, a little bit of love there too towards the end). Once she let Peeta inside her walls, I think she was glad to do it. She was afraid of letting people in, possibly for the fear that they would either betray her, or she would lose them, like she lost her father. Peeta is genuinely a good guy. Everything he did in the arena he did for her out of love. Katniss' motivations had a little to do with that, but also to do with her survival. They were not whole-heartedly towards love. 

Peeta mentioned in the arena how alike Katniss and Haymitch are. They think alike. They understand each other. They both know how to survive. Peeta is ignorant of the fact that Haymitch had been communicating with Katniss with his gifts, or lack of gifts. When Peeta found out that it was all a big show, Katniss defended herself by saying she did what she had to do to keep them both alive. The trouble is, she really did develop feelings for Peeta, but since she didn't have them from the beginning, Peeta was unsure she even had them at all. 

The thing is, no matter how much Peeta wanted it to be real, and even how much Katniss may have wanted it, it couldn't have been real. Not in the arena, and maybe not even back in District 12. The capitol would always be controlling them (until Mockingjay, but they don't know that yet; don't you love dramatic irony?) so they wouldn't be able to live the free life that so many covet. Katniss mentions she never wants to have children for the risk that they would have to compete in the Games. Being in a slaughter house like the arena does something to people. Something that you can never reverse. 

This is how the Capitol controls people. Through fear. Fear is not a good way to lead, ever. People in the Capitol are shielded from the real world. They think life is just dandy. Food at the press of the button. Anything they want is at their disposal. Out in the Districts, life is hard. If they didn't hate the capitol, I would wonder about them...The capitol controls everything and everyone, and they want to keep it that way.

They wanted Katniss to kill Peeta, and the other way around. They wanted to drive two people who love each other, (yes, at this point I think they were in love) to kill each other. Anyone with any type of morals would never do that. You have to be sick to try to do that to people.

Panem is like a movie, just a fake show, a messed up horror/sci-fi show, and the Capitol is the director. The districts are the actors, who are forced to improvise. If the do one thing the director doesn't like, they're fired. Gone for good.

If things continued the way they are, Katniss and Peeta could never lead a happy life together.

****Sorry it is so late Ms.Robbins!! I didn't have internet connection on vacation, and I got home at 11:30 last night! I had it written but I couldn't post until today! :( 

Compassion

"In the arena, we are able to see compassion in a number of characters even as they are in the most barbarous fight of their lives.  What do you think this says about humanity? What does it say about them individually? Why do you think Suzanne Collins wanted us to see glimpses of the humanity of characters like Thresh even when we are supposed to hate him?" - Ms. R.

       I believe that human beings have a natural compassion for each other. The Capitol tries to force them to give up this instinct. It is another way that they try to control their pieces in the games. Though I believe that people have a natural compassion for each other, I also think it is true that the instinct to survive is much more powerful because it is the basis of all instincts. Not to try to win is quite literally an act of suicide, but to try to win is to kill another. We often forget compassion for others when our own survival is at stake. It becomes impossible in such a situation as the Hunger Games to step out of your mind for a moment and think about what you are doing. It is all you can do to stay alive

      It is also a basic instinct to defend yourself against danger, but the real danger is not the other tributes; it is the Capitol. The tributes begin fighting knowing that that is the only way out. Not because the other tributes are a danger to them. [Spoiler Alert] In the 75th Hunger games  all of the the old victor tributes band together to escape from the arena and flee to District 13. They banded together because they now realized that the other tributes weren't the enemy. They did it in an act of rebellion against the Capitol and also to ignite a fire that had laid dormant since the last uprising. A new rebellion begins against a world where some have more of a right to live than others. Against a powerful and corrupted justice. The Capitol could have a little humility and compassion. Those who don't are less than human.

From Ms. R: Some interesting thoughts from our meetings...

Here are some questions to ponder that have come up in our meetings. Feel free to write about them separately or use the comment area to continue the conversation: 

• How does suffering bring people together? Can good come from suffering? 
• How is the Capitol like The United States? How is it different? What does that mean? Do you think that Suzanne Collins could be critiquing the way modern, western culture lives?
• What does it say that the only survivor of the Games in District 12 is a drunk? Is it part of an act that Haymitch is projecting? Is it where his life has legitimately brought him? (Also consider your knowledge from Mockingjay...what are the victor's lives like after they win?)
• How is Katniss' motivation to go into the games different from the Career Tributes? Do they both show different kinds of loyalty? Is one better than the other?

If You Were the People Running the Capitol, Would You Have Shared Your Technology with the Districts?

While the Capitol seems to have every sort of possible technology, the Districts seem to have next to nothing. Most of them have never even had an orange, or orange juice, or even hot chocolate. The time that the Hunger Games takes place has to be pretty far into the future, because of all the new inventions that pop up throughout the series. There are hover crafts, and arenas that are different each year.

However, from the beginning, it was only the Capitol that had those things.