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Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Hunger Games Item Preview. Storytelling in the present tense is extremely difficult to achieve well. Though relatively easy to read when well executed — due to the immediacy and suspense — present tense narration is not easy to write , it requires an exceptional command of tense and grammatical aspect. Although difficult to accomplish, Suzanne Collins succeeds masterfully.
However EFL students who like to write their own stories are recommended to polish their creative writing in the past, the tense of choice for most narrative. In addition to the criterion of popularity and the criterion of accessibility, we argue for a third criterion in the selection of literature for the young adult classroom — an aesthetic or ethical criterion important for the careful analysis typical of intensive reading.
Just as for adult literature so for young adult fiction it is highly relevant in language education whether a text is multilayered, open rather than didactic, can provide input for meaningful booktalk in the classroom and can broaden perspectives see Bland, , pp.
This criterion is also vital for teacher education classes at university, in order to fascinate ongoing language teachers, promote their own pleasure in reading, and inspire them to introduce insightful literature in their future classrooms. The emphasis of this paper is on this third criterion.
Her adolescence is characterised in ways that teenage readers recognise: her thoughts are dominated by her protective relationship to her family and later to Rue her vulnerable young fellow victim of the Hunger Games , her confusing relationships to Gale and Peeta, her relationship to her own body, which is severely compromised by the manipulative Capitol, and her attempt to maintain some control over her various subject [End of Page 25] positions — how she sees herself and how others see her — even when thoroughly abused by the Gamemakers and later in the series also by District As a contribution to global issues education in the EFL classroom, we outline how ecocriticism might be included in relation to The Hunger Games.
From an Anthropocentric to an Ecocentric Perspective. Ecocriticism as an interdisciplinary study is a relatively new field, even though preceded by a long tradition of nature writing.
The study of texts from an ecocritical perspective might reveal, for example, anthropocentrism or alienation from the natural world. Bartosch and Garrard write , p. In order to read The Hunger Games ecocritically, we begin by examining some dominant tropes that have their origin in the Euro-American Judeo-Christian narrative of a fallen, exiled humanity seeking redemption Garrard, , p.
The first trope is the Apocalypse , since the setting of The Hunger Games is the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem. I mean, look at the state they left us in, with the wars and the broken planet. As we shall see, the Pastoral trope is also clearly traceable in The Hunger Games , represented by the Meadow in District The trope of Wilderness which is closely connected to the North American frontier myth suggests freedom but also the unknown, the potentially dangerous.
In The Hunger Games , wilderness can be found beyond and between the districts. The reader becomes especially familiar with the woods outside of District 12, where the protagonist Katniss hunts illegally in order to feed her starving mother and Prim, the little sister for whom she volunteers as a Hunger Games tribute, with the expectation of almost certain death.
Apocalypse, Pastoral and Wilderness Tropes. The apocalyptic narrative, which includes nature striking back with floods, droughts, epidemics and other catastrophes, is, according to Lawrence Buell , p. Smouldering ruins, poisoned by toxic bombs, are one of the most common apocalyptic images. Kill ourselves off completely? In the hope that — what? Some decent species will inherit the smoking remains of the earth? However, a cease-fire between the Capitol and the rebels would mean maintaining the status quo, the absolute power of the corrupt Capitol.
A question for classroom discussion — for example for a staged talk show where students can stay in character to try out arguments in the safety of role play — could be: Under what circumstances could violence be justified even if it destroys life? Or is it never an option? The characters in The Hunger Games have a lot of quandaries to face and are tragically ensnared by circumstances.
The pastoral tradition creates two key contrasts: the spatial distinction of town and country as well as a temporal distinction of a fallen present and an idyllic past Garrard, , p. The final book Mockingjay ends the trilogy with the image of the Meadow, which as a kind of utopian vision represents another feature of pastoral — as a redeemed future Garrard, , p.
The meadow is also a figurative place where children are safe, as in the song that is first introduced when Katniss sings it to her dying fellow tribute, year-old Rue:. At the end of the trilogy, the vision of the utopian meadow and the actual Meadow of District 12 fuse together when Katniss finally sees her children playing in safety:. They play in the Meadow. But Peeta wanted them so badly …. How can I tell them about that world without frightening them to death?
My children, who take the words of the song for granted: Deep in the meadow, under the willow A bed of grass, a soft green pillow Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes And when you awake, the sun will rise. The mass graveyard underlying the Meadow mirrors the deep psychological damage and protracted recovery of Katniss and Peeta on an environmental level.
The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. As the above model illustrates, pastoral is characterised by a simplicity that symbolises the dominant theme of an innocent and unpretentious life, removed from war, consumerism, competition and city stress. The students could be invited to emphasise in their creative writing the temporal distinction common in pastoral — usually present versus past — echoed in The Hunger Games as the distinction between a fallen present and a hopeful future, mankind living in harmony with nature.
The wilderness tradition belongs to the most influential of American traditions. It derives from New World Romanticism fascinated with the wild as acultural, offering, according to Timothy Clark , p. The dynamic of many texts in this originally androcentric tradition is the shift from human society towards a state of solitude where man finds himself.
Clearly this is also a danger with The Hunger Games , just as it is with much subversive literature. Therefore booktalk and filmtalk in the classroom play an important role in encouraging multilayered, insightful readings. The very culture critiqued by The Hunger Games is of course adapting the narrative to its own ends, for example with the many video games now available and a growing collection of Barbie Dolls based on the movies. This development offers numerous opportunities for practising critical literacy in the classroom.
Katniss as she enters the arena in the film of [End of Page 30] Catching Fire see Figure 1 has already been remodelled by the Capitol and real-life movie stylists. Fortunately, she still appears strong, athletic and recognisably human. The Barbie Doll industry however, predictably, has created a vulnerable looking, glossy-haired Katniss with a dangerously unhealthy body shape Figure 2.
We can distinguish two wilderness settings in The Hunger Games that students may confuse. The first is the woodland wilderness surrounding both Districts 12 and 13, where Katniss and Gale hunt. These woods serve as a wild space for temporarily fleeing the force of the corrupt Capitol, which relies on the virtual enslavement of the districts.
The landscapes of the arena are a second wilderness setting, but these are constructed by the Capitol and made hazardous and deceitful on purpose. Both kinds of wilderness are potentially dangerous — however the natural wilderness of the woods has cornucopian qualities, it is manageable for those with the skills to understand it. Nonetheless, the battleground of the arena is less deadly for those who have learned to read the environment.
She can melt into the wilderness, where she finds shelter, food and medicine. Undoubtedly some students will be highly interested in the transfer of storyworld negotiation of the wilderness to real life survival skills in a nonfiction handbook. Katniss fights for Prim. Peeta fights for Katniss. Gale fights for freedom. Not only humans but also other species alter the environment, though of course humans do so in a dangerous and deliberately speciesist way.
The charge of anthropocentric behaviour as speciesism, or prejudice towards human concerns Garrard, , p. This can be initiated by The Hunger Games , for the storyworld interrogates a human culture the Capitol that is hyperseparated from nonhuman nature.
Val Plumwood , p. The Hunger Games invests nature with [End of Page 32] weight and even with agency. The empathetic characters model an active participatory role in the ecology of Panem. Students might be invited to make a note of descriptions of food found in the wilderness, and compare this to the wild greens collected for food or herbal teas in their own culture. The discovery of an early dandelion signals to Katniss that her family can overcome starvation:.
That night, we gorged ourselves on dandelion salad and the rest of the bakery bread. The opulent Capitol food and elaborate exotic delicacies are described in luxurious detail too, but in Catching Fire , Katniss and Peeta, as partying victors, are confronted with yet another shocking reality:.
Not from some illness of body or mind, not from spoiled food. Part of the fun. Later in the series, Katniss, now called the Mockingjay, becomes the figurehead of the rebels. The choice of the mockingjay bird as symbol for the revolution adds to the idea of agentic creativity in nature. Nature overcame the Capitol-engineered, genetically altered jabberjays by creating a new species — the all male jabberjays mating with female mockingbirds to produce the aurally creative mockingjays.
During the rebellion, the Capitol bred a series of genetically altered [End of Page 33] animals as weapons.
The final book is named Mockingjay , and the series ends with a core of hope emerging from despair. Students could research different wildlife management projects and promising large-scale rewilding projects, presenting a report to the class. Students might research symbols of hope in different cultures using Google Images, considering why certain symbols, such as birds, are popular; alternatively they could design their own symbol of hope and present and explain it to the class.
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