By Jordan Sunkel
Round Table editor
Every Thursday night of most of my life belonged to watching Survivor. The show is about candidates fighting to “survive” thirty-nine days in the wild, for a chance to win a million dollars. There’s no real “surviving” to Survivor, the show is just to win money, for being able to outlast the other opponents. But, what if it wasn’t just a game, if it was a real “Survivor,” where your life depended on it?
In The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, this is a reality. Its set thousands of years from our present, in a country called Panem, which is located where North America once was. Panem is a country made of thirteen districts and one Capitol.
However, almost a hundred years before, the thirteenth district rebelled, and so the Hunger Games were created. The Hunger Games were a reminder to the rest of the districts that they were nothing without the Capitol, forcing each district to give up one girl and one boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen. These tributes are forced to fight to the death in an arena, in order for honor and glory to the tribute and the district.
In District Twelve, Katniss Everdeen knew she had a very good chance of getting picked. She had been entered the pool of names over twenty times. Her sister, Prim, who was only twelve, had the smallest chance of getting picked, over a thousand names were in the ball. But the tables turned when it was not Katniss that was called, but Prim. Then the most unexpected happened in District Twelve, there was a volunteer tribute and her name was Katniss Everdeen.
She is thrown into a whirlwind of activity, saying goodbye to her family, taking a train to the Capitol, being Remade for the Games, participating in the Opening Ceremonies, having interviews and getting trained. Problems occur, surprises arise and twists are made. Katniss must choose what strategy she must take and who she wants to fight for. The Games are more than just a competition, they change people.
“I don’t know how to say it exactly. Only…I want to die as myself. Does that make sense? I don’t want them to change me. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not… I can’t go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to…to show the capitol they don’t own me. That I’m more than just a piece in their games,” Peeta Mellark, the other tribute from District Twelve, told Katniss the night before the games begun.
As the moments slowly grow more intense in the games, Katniss is forced to choose between life or death, love or hatred and success or happiness. Only one will survive the Hunger Games.
