I reread Hunger Games and Catching Fire this weekend. Hunger Games is still a fantastic book. It was just as fascinating the second time around, and made me even more excited to see the movie! I think they did a great job with casting and we'll see how it all plays out int he movie adaptation. I read the book thinking about survival as a theme this time around, which I think I'll use as a springboard for some discussion about all the books we read this month.
Topic: altruism vs. self-preservation
Which one is more necessary for survival? In Hunger Games, the gladiator-style arena would imply a "survival of the fittest" kind of battle, but it turns out that alliances and working together turns out to be more beneficial in the end. Hunger Games is good at following Katniss' thought processes as she goes through the transition from "everybody out for themselves" to a feeling of emotionally-motivated cooperation.
In Catching Fire, the sequel to Hunger Games, the altruistic motivation is really a main focus of the games. It's sort of twisted into a manipulation by political forces, but again, in the end, she survives. Without giving too much away for those who haven't read it yet, the subject of her altruism is not so lucky.
Is this topic present in the books you have read about survival?
Just a quote from Hunger Games I thought went well with this topic:
ReplyDelete"Gale and I were thrown together by a mutual need to survive. Peeta and I know the other's survival means our own death. How do you sidestep that?"