HUNGA GAMEZ

In an intense, fast-paced, and gripping novel that I am currently reading, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, there are many sections that stick out to me. The book is about twenty-four children who have been chosen from their districts to fight to the death on live television as a service to the government. The story takes place in the future, and although it has a brutal theme, it addresses other, deeper themes such as love, sacrifice, and friendship.
At one point when two of the children are discussing their potential in the fight, one says, “I want to die as myself… I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.”
This quote is important because it shows that this child, out of the twenty-four, was different. This boy cared about his honor. He believed that being who he truly was, rather than whom he turned into when he was fighting the others, was important. This made some of the other children reconsider what they were doing as well.
One girl, Katniss (main character), realized that all she had been thinking about the past few days before the fighting began was how she was going to strategize, defeat the others, and survive. When she realized that the boy was worrying about how he was going to die or be known to the world that was seeing him on their televisions, it made her feel inferior.
Later in the story, though, we see that this boy is unable to follow through with his wish, and he does turn into the “monster” he didn’t want to become. He becomes someone he is not by fighting viciously without considering others or himself because he was in such a desolate, desperate state of mind. He cannot be blamed for fighting and acting the way he did, the fight did that to most of the twenty-four, but The fact that this occurs after he diplomatically stated that he didn’t want to become someone he wasn’t during the fight made the circumstance sickeningly heartbreaking for readers. I find the fact that he was thinking about his impression on othersm rather than how he was going to kill everyone off, reputable.