The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion Read Free Page B

the Games are force-fed to citizens via televisions set up in all the Districts. The propaganda is constant.
    The Oceania government controls and harasses citizens, spies on everyone, dehumanizes people, and penalizes those who invoke freedom of speech. The same is certainly true in the world of The Hunger Games. A classic dystopian novel, 1984 shows us a future that follows a global war. After the war, three super-states divide the land masses up and then control everyone in their provinces. The individual must do as the government wants, and the government controls everyone and everything. The Proles, or Proletariats, constitute 85 percent of the population, and as in our real world and in the world of The Hunger Games, this vast majority has no power and no wealth, and they serve the whims of the rich. The Inner Party, representing only 2 percent of the population, are like the super-wealthy in our population who have the most power. They are also like the Gamemakers, Peacekeepers, and Mayors in The Hunger Games. Citizens are so dehumanized that they’re known as “unpersons.” And children are used as spies, even against their own parents. As in The Hunger Games, children are pawns of the evil empire, which forces them to do the government’s will and destroy any semblance of free thought and speech by their parents. Remember, the children are tools of the government in The Hunger Games; if the Capitol controls the children and tortures/executes them at whim, then the evil empire has an iron grip on the adults. Basically, the Party in 1984 keeps people impoverished and desperate for basics such as food and shelter, just as the Capitol does in The Hunger Games. Poverty, hunger, and misery: tools that the governments in both books use to control the people.
    Winston Smith in 1984 is “lucky” to belong to the somewhat middle-class Outer Party, which affords him with “luxuries” such as black bread and gin. He lives in a small apartment, where he’s forced to watch Big Brother on the telescreen; if caught “thinking” rebellious ideas, he could be executed.
    He eventually rebels against the Party, which arrests, imprisons, and subjects him to beatings, electric shocks, and psychological torture. The Party also arrests and tortures his illegal lover, Julia. The Capitol in The Hunger Games uses similar techniques, and then some (see chapter 6, “Torture and Execution”).
    In 1984, the government controls love affairs, as well. Winston and Julia aren’t supposed to be involved in a romance; hence their imprisonment and torture. The two end up discarding each other, both caving into Big Brother.
    In The Hunger Games, the government straight up to President Snow, tries to control the romance between Katniss and Peeta to the point of picking out her wedding dress. Both Katniss and Peeta are keenly aware throughout all three books that their romance may be their key to survival. Finally, after shifting out of the severity of tracker jacker hijacking, Peeta clings to his love of Katniss.
    Perhaps the most fascinating difference between 1984 and The Hunger Games lies in the conversations between Winston Smith and Julia. Remember, Katniss and Peeta are paranoid about each other’s loyalty during their battles to the death; Katniss tries to save Peeta’s life numerous times; and Peeta is willing to sacrifice himself to save Katniss. But in 1984, Winston and Julia betray each other. She explains that “they” (the government) threaten the people with things that nobody can “stand up to” or “even think about.” She says that, in the end, “all you care about is yourself.” Sadly, Winston agrees, and they both comment that, after a betrayal in which you’re willing to sacrifice someone else to save your own neck, “you don’t feel the same” about the other person any longer.
    Yet perhaps the major difference is that in 1984, the police make sure people do not even think subversive things. The government