Keep Your Freedom Most people assume, since they live in the United States, that they are free, and have the freedom to do as they please as long as what they are doing abides by federal and/or state law. But how free are we, really? If you look deep enough, Suzanne Collins illustrates how restricted our freedom in the United States are. Throughout the novel, The Hunger Games, Collins is telling her readers that the government will destroy most means of personal freedom of the citizens. In Panem, the country in which the story takes place, there is a lack of privacy, a push for social conformity, and finally, there is a very militarized and powerful police force. All three of these topics can be recognized in our modern day society, in some
…show more content…
Before the Games begin, the tributes have tracking devices inserted beneath their skin. Collins uses Katniss Everdeen to tell of her experience when she is receiving her tracking device. Katniss explains, “feeling the sharp stab of pain as the needle inserts the metal tracking device deep under the skin of my forearm. Now the Gamemakers will be able to trace my whereabouts in the arena” (Collins 144). From this explanation, a reader can conclude that the Gamemakers want to keep tabs on the tributes at all times. There is no private place that the tributes can go where the Gamemakers won’t be able to find them. Another invasion of privacy that Collins writes about is the cameras that are constantly videotaping the tributes throughout the games. According to Katniss when she is flattered Peeta, she says, “‘I don’t remember that last part,’ hoping it’s too dim in here for the cameras to pick up my blush” (Collins 303). This insight to Katniss’ thoughts tells the reader that she is feeling like she can’t get away from the cameras, so she is relying on the darkness to keep her real emotions from being broadcast to the entire …show more content…
One way that social conformity reveals itself in the novel is through uniform expectation from the government. The Hunger Games are a normal occurrence in Collins’ novel, and have become a normality that everyone has conformed to. Collins writes, “A lifetime of watching the Games lets me know that certain areas of the arena are rigged for certain attacks” (Collins 175). What Collins is trying to convey in this passage is that Katniss has been watching the Hunger Games her whole life, and that she knows the Games so well because it has been a normal thing to watch in Panem, only because it is a uniform expectation from the government. Uniform expectation from the U.S government can be observed in the form of mandatory taxes that citizens have to pay. According to Paychex.com, “The federal income tax is a payroll tax that employers must withhold from an employee’s wages or salary.” (paychex.com 1). The information provided says that employers have no choice but to take money out of their employees pay and give it to the Federal Government. If U.S. citizens were truly free, employers would be able to pay their employees in full without having to give any of it to the
Before the Games begin, the tributes have tracking devices inserted beneath their skin. Collins uses Katniss Everdeen to tell of her experience when she is receiving her tracking device. Katniss explains, “feeling the sharp stab of pain as the needle inserts the metal tracking device deep under the skin of my forearm. Now the Gamemakers will be able to trace my whereabouts in the arena” (Collins 144). From this explanation, a reader can conclude that the Gamemakers want to keep tabs on the tributes at all times. There is no private place that the tributes can go where the Gamemakers won’t be able to find them. Another invasion of privacy that Collins writes about is the cameras that are constantly videotaping the tributes throughout the games. According to Katniss when she is flattered Peeta, she says, “‘I don’t remember that last part,’ hoping it’s too dim in here for the cameras to pick up my blush” (Collins 303). This insight to Katniss’ thoughts tells the reader that she is feeling like she can’t get away from the cameras, so she is relying on the darkness to keep her real emotions from being broadcast to the entire …show more content…
One way that social conformity reveals itself in the novel is through uniform expectation from the government. The Hunger Games are a normal occurrence in Collins’ novel, and have become a normality that everyone has conformed to. Collins writes, “A lifetime of watching the Games lets me know that certain areas of the arena are rigged for certain attacks” (Collins 175). What Collins is trying to convey in this passage is that Katniss has been watching the Hunger Games her whole life, and that she knows the Games so well because it has been a normal thing to watch in Panem, only because it is a uniform expectation from the government. Uniform expectation from the U.S government can be observed in the form of mandatory taxes that citizens have to pay. According to Paychex.com, “The federal income tax is a payroll tax that employers must withhold from an employee’s wages or salary.” (paychex.com 1). The information provided says that employers have no choice but to take money out of their employees pay and give it to the Federal Government. If U.S. citizens were truly free, employers would be able to pay their employees in full without having to give any of it to the