Young Adult Fiction, Spring 2019: Do Choices Cause Restrictions?

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Do Choices Cause Restrictions?

Within the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, there are 12 districts and a capital (excluding district 13). If one person is born in a specific district, they will stay in that district their whole lives. It is not common to switch or visit another district. What if Suzanne Collins created districts to resemble the states within the USA in the real world today, where people had the choice to switch interchangeably between the districts of their choosing? Because of the contrast between the rich and poor of the districts, there would be restrictions on the freedom of choice on where they are able to live.

Most of the citizens would choose the richer districts as there would be a larger supply of food and resources, safer jobs, and a better life style. However, each district would only be able to hold a designated amount of people. As the districts fill up, more and more people will be forced to be put in the poorer districts against their choice, in order to fill up the districts. This is where the restrictions apply. How do we choose who gets put in the districts? Would there be an auction, a choosing ceremony like in the novel Divergent, or are individuals placed based on wealth? No matter what, not everyone will be able to be in the district they would want to be in. The entirety of the citizens choices would never be fulfilled.

In addition, if someone wanted to be in a specific district, how would they know how to survive in that area? For example, District 12 struggles to provide food and a fanciful lifestyle for its citizens. In the book it is described as “District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety”. Because of the limited supply of food, a district 12 citizen may look to find a district that provides this demand for food and housing such as district 1, a richer district who produces luxury goods for the capital. However, the coal mining of district 12 doesn’t support the lifestyle of manufacturing luxury goods for the capital. If the citizen cannot find a salary that supports living in the area, it would be difficult to afford it. It would be equivalent to a farm owner from Indiana trying to move to New York City. It would be hard for the farmer to find a job in the city due to lack of experience, causing him to move back to Indiana due to not being able to afford the substantial financial burden. In Hunger Games, the farmer represents a citizen in the poorer districts where they wouldn’t be able to survive the wealth and be forced to trickle down the districts back to the district to which they came from.

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Throughout the semester, we will use the blog to expand upon the readings, to ask and answer questions, and to pursue new directions in class conversation. For those of you who may be shy, the blogspace is also an excellent place to express yourself.

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· Postings are always due by either noon or 8 p.m. on the date indicated on the syllabus. There is a time stamp. Don’t be late (no credit for late postings).

· Postings should be 350-500 words and should incorporate material from the reading (such as small quotes or phrases, key words, or imagery). The post must clearly demonstrate that you have completed the assigned reading and thought about it. Think of the Blog Post as a mini-essay. Your responses to Blog Posts should engage with the details of that post. Explain why the post is valuable. Comment on how the post revised, strengthened, or changed your view of the novel. Feel free also to build on, or extend, the claim made by the post. Once again, quote the novel you are discussing. Each comment should be 200-250 words in length. If the post is due on Sunday, you must demonstrate that you have completed and thought about the reading for Monday; if the post is due on Tuesday, you must demonstrate that you have completed and thought about the reading for Wednesday

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