The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion (10 page)
Read The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion Online
Authors: Lois H. Gresh
OBESITY: THE OPPOSITE OF HUNGER
Before closing this chapter about hunger and The Hunger Games trilogy, we should briefly mention the opposite problem—obesity. It’s actually possible that someone here and there in Katniss’s world might be obese, either because they have genetic or hormonal problems or because they live in the Capitol and refuse to be bulimic.
According to the World Health Organization, one of the most significant health problems in developed countries today is obesity. More than 50 percent of adults in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Russia, England, Finland, and Saudi Arabia are either overweight or obese. Not only do obese people suffer while alive, they are at great risk of dying before their time.
People who suffer from a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi eat uncontrollably. Without medical help, many die from obesity-related complications by the time they’re thirty years old. Some people are born without the genetic code for a hormone called
leptin
. This genetic malady can make people eat uncontrollably, but when cured with leptin injections, the weight gain ceases. In the Seam, even somebody with Prader-Willi will find nothing to eat uncontrollably, so they’re going to suffer even more than everyone else. And the same thing holds true for the leptin genetic problem—if you have crazy hormones that make you want to overeat but you happen to live in the Seam, forget it. You’re going to be even more hungry than everyone else. You are doomed!
634
BC
,
Rome
Doomsday predictions were prevalent in ancient Rome as far back as the legends of Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC. Twelve magic eagles informed Romulus that they represented the twelve decades that ancient Rome would exist. At the end of the 120 years, the city would be destroyed and the great Roman empire would collapse. The ancient Roman calendar started at the founding of Rome, with 753 BC equal to 1 AUC (
ab urbe condita
). A simple calculation put the end of the world at 120 AUC, which was 634 BC.When 634 BC rolled around, the ancient Romans were horrified, certain they were all doomed by the imminent apocalypse. But nothing much happened that year.
Instead of instant destruction of ancient Rome, the empire slowly expired. It’s widely debated when the Roman Empire fell, with many experts placing the date at AD 410, when Rome was sacked by barbarian Goth hordes.
Regardless of the final fall of Rome in AD 410, in 476 BC, Germanic chief Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor of Western Rome, over a century after the eagles predicted the Roman apocalypse.
389
BC
, Rome
After Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus in 476 BC, another apocalyptic prediction arose in the land as new prophets re-analyzed the twelve-eagle notion. These new doomsday experts decided that the original eagle prophecy was entirely wrong and that the mystical eagles represented the days in a year and had actually told Romulus that the apocalypse would occur in 365 AUC, or 389 BC. As with the earlier apocalyptic prediction that Rome would cease to exist in 634 BC, this later prophecy also proved to be false.
167
BC
, Babylon
Many biblical scholars suggest that the Book of Daniel was written sometime between 168 and 164 BC when the Macabees revolted against Greek forces occupying their land. In the final part of the Book of Daniel is a fairly detailed description of the end of all time, of the resurrection of the dead, who would then go to heaven or hell. The apocalypse of all mankind would occur approximately three years after the erection of the statue of Zeus in the Jewish temple circa 167 BC.
The Book of Daniel is an early example of apocalyptic literature, with the Book of Revelation (see “Doomsday Predictions: Early AD, Holy Land”) in the New Testament providing the most famous example.
M
ost fans of The Hunger Games series know that the author’s reference to
Panem et Circenses
extends back to the phrase, “Bread and Circuses,” in ancient Rome. In fact, Plutarch mentions in
Mockingjay
that the term has been used for thousands of years and was originally written in Latin (
Mockingjay
, 223). It’s no wonder they call the country, Panem. As mentioned earlier in this book, the phrase “Bread and Circuses” refers to the free grain dole (the bread) given to the starving by the government along with the gladiatorial games (the circuses). In a Scholastic Books interview, Suzanne Collins explains that she sends “tributes into an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment. The world of Panem, particularly the Capitol, is loaded with Roman references.”
1
But bread plays a much larger role in the series; it’s a symbol, yes, of the stuffed, fat-cat gluttony of the Capitol; yet it’s also a symbol of the love that Peeta Mellark has for Katniss. Remember, when Katniss was starving and unable to feed her family, Peeta risked his mother’s wrath by giving her two loaves of bread. In fact, his mother smashed something hard into his face because he wasn’t feeding the loaves to the pigs quickly enough (
The Hunger Games
, 30). His first act of true generosity, kindness, and love toward Katniss was this sacrifice of the bread. It served as a foreshadowing of the deep and eventually intimate relationship they would later share. She keeps the memory of that first meeting close to her, and it reminds her always that it was Peeta’s bread that first gave her hope (
The Hunger Games
, 32).
But let’s return to bread and circuses, which in ancient Rome, meant a form of entertainment that instead could have been called blood and carcasses. The same holds true in the world of The Hunger Games, that the Capitol’s form of entertainment boils down to a thirst for blood and carcasses.
Let’s face it: There are people, too many people, who enjoy watching others suffer. Throughout history, human death has fascinated the morbid, the bloodthirsty, the power hungry, and those who need to feel superior. The Salem witch hunt was responsible for the torturous deaths of too many, as were the Crusades. How many people have been hung and beheaded throughout the ages and throughout the world? Why do people go underground to gamble on deadly dog fights and chicken fights? To this day, witnesses sit in booths to watch the electrocution of condemned criminals. There must be
some
reason why violently provocative movies, video games, and anime are so popular. The resurgence of dystopian post-apocalyptic literature itself, such as The Hunger Games series and countless zombie apocalypse novels written by countless authors, point to a current obsession with death, violence, and the ultimate destruction of everything good. Do people find relief in violence and the brutal deaths of others, whether humans and animals, because it reminds them that they are still alive and doing well? This is the classic reason given for the popularity of horror literature, that by reading about frightening things, we “get it out of our systems” and we’re relieved that in our own daily lives, we’re relatively fine compared to the horrors of what we’ve just read.
Even as Katniss battles evil and eventually overcomes the government, it’s hard to say that anyone truly “wins” in the world of The Hunger Games. By the time
Mockingjay
swings down to its closing chapters, Katniss is a suicidal drug addict numb to violence and death.
Throughout history, invading nations have subjugated, enslaved, killed, and tortured those they conquered. All societies kill: in necessary and unnecessary wars; by slaughtering animals in humane and inhumane ways; by hunting; by executing criminals and other “deviants”; and by the weapon of poverty, which kills people by starvation, malnutrition, and environment.
While we delve more into these subjects later (see the upcoming chapters about torture, evil, and killer kids), for now, as we think about ancient Rome and its arenas and gladiators, we can draw direct parallels to what happens in The Hunger Games. Ancient Rome was one of the most extreme examples of a culture whose entertainment was based on human battles to the death. In their arenas, the Romans killed far more people than the Capitol does in the entire series of The Hunger Games, and they did it with efficiency and bizarre variety. Sure, the Maya and Aztecs of Mesoamerica tortured and slaughtered unbelievable numbers of people, but the key differences may be that: (1) the Maya and Aztecs killed for religious and spiritual reasons whereas the ancient Romans killed for entertainment, and (2) the Romans used sports
arenas
.
In Rome’s amphitheaters and circuses, vast crowds feasted, drank, and partied while watching the gladiatorial combats, all sorts of blood shows, animal sacrifices, and even ritualized executions. Very similar, wouldn’t you say, to the Hunger Games with its arenas, its deadly combat, its blood shows, and its animal-human battles? And certainly, the people in the Capitol feast, drink, and party while watching these bloodbaths. In an interview with
USA Today
, Suzanne Collins points out that had television existed in ancient Rome, the gladiators would have been pop stars. She says, “It was mass, popular entertainment. If you take away the audience, what do you have?”
2
It’s telling that the names given to people in the Capitol are
Roman
names. We have Venia, Octavia, Seneca, Plutarch, and Flavius, just to note a few. Of particular interest is the name Flavius because in reality,
the Flavians built the Colosseum
, the amphitheater and main sports-blood arena of the Romans, in
AD
80. At first, it was called the Flavian Amphitheater, though it is commonly known now as the Colosseum.
Imperial Rome included many large forums for Games: In addition to the Colosseum were the Circus of Flaminius, the Theater of Marcellus, the Circus Maximus where chariot battles were held, the Theater of Pompey, and many others. Though originally, the fights were held in the Roman Forum. Spectators watched from galleries around the Forum, and by Caesar’s time, underground passages enabled gladiators to emerge suddenly into the arena.
As in the Capitol of Panem, the ancient Romans enjoyed their festivals of death so much that the bloody spectacles formed a major aspect of the social lives of people from all classes. Everyone flocked to the arenas, where they gossiped during the violent and deadly shows, and they showed themselves off in hopes of “being seen” by more prominent and wealthy citizens.
People even attended the inhumane arenas in hopes of attracting lovers. Finery and show, as in The Hunger Games, dominated; as translated by George Rolfe Humphries, Ovid wrote in ancient times that:
There is another good ground
,
the gladiatorial shows
.. . .
Hither [women] come
,
to see
;Hither they come
,
to be seen
.[Women seeking love] Go and look at the games
,where the sands are sprinkled with crimson
3
The eroticism associated with gladiators, the arena, and violence was enormous. It is similar to the eroticism of the Spanish matador, who slaughters bulls for public entertainment. The gladiators were so close to blood and death that they were perceived as symbols of the prohibited; in modern terms, they were certainly “bad boys” of their times, and hence, women were fascinated by them.