Examples Of Marxism In The Hunger Games

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Outclassed; The Hunger Games
I am not wealthy. In that respect I am similar to many university students. We are not the Capitol aristocrats nor the District 1 elite. These people do exist, though. As such, I believe that the central conflict in the novels is that of class. The books mimic real world class conflict in a number of ways: protracted war between haves and have-nots, ‘bread and circuses’ as a numbing agent, and coercion via military means. Upon remarking on the classist nature of Panem, I am struck not by the success of Collins’ novels, but by the fact that they did not cause a revolt themselves. The social structure of Panem represents, to me, a society very similar to the modern world. Substituting the wealthiest Capitol residents for the 1%, the bourgeoisie, etc. it is personally apparent that Collins’ society mirrors our own. In truth, the disparity
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The name of the entire state is Latin for “bread,” a clear allusion to the phrase “Panem et circenses,” bread and circuses. The Roman Empire notoriously held gladiatorial combat, animal fights, and chariot races in colosseums as a means of subduing the population, a societal facet that I find is eerily present both in The Hunger Games universe as well as the modern world. I must note that the talk-show style interviews performed by Caesar Flickerman are in essentially the same format as innumerable television programs broadcast across the United States and the world every day. I appreciate that Collins depicts said broadcasts as thoroughly enjoyable for the wealthy, and as a deplorable affair by the poor; a phenomenon that is essentially reversed in our society. It is also personally remarkable that a series of novels that so clearly elucidates on the numbing nature of propagandistic material has enjoyed so much cultural fame and so little criticism from major media