Monday, March 26, 2012
Addendum to "Hungry"
I came across an excellent assessment of The Hunger Games which I feel compelled to share. This post from the "Father talks too fast" blog says everything I meant to say and more. Take a moment to read!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Hungry.
There's been a whole lot of hype going on about The Hunger Games for a while now, and a few weeks ago I finally gave in and started reading them. It took me forever to get through the beginning of the second book, so I only just finished them the day before yesterday. Ever since then, I've been trying to figure out exactly what I think of them. They were certainly gripping and entertaining, in a grim sort of way, and I would like to see the movie. However, I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that I shouldn't just go all-out and gush about how wonderful they are. I think it's probably that they aren't wonderful. They're horrific. The pain and sadness and inhumanity encompassed in the story are gut-wrenching in the extreme. Normally, I would dismiss this type of book as somewhat entertaining but too pessimistic to be valuable, but I'm going to try to delve a little deeper.
***Warning: there are almost certainly going to be spoilers ahead. Stop reading now if you don't want to know anything about how the story ends!***
In thinking about the books, my biggest question was "what was the point?" There doesn't really seem to be much of a moral to the story, and there wasn't a huge amount of character development either. I mean, the characters do change and develop, but they don't grow from their experience, they're just hurt and kind of muddle along afterwards, if they even live. Eventually, though, I arrived at the conclusion that the point of The Hunger Games must be as a warning. A warning not to harden our hearts, a warning not to engage in nuclear warfare, and most of all as a warning not to get caught up in entertainment at the expense of our humanity. I think it's ironic that the series is taken as simple entertainment by the majority of people. Not many people these days think or care about the point, purpose, or value of anything that amuses them.
If taken as a cautionary tale, I can see the value of these books. If not, however, I would have a harder time justifying my enjoyment of them. I have to admit that I do prefer stories that have happy endings, or at least those in which some sort of redeeming value or revelation is reached to make a less-happy ending worthwhile. This book lacks either, and that's the main reason I have some reservations. From the beginning the reader knows that Katniss is going to have to choose between Gale and Peeta, or that she'll continue to be conflicted until one dies and the choice is taken away. In one sense the ending was good, because she retained the ability to choose and was not a puppet of the Capitol or the new republic in that way. But in another sense it was dissatisfying because her rejection of the inhumanity of the Capitol is incomplete, in that despite her words to Peeta, her decision appears to be based purely on logic rather than love, that her only motivation is that Peeta's compassion and steadiness (assuming he recovered pretty fully after he was "hijacked") is better for her than Gale's fire. Maybe that's all she's capable of after experiencing so much horror, or maybe she truly grows to love him beyond the scope of the books, but the ending just felt messy, incomplete, and strangely devoid of emotion. In short, it left me hungry for something more satisfying.
It also bothers me that people keep saying "May the odds be ever in your favor". Life may have been ruled by chance (not really) in the books, but ours are certainly not. Why in the world is anyone emulating a custom of a cruel and decadent society?
***Warning: there are almost certainly going to be spoilers ahead. Stop reading now if you don't want to know anything about how the story ends!***
In thinking about the books, my biggest question was "what was the point?" There doesn't really seem to be much of a moral to the story, and there wasn't a huge amount of character development either. I mean, the characters do change and develop, but they don't grow from their experience, they're just hurt and kind of muddle along afterwards, if they even live. Eventually, though, I arrived at the conclusion that the point of The Hunger Games must be as a warning. A warning not to harden our hearts, a warning not to engage in nuclear warfare, and most of all as a warning not to get caught up in entertainment at the expense of our humanity. I think it's ironic that the series is taken as simple entertainment by the majority of people. Not many people these days think or care about the point, purpose, or value of anything that amuses them.
If taken as a cautionary tale, I can see the value of these books. If not, however, I would have a harder time justifying my enjoyment of them. I have to admit that I do prefer stories that have happy endings, or at least those in which some sort of redeeming value or revelation is reached to make a less-happy ending worthwhile. This book lacks either, and that's the main reason I have some reservations. From the beginning the reader knows that Katniss is going to have to choose between Gale and Peeta, or that she'll continue to be conflicted until one dies and the choice is taken away. In one sense the ending was good, because she retained the ability to choose and was not a puppet of the Capitol or the new republic in that way. But in another sense it was dissatisfying because her rejection of the inhumanity of the Capitol is incomplete, in that despite her words to Peeta, her decision appears to be based purely on logic rather than love, that her only motivation is that Peeta's compassion and steadiness (assuming he recovered pretty fully after he was "hijacked") is better for her than Gale's fire. Maybe that's all she's capable of after experiencing so much horror, or maybe she truly grows to love him beyond the scope of the books, but the ending just felt messy, incomplete, and strangely devoid of emotion. In short, it left me hungry for something more satisfying.
It also bothers me that people keep saying "May the odds be ever in your favor". Life may have been ruled by chance (not really) in the books, but ours are certainly not. Why in the world is anyone emulating a custom of a cruel and decadent society?
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