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Main points of: Interpretation and Representation of Violence and Power in Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Peeta and Haymitch start a revolution.

Violence is shown as a form of punishment, a reminder of forced obedience, a general fascination with death, and a pleasure for the public.

The people making the games and President Snow are the real antagonists.

Katniss realize the Capitol is her true enemy.

Wealthier districts (those closest to the Capitol) want to prove their devotion to the Capitol so they train their tributes evne though they aren't supposed to.

Early on Katniss 'lets' a girl be abducted in the forest. (Many articles note this but realistically, what could Katniss have done to stop that? She had a bow and arrow and that would have gone up against a Capitol aircraft. She would not have stood a chance.)

The readers are manipulated to feel sorry for the deaths of the tributes.

Audience members in the Capitol deny their involvement since they are just watching the games.

The games are the ultimate form of reality television for those in the Capitol.

Different characters can have different perspectives on violence.

During the training Katniss realizes she will have to take an active role in the games in order to survive.

She sees the tributes as people, not as a form of entertainment.

Capitol residents rely on the games to give them pleasure in their lives.

The internal violence in Panem is the violence that led to the origin of the games.

Katniss gives a first-person narration.

Both the readers and the people in the Capitol are voyeurs in the games.

Survival in the games depends (at last in part) on a tributes ability to gain sponsors and the favor of the audience members. This is the same as in many reality television shows in today's reality.

Using the games Collins points our attention to today's problems such as the vast discrepancy of wealth, the power of television and its influence on our lives, the issue of war and the possibility that the government could use hunger as a weapon.

Those that die in the districts have their deaths recorded as anything other than starvation.

The people in the Capitol don't care about the suffering the people in the districts have to live with.

The lack of food illustrates the power the Capitol has over the districts.

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