: Re: Preventing the symbolic conflict of "Hunger Games" from overshadowing widespread social plight SPOILER ALERT: Questions and answers may contain spoilers for all three books in the Hunger Games

@Ann1701686

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Alright, everyone Stand Back. I've got this. I think a specific case-study is a great idea for a question.

I read those books pretty fast last spring. Before I get started, I have to say: they're not the greatest books ever. Her writing is very hit and miss. Somehow, the plot was engaging enough for me to finish the series, but I was constantly thinking "well this is boring," and "I don't care about this character/scene at all," and sometimes even "this is awfully disappointing after so much build-up." The problems became more flagrant as the series wore on. That being said, there are definitely structural flaws with the way she put the plot together. It seemed to me at times that she wasn't certain what she wanted to focus on.

Anyway, as for ways Collins tried to thread her plots together: periodically while Katniss is in the arena, and constantly when she's out of it, the reader is doused with indicators that just about every man, woman, and cat in the country is clinging to their television for dear life, watching the Games. In the arena, when she's out of contact with the outside world, these indicators come in the form of her own suspicions, usually written in a form similar to "I could just imagine the crowds aching for me to kiss Peeta." The gifts from sponsors, usually showing up as rewards for tv-friendly behavior, encourage and strengthen these thoughts in the minds of both Katniss and the reader.

One of my favorite aspects of the novels is her personal fashion designer, whose name I can't remember for the life of me (EDIT: Cinna!). It is frequently implied but never stated that he is some sort of not-very-subtle revolutionary agent working against the Capital, and the outfits he provides for her as she goes into the Games are repeatedly emphasized as designed to light sparks beneath the discontent of the Districts.

On a less tangible note, I suppose a major aspect of the early novels which aims to tie these two separate worlds together is the obscure nature of the Capital. Nearly every developed character in the books is anti-Capital, just another unhappy subject of their oppressive regime. What characters there are who actually support/are members of the Capital are kept in the background as soulless creatures without lives or motives beyond stomping on the Districts and running the Games. My point here is that for a long time Collins makes it feel as though the book's entire plane of existence is held in chains by this hated but untouchable ghostly Master. Early on, one gets the impression that there is no fighting back, and the Games are all there is to think about.

I don't recall whether it was in the second or third book that the arena contestants astonishingly managed to break out of the arena by directing lightning into the wall, but this seemed to me to be a rather contrived way to shift the plot. Suddenly the Capitol has a physical nature, an army: suddenly it can be struck against. This shift was too sudden for me. It felt like the plot-board had just snapped under its own weight, and a handful of characters had tumbled off onto a separate conflict on the floor. I would say that despite her best attempts, Collins did a mediocre job of tying the Games into the greater national plight.

Against my better instincts I will take a stab at offering what I would have done to improve the plot's continuity and verisimilitude:

Start the district conflicts sooner. Perhaps have one of the less important districts revolt and be destroyed early on. this would be even better if Katniss got to know the tribute from that district.
Emphasize the physical threat of the Capital outside the Games. In the first Games, perhaps one of the other tributes could have found a way out and tried to escape. This could be the same person as the last idea, and he could ask Katniss to come with him (she says no), only to be caught and thrown back in and then killed by the gamemakers.
Figure out a better way to get Katniss out than directing lightning into a wall. It just wasn't believable.

Alright, that's all I've got off the top of my head. let me know what you think.

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