Dehumanization in The Hunger Games Essay Example

"It's to the Capitol's advantage to have us divided among ourselves" (Collins, page #). The Hunger Games is a novel written about the twelve districts of a country known as Panem and an event called the Hunger Games that happens annually. The Capitol, Panem's capital and command city, arbitrarily selects one girl and one boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death in an arena until a victor emerges to punish the districts of a previous revolt war. An abundance of methods is demonstrated in The Hunger Games to instill obedience in the population, ones that dehumanize, divide, and manipulate to maintain government control.

The Capitol, which has the power to change any person's life, enjoys altering physical and mental aspects of a person that eventually becomes a shell of who they once were. Dehumanization is a specialty of the Capitol, which uses the Hunger Games to show their blatant disregard for life. To prove the point that the government has all the power over the districts, every tribute from the districts chosen to fight in the Games loses the values and principles that once defined them. Katniss, the protagonist, would have never once considered taking a human life, although once she entered the arena of the Hunger Games, she killed four people to survive. Once a person loses who they once were, the Capitol succeeds in dominating their life and oppressing them like animals. "As we learn here, traitors to the government have their tongues cut out to become servants called Avoxes" (Collins, page #). Not only can the Capitol conquer your mind, but government officials can control or maim your body and force you to live by their standards. While individuals are commanded and restricted, enormous populations are controlled by being divided into districts.

Dividing the continent of North America into thirteen segments makes it easier to manage the people and land of Panem. Each district produces goods and services for the Capitol, although they barely know anything about each other since the Capitol wants to isolate and create barriers of assumption and hate. "It's interesting hearing about her life. We have so little communication with anyone outside our district. In fact, I wonder if the Gamemakers are blocking our conversation, because even though the information seems harmless, they don't want people in different districts to know about one another'' (Collins, page #). How citizens are unaware of the details of another district decreases the chances of rebellion or alliances while simultaneously increasing the wariness and hate for one another. “District 12: Where you can starve to death in peace” (Collins, page #). Since each district specializes in one thing that mainly benefits the Capitol, economic development is limited and keeps people too poor to organize any action against the government. District twelve is a great example of economic control since most of the citizens spend hours in mines while reaping barely any rewards and earning the bare minimum to survive, occasionally not even that. Above all, the spite and assumptions that the people of Panem share among themselves only make it easier for the Capitol to control them, but simply spreading the seeds of conflict is not enough.

Propaganda, television, and other forms of media are utilized to beguile the citizens of Panem. The Hunger Games are televised nationwide, but certain scenes are cut out or added according to different districts or even for everybody. "But I do notice they omit that part where I cover her in flowers. Right. Because even that smacks of rebellion" (Collins, page #). Editors of the Capitol discarded a part in the Hunger Games where Katniss showed her respect to a fallen tribute by covering her in flowers. Government officials refused to show this because it proves that districts can get along and develop bonds that even the Capitol cannot break. "The real message is clear, 'Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger we will destroy every last one of you" (Collins, page #). Suppressing rebellion is the legitimate reason behind the Hunger Games, they are used to manipulate and force the districts into behaving how the government wants them to, and the underlying threat is clear to all. In essence, manipulation is only one of the responsibilities of the Capitol, it would be difficult to summarize them all.

Government officials create a dystopian setting in the Hunger Games, in which the government plays an oppressive role that values controlling and suppressing its citizens. There is a magnitude of ways that the Capitol inflicts suffering and dominance over the people of Panem, mainly by devaluing the quality of life, isolating districts, and controlling the minds of all. Despite having the ability to analyze the Hunger Games as a reader, this dystopian novel is a representation of what Suzanne Collins, the author, can imagine as the future of North America, and perhaps the words written by her could be a reality in the next few centuries of America.