Separated Districts

"After the war, Capitol destroyed all the nests surrounding the city, but the ones near the districts were left untouched. Another reminder of our weakness I suppose, just like the Hunger Games. Another reason to keep inside the fence of District 12" (186.Collins)

The Capitol decided to put fences around each district so they can be separated from one another. This action done by the Capitol doesn't surprise me, because each district in the story is in different social classes, so to keep everything organize, the government makes each class live where they belong, instead of combing the classes in one district. This meant that people from other districts can not communicate with each other, unless you're in the Hunger Game, like Kitness and Peeta. Another reason for the wired fence, is to show their weakness, just like how Kitness is describing it. The fact that they are surrounded by fences everyday of their lives, reminds the people they are trapped in their restricted area and not having the rights to escape or roam around to experience the different districts. It shows how vulnerable they are, and how little control they have for their lives when the government is over powering the systems. Also, Kitness uses the fences as a simile for the Hunger Game after she got wounded. The Hunger Game reminds the players how vulnerable they are when they have to always be on the look out for a victim to kill, when they are considered to be victims themselves. Every day, someone is capable to die in the game, so everyone can not feel strong and encouraged all the time when the game is extremely depressing and appalling. No one can be worry free when  they can be the next one dead at any time of the day. With death hanging over your shoulders at all times, its impossible not to feel weak. How would you feel if you were in Kitness' position? Would you've already give in out of fear and weakness? Or would you fight for the win?

Katniss=Dog?

"All I can think is how unjust the whole thing is, the Hunger Games. Why am i hopping around like some trained dog trying to please people I hate? The longer the interview goes on, the more fury seems to rise to the surface,until I'm literally spitting out answers at him." (117.Collins)

Before the Hunger Game actually occurs, Katniss must go through an interview for the broadcast of the show. Haymitch convinces her to "gain favors" from the audience so that she could be supported from the watchers to stay tuned for Hunger Games. Haymitch encourages Katniss to show the audience a good feature/ personality about herself. Eventually he decided she should be "humble" for the interview. But Katniss refuses to show any kind of positive attitude for the interview, because she doesn't feel comfortable and rather angry that she has to obey and sit down like a "trained dog" in front of people she doesn't even like.Katniss also wants her privacy about her life back home from people that could possibly cause her death and have already decided her future. She has the temptation of exposing her true feelings of the Hunger Game, but is aware that she can not do that because she would put not only her, but also her family back at District 12, danger. The fact that she is restricted from freedom of speech on television shows that this is a Utopian society, because the government is not only controlling what is shown to the public in television, but very strict to what is said against the government. Not only do they control what is broadcasted, but also authorize what the speaker can or can't say to everyone. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to expose the Hunger Games and their horrors on the interviews. I would assume that a lot of people in the game are tempted to share how they really feel to the world, but can't because the Panem figureheads are constantly watching and certainly capable to punish anyone who disobeys them.  

Survival of the Fittest

"The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins." (18.Collins)

Based on what Panem's figurehead, twelve innocent children could possibly loose their lives because of an uprising that wasn't even caused by them. This is ridiculous and fairly disturbing. I don't think that their only punishing the people for the uprising, but also punishing the adults and parents of the districts. The tributes are obviously forced to put their names in the "raffle", because no one would volunteer for such a game, so the parents must watch and hope that their child won't get picked. And if they did get picked;they have to hope their child to be the winner. I see this as more of a discipline for the parents and adults, because a way to phase the older community is to show that the government is willing to put innocent children on the line to keep the others in line. It seems more like a warning that they are capable of doing anything just to show that they have power and dominance, because there would not be any other reason for this game to exist in the first place. Children are one of the most innocent creatures on this planet, so the fact that a government uses them and take away their innocence with this "game", is outrageous and doesn't improve anything. This obviously shows manipulation and dominance, because people are chosen randomly, without their will to participate in a game where they might die, and they can't have the opportunity to speak up or rebel. The government has full control on what they can and can't do. So even if someone is courages enough to speak up, he would probably be dead or be sent to the arena anyways. Also, the figureheads makes this situation into a game show, hosted on television to keep everyone "posted" or "entertained" is a way for the government to make the killings not as serious or bad as it really is. I don't see this game benefits anyone. I think the government wants out of this is to punish the society for something that happened in the past, and used their children to make the punishment worse. But broadcasting it has no purpose, besides giving a chance for a child's parents to watch him/her getting killed.