A ruthless game, a merciless community

Book read: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

APPLICATION:
When i compare my life to the life of the characters in this book, i felt as if i am living in luxury. Indeed. The lives of the main characters, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were poor in their own ways. They do not have enough to eat and have to hunt or find things to eat illegally. Katniss live in district 12 (there are 12 districts altogether), in a desperately poor mining community called the Seam. Strangely, this particular book reminds me of my life in China, where the air is polluted and the environment is dirty. At that time, I suffered a lot as we lived in poorly built houses, we had not much to eat and the toilet were filled with maggots. Yuck! Just the thought of it makes me shudder in fear. It reminds me of my old days, where everything is not so perfect even thought there are some excellent facilities. My old life in China is reflected very well in this book, where the citizens of district 12 led poor and agonizing lives while the capitol led the luxurious lives.

STORY SUMMARY:
Then, there is the hunger games. Twelve boys and twelve girls are chosen to appear in a deadly live television show called the hunger games. There is the unspoken rule of "not eating other tributes" and you must kill people to get out of there alive. Katniss's sister is chosen, and Katniss, fearing for her sister's safety, took her place along with Peeta Mellark. And from here begins the gruesome hunger games. Well, that prettey summed up the first part of the story. The rest are the fighting and returning to district 12.

ANALYSIS:
Well, let me introduce you to another two characters in the hunger games. They are foxface (nicknamed by katniss) and Cato, the boy from district 2, the most ferocious of all. I wanted to compare these two characters as they have very different characteristics unlike peeta and katniss, who have quite the same personality, i believe? In the hunger games, foxface and Cato are the last 2 survivors in the hunger games along with Katniss and Peeta. They have completely different characters and here is why. Cato, to be exact, is a heartless guy with a strong body and it was him who went around killing everyone in the hunter games expect his partner from the same district, Clove. On the other hand, foxface, whose identity is still unknown, is a sly and cunning fellow, just like a FOX. It seemed surprising to me that she was able to survive for so long without killing anyone but rather escaping from everyone. She escapes from everyone and scavenges food. That is why i saw her and Cato to be two complete different tributes. Basicaaly, for Cato, his way of living is to do the so-called hard way while foxface just grabs the good stuffs while noone is paying attention.

SYNTHESIS:
I know that many people will think that the climax of this story will be the middle part, when the hunger games is still taking place. I do Not feel so but i feel that the hunger games is not so interesting but rather the ending. That is when Peeta learned about the fake motives and acts put up by Katniss and Haymitch (their mentor) and felt emptiness and hollow. I felt that this part is very important as it tells of Katniss and Haymitch's attempts to fool the crowd to attract more people to sponsor them. Till this point, Peeta had always been cheerful and that made an unexpected twist which broke the friendship between Peeta and Katniss and left the Cliff hanger of facing the crowd, letting everyone anticipate the second story of the hunger games.

EVALUATION:
I have thought this over and over again, and have more or less came up with a solution. I think that if i can have a friend from the hunger games, it would be Katniss. Why? Firstly it is because that she is responsible and caring. This can be seen as she boldly stood up to protect her sister from entering the hunger games and volunteered herself for it to ensure the safety of her sister. She also had brains and had plenty strategists as she used a lot of techniques to escape the tributes. Then, Katniss is also a loyal friend as throughout the hunger games, she was genuine to Peeta and Rue and never abandoned them. This is the best for a friend as a true friend always one who helps you in difficult times, as the saying goes, "a friend in need is a friend indeed."

Overall, i found this story pretty good with a lot of vivid descriptions of the hunger game and the things the characters did. It was a fresh idea, although many people claimed it to be quite similar to the Japanese book, Battle Royale. The author was also good at attracting people to read on further as she constantly uses cliff hangers and at the ending, there happened to be an unexpected twist which i think will cause the readers to wait feverishly for the next book, catching fire. I would like to recommend this book to you as it is a good read to me and i am sure it will be one to you as well.