The Hunger Games written by Susanne Collins and published in 2008 enthralled readers worldwide with its dystopian world and idolized heroine Katniss Everdeen. With its love triangle and easy-to-read writing style, readers can fail to see the deeper meaning in the framework of the novel that increases in relevance with each passing year. 

Collin’s novel is centered around the theme of post-colonialism and the consequences of an authoritarian government exploiting its people and their land. It’s a tale of a girl tackling a tyrannical, fascist political system through civil disobedience, organized rebellion, and eventually battle. Collins creates a juxtaposition between the luxury and extravagance of the Capitol, and the poverty-stricken, destitute lives of the districts as an all-out class war. At the centerpiece of the injustice is the Hunger Games institution, which is a public slaughter of the district’s children that is used as an instrument for the political control of Panem. 

When the main character Katniss Everdeen is chosen for the Hunger Games, she shows empathy and a refusal to give up which showed the Capitol can be resisted. Katniss had demonstrated to the districts that they were not at war with each other until forced to do so and reminded everyone who the real enemy is. Her actions sparked collective rebellion across the districts and Katniss is chosen democratically and collectively within the districts to be a symbol of their cause. 

The events of the Hunger Games can be reflected in our own reality. The exploitation of children, reality shows bent on mocking the poor, class struggles, oppressive governments, war, and insurrections are all present in Panem’s and our own society. However, it is books like the Hunger Games that benefit our generation, for we have absorbed these messages and can be proactive in standing up against injustice. 

The human race’s inability to value life, our own and our children’s, has allowed us to oppress one another in ways both great and small. We must recognize that when any fellow human being is stripped of humanity or any person is turned into an object of repression, when children are stolen from their families; tortured, defiled, or victimized by totalitarianism or bigotry, then all human beings are victims, too. In every history book and event that will soon be scribed for our own children to learn, there is instance after instance of humanity’s ability to marginalize, hate, isolate, and destroy. The Hunger Games series is a call to the generation who has felt or seen the scorn of past and present, to never forget the lessons learned.