The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games takes place in a nation known as Panem , after the destruction of North America by some unknown apocalyptic event. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts under the Capitol's hegemony . District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region that was formerly Appalachia .
As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol in which a 13th district was destroyed, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games. This is an event in which the participants (or "tributes") must fight in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one individual remains. The story is narrated by 16-year-old child, whose name and gender are not immediately revealed. She is Katniss Everdeen , a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th annual Hunger Games in place of her younger sister, Prim . Also selected from District 12 is Peeta Mellark , a baker's son whom Katniss knows from school, and who once gave her bread when her family was starving.
Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol where their drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy , victor of the 50th Hunger Games, instructs them to watch and learn the talents of the other tributes. They are then publicly displayed to the Capitol audience in a televised session with interviewer Caesar Flickerman. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his longtime unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for him in the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are encouraged to send gifts such as food, medicine, and tools to favored tributes during the Games. While nearly half the tributes are killed in the first day of the Games alone, Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoor skills to survive. A few days into the games, Katniss develops an alliance with Rue, a 12-year-old girl from the agricultural District 11 who reminds Katniss of her sister, Primrose. The alliance is short-lived; Rue is killed by another tribute. At Rue's request Katniss sings to her, then spreads flowers over her body as a sign of respect—and of disgust towards the Capitol.
Supposedly due to Katniss and Peeta's beloved image in the minds of the audience as " star-crossed lovers ", a rule change is announced midway through the Games, stating that two tributes from the same district can win the Hunger Games as a pair. Upon hearing this, Katniss searches for Peeta and eventually finds him wounded. As she nurses him back to health, she acts the part of a young girl falling in love to gain more favor with the audience and consequently gifts from her sponsors. When the couple remain as the last two surviving tributes, the Gamemakers reverse the rule change in an attempt to force them into a dramatic finale, where one must kill the other to win. Katniss, knowing that the Gamemakers would rather have two victors than none, retrieves highly poisonous berries known as "nightlock" from her pouch and offers some to Peeta. Realizing that Katniss and Peeta intend to commit suicide, the Gamemakers announce that both will be the victors of the 74th Hunger Games.
Although she survives the ordeal in the arena and is treated to a hero's welcome in the Capitol, Katniss is warned by Haymitch that she has now become a political target after defying her society's authoritarian leaders so publicly. Afterwards, Peeta is heartbroken when he learns that Katniss's actions in the arena were part of a calculated ploy to earn sympathy from the audience. However, Katniss is unsure of her own feelings and realizes that she is dreading the moment when she and Peeta will go their separate ways.
In an interview with Collins, it was noted that the books "[tackle] issues like severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the effects of war among others." The book deals with the struggle for self-preservation that the people of Panem face in their districts and the Hunger Games in which they must participate. The starvation and need for resources that the citizens encounter both in and outside of the arena create an atmosphere of helplessness that the main characters try to overcome in their fight for survival. Katniss's proficiency with the bow and arrow stems from her need to hunt in order to provide food for her family—this necessity results in the development of skills that are useful to her in the Games, and represents her rejection of the Capitol's rules in the face of life-threatening situations.
The choices the characters make and the strategies they use are often morally complex. The tributes build a personality they want the audience to see throughout the Games.Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) names the major themes of The Hunger Games as "government control, ' big brother ', and personal independence." The Capitol makes watching the games required viewing. The theme of power and downfall, similar to that of Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar , was pointed out by Scholastic . Laura Miller of the New Yorker finds that the author's stated premise of the Games – an exercise in propaganda and a “humiliating as well as torturous…. punishment” for a failed uprising against the Capitol many years earlier – unconvincing. "You don’t demoralize and dehumanize a subject people by turning them into celebrities and coaching them on how to craft an appealing persona for a mass audience." But the story works much better if the theme is vicissitudes of high school and "the adolescent social experience".

"The rules are arbitrary, unfathomable, and subject to sudden change. A brutal social hierarchy prevails, with the rich, the good-looking, and the athletic lording their advantages over everyone else. To survive you have to be totally fake. Adults don’t seem to understand how high the stakes are; your whole life could be over, and they act like it’s just some “phase”! Everyone’s always watching you, scrutinizing your clothes or your friends and obsessing over whether you’re having sex or taking drugs or getting good enough grades, but no one cares who you really are or how you really feel about anything."

Donald Brake from The Washington Times , as well as Andy Langford, a senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, states that the story has Christian themes, such as that of self-sacrifice, which is found in Katniss' substitution for her younger sister, analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus as a substitute for the atonement of sins .Brake, as well as another reviewer, Amy Simpson, both find that the story also revolves around the theme of hope , which is exemplified in the "incorruptible goodness of Katniss' sister, Primrose."She also states that Peeta Mellark is "a Christ figure" in the story.Similar to the events in Passion of Jesus , in the Games, Peeta is stabbed after openly warning Katniss to flee for her life, and is then buried in the ground and placed in a cave for three days before emerging with a new lease on life. Moreover, the Christian image of the Bread of Life is used throughout The Hunger Games; in the story Peeta shows up "bearing a warm loaf of bread, " and Katniss slowly comes "back to life."A news video starring Fr. Jonathan Morris aired on Fox News discussed the religious themes in the story further. In addition, some pastors have written Bible studies discussing the Christian allegories in the story.