Banned Books Week – The Hunger Games

The penultimate book in this year’s Banned Books Week blog series is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games is a trilogy of young adult dystopian novels set in Panem, a future North America, with its wealthy Capitol and 12 poverty-stricken districts. Each year in punishment for a part rebellion against the Capitol, two representatives from each district is selected via a lottery to participate in The Hunger Games, a compulsory televised programme in which contestants battle each other to the death.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Amazon / Hive Books / Abe Books)

In 2010, a parent in New Hampshire challenged the Goffstown school board over Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games claiming it gave her 11-year-old nightmares and could numb children to violence. The school administrators originally removed her daughter from the classes teaching the book, however, the parent stated that it was not her daughter who was the problem but the book which the parent described as “filth”. Despite the mother’s attempts though, the school board were not swayed and The Hunger Games remained.

The entire Hunger Games Trilogy (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire & Mockingjay), were number three on the American Library Associations banned books list in 2011 having been challenged for insensitivity, offensive language, violence and for being anti-family, anti-ethnic and occult/satanic.

The claim that The Hunger Games is “Anti-family” is a challenge that is hard to understand. While the protagonist Katniss Everdeen has lost her father she still seems emotional over his death suggesting that they had a good bond. What’s more, while Katniss’ mother suffers from depression (not surprising given the context of the books) Katniss continues to do all she can to protect her mother and sister including; illegally hunting for extra food and, of course, volunteering as tribute in her sister’s place.

In regard to the other claims there is no mention of religion in any of the books, nor are there any references to the occult and of the anti-ethnic claim, all citizens in the 12 districts are vulnerable of being tributes regardless of ethnicity. What’s more, there appears to be a mix of ethnicities in Collins’ books, Rue and Thresh from District 11, for example, are described as being black.

It is true that Collins’ series is violent, with children being pitted against each other in a battle to the death, however, this does not mean that the book warrants banning and does not necessarily negate its place in an educational scenario. Freshman Olivia Severyn told The Leaf, “The Hunger Games is a work of fiction that is supposed to be enjoyed, it does not promote a violent culture, it simply educates about one.”  While, Suzanne Collins herself has previously admitted that concerns about the violence in her book are “not unreasonable” she explained, “They are violent. It’s a war trilogy.”

In an interview with Scholastic, Suzanne Collins also explained how war and violence connect to her concerns regarding reality TV, she said, The Hunger Games is a reality television program. An extreme one, but that’s what it is. And while I think some of those shows can succeed on different levels, there’s also the voyeuristic thrill, watching people being humiliated or brought to tears or suffering physically. And that’s what I find very disturbing. There’s this potential for desensitizing the audience so that when they see real tragedy playing out on the news, it doesn’t have the impact it should. It all just blurs into one program. And I think it’s very important not just for young people, but for adults to make sure they’re making the distinction. Because the young soldiers dying in the war in Iraq, it’s not going to end at the commercial break. It’s not something fabricated, it’s not a game. It’s your life.”

She also went on to answer a question about how teachers can help children be more aware of the media they’re consuming. The other explained, “the first distinction is what is real and what is not real. I’ve written for children’s television for a long time and very young children don’t even have the capacity to distinguish. But as kids get older, you have to sit down with them on a case-by-case basis and say, “You know, this is a game, this is made up,” and make sure they understand. Then, “This is news footage, this really happened,” so that children understand someone getting voted off a show is not the same thing as a tsunami. That’s an extreme example, but they have to know that it’s not just stuff that happens in this box and it’s contained and you can turn it on and off. That there’s real-life occurring that doesn’t end when the commercials roll.”

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