The Role of Women in Panem. A Discussion of the Female Characters in Suzanne Collins' Trilogy "The Hunger Games" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1.0, University of Bonn (Institut für Anglistik, Amerikanistik und Keltologie), course: Utopia and Dystopia, language: English, abstract: This paper takes a closer look on Panem's society, the settiing of Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" trilogy, and more precisely on the women of Panem including their social and political role in the Capitol as well as in the districts. A special focus will be on whether and how the role of females has changed during the rebellion that entirely starts in the second part of the trilogy. Important male characters are not completely left out though, so that a detailed comparison between men and women is possible. To underline the suspected change in the social and political standing of women and the altered female self-image connected with that, the development of some selected female characters before and during the rebellion is pointed out. This part of the analysis focuses mainly on the protagonist and her little sister Primrose Everdeen, but also includes other characters from the Capitol and the districts.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins is one of the most successful novels of the young 21st century and could not only fascinate young adults, the primary target group, but also gain attention among the adult audience. One reason for the trilogy's great success is certainly the fact that "The Hunger Games" is a typical hybrid novel. By including elements of different genres like romance, war literature, young adult literature and dystopia, it is able to attract and retain a broad audience.

Like almost every dystopian novel, Collins' trilogy has a clear socio-political characteristic which, according to the author, has been created "very intentionally [...] to characterize current and past world events". Thus, a close analysis of the fictional society can be helpful to understand the complex story that is built around the (at the beginning) 16-year-old protagonist Katniss Everdeen. "The Hunger Games" is set in Panem, a North-American state of the ulterior future, which is divided into twelve (originally 13) districts and governed by a centralised power, in person of President Snow, from a city called the Capitol. The novel's main plot concentrates on a rebellion, set up by the districts in order to overcome the dictatorship.