The Hunger Games

Whenever I hear about a book that is completely hyped up, I instantly decide I do not like the book. I do not know why I feel this way but I just do. So I decided I had to overcome this way of thinking, and what way would be better than to read them for a literary course? Since the Hunger Games and Twilight (two of the books in my top 5 of ‘DO NOT READ’) are both in the literary list, I decided to read them. I started reading the Hunger Games in the summer vacation, and was quite surprised to find that I actually liked the book. In fact, I liked it enough to buy the other two books from the trilogy and read them too!

I started of quite reluctant, because I thought I was just going to read some silly love story about a girl and a boy. It surprised me that this was not the main track of the story. From the first page I was hooked and did not put down the book until I turned the last page. The writing style really dragged me into the story and the tough Katniss kept me there. Even though it was quite clear from the beginning of the book what was going to happen at the end (who survives and who does not), it still managed to keep the suspense going. I could actually see a world like this in the future. What I really liked was the no-bullshit-attitude that Katniss Everdeen has. She does not take crap from anyone and is quite a role model for girls these days. She is the symbol of standing up for yourself, caring for other people and to not just do what you are told. The underdog from district 12, who is completely beautified by the team of stylists. While reading this part of the story, I felt like Suzanne Collins was actually mocking the society of today a little bit. Katniss thought it to be strange to want to be thin and look young, while in her district it was a good thing to be bigger and look older. The people who looked old, had made it through tough times and gained respect, and people who had a little more flesh on their bones where obviously rich enough to buy food or went hunting. In our society today it is also in fashion to be thin and look young, and I instantly felt as though this was a jab at this belief of beauty.
The chapters leading up to the games were just as entertaining to me as the games themselves, and I loved the aftermath too. I watched the film after reading the book, and I was quite impressed with it. The only thing I thought to be a shame was the fact that the aftermath was not as distinct in the film as in the books.

The ending of the story was a disappointment though, or rather quite puzzling. But it did make me buy the second and third book, so I guess they succeeded in their goal to keep their readers interested. The second book was also a joy to read, a very good sequel, but the third book really disappointed me. The whole book had a different feel to it and it was much too violent for my taste (even though they had to kill everyone in the first book, the third one seemed much more violent and horror-like).

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In class we discussed the idea of an imperfect world. One slide that really stuck with me was this one:
– Developing a sense of competence

– Discovering their world

– Face danger – and survive

– Simple

– Characters – good or bad

– Harmony/disharmony/harmony restored

– Adventure

The reason this slide stuck with me is because all of the mentioned aspects were present in the Hunger Games story. For instance, Face danger – and survive: When we start reading the book, we know how it is going to end. Katniss will obviously survive and somehow we all have a feeling Peeta will too. They face danger by going into the arena, to fight to the death, but somehow they both survive and go home as hero’s. Well… For a while.

But Harmony/disharmony/harmony restored: is something I could not easily find. Sure, there was ‘harmony’ in the beginning of the book, but even then it was not real harmony. The book started out with disharmony, after which it got worse, and the harmony did not restore afterwards. They were just in the same place as where they started, just a bit wiser and more damaged. The only harmony I can find, is at the end of the 3^rd book, when everything is supposed to be ‘Okay’ after Katniss kills Coin and Snow is dead too. She is ‘happy’ with Peeta, and has two kids. Though I still feel like she was only settling.

Whenever I hear about a book that is completely hyped up, I instantly decide I do not like the book. I do not know why I feel this way but I just do. So I decided I had to overcome this way of thinking, and what way would be better than to read them for a literary course? Since the Hunger Games and Twilight (two of the books in my top 5 of ‘DO NOT READ’) are both in the literary list, I decided to read them. I started reading the Hunger Games in the summer vacation, and was quite surprised to find that I actually liked the book. In fact, I liked it enough to buy the other two books from the trilogy and read them too!

I started of quite reluctant, because I thought I was just going to read some silly love story about a girl and a boy. It surprised me that this was not the main track of the story. From the first page I was hooked and did not put down the book until I turned the last page. The writing style really dragged me into the story and the tough Katniss kept me there. Even though it was quite clear from the beginning of the book what was going to happen at the end (who survives and who does not), it still managed to keep the suspense going. I could actually see a world like this in the future. What I really liked was the no-bullshit-attitude that Katniss Everdeen has. She does not take crap from anyone and is quite a role model for girls these days. She is the symbol of standing up for yourself, caring for other people and to not just do what you are told. The underdog from district 12, who is completely beautified by the team of stylists. While reading this part of the story, I felt like Suzanne Collins was actually mocking the society of today a little bit. Katniss thought it to be strange to want to be thin and look young, while in her district it was a good thing to be bigger and look older. The people who looked old, had made it through tough times and gained respect, and people who had a little more flesh on their bones where obviously rich enough to buy food or went hunting. In our society today it is also in fashion to be thin and look young, and I instantly felt as though this was a jab at this belief of beauty.
The chapters leading up to the games were just as entertaining to me as the games themselves, and I loved the aftermath too. I watched the film after reading the book, and I was quite impressed with it. The only thing I thought to be a shame was the fact that the aftermath was not as distinct in the film as in the books.

The ending of the story was a disappointment though, or rather quite puzzling. But it did make me buy the second and third book, so I guess they succeeded in their goal to keep their readers interested. The second book was also a joy to read, a very good sequel, but the third book really disappointed me. The whole book had a different feel to it and it was much too violent for my taste (even though they had to kill everyone in the first book, the third one seemed much more violent and horror-like).

In class we discussed the idea of an imperfect world. One slide that really stuck with me was this one:
– Developing a sense of competence

– Discovering their world

– Face danger – and survive

– Simple

– Characters – good or bad

– Harmony/disharmony/harmony restored

– Adventure

The reason this slide stuck with me is because all of the mentioned aspects were present in the Hunger Games story. For instance, Face danger – and survive: When we start reading the book, we know how it is going to end. Katniss will obviously survive and somehow we all have a feeling Peeta will too. They face danger by going into the arena, to fight to the death, but somehow they both survive and go home as hero’s. Well… For a while.

But Harmony/disharmony/harmony restored: is something I could not easily find. Sure, there was ‘harmony’ in the beginning of the book, but even then it was not real harmony. The book started out with disharmony, after which it got worse, and the harmony did not restore afterwards. They were just in the same place as where they started, just a bit wiser and more damaged. The only harmony I can find, is at the end of the 3^rd book, when everything is supposed to be ‘Okay’ after Katniss kills Coin and Snow is dead too. She is ‘happy’ with Peeta, and has two kids. Though I still feel like she was only settling.

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Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland was my favorite film when I was younger, so naturally I chose this book to read for the Classic Text assignment. It was to my great surprise that the book was not compliant with the Disney film at all. Though there certainly were basic and also specific elements which appeared in both the film and the book, I was shocked to find how drastically Disney changed the story. I was in fact quite irritated with the Alice in the book, while this has never happened with the film. I think the ‘Book-Alice’ is quite a bratty, know-it-all who quite easily begins to doubt her whole being, just because she changes in height a few times. I also think she interrupts the other characters quite often, to ask them questions about the most trivial things.

What I loved about the book was the absolute absurdness and the creativity. The writing style made it very easy to paint a picture is my head, which is something I can certainly appreciate in a book. I am also quite fond of the whole imaginary world kind of stories, because you can just let your imagination run wild with those stories.  In the end I found it quite a disappointment when I read about all of the sounds that actually where the sounds of things in the real world (the cow-bells, etc.). For me, this kind of burst the bubble of the unique imaginative world.

When I didn’t like about the book was the fact that Alice was kind of a passive heroine. She didn’t take any real action, she just went along with everything that happened to her. Though this could be the effect of being completely overwhelmed, it did not seem like she was overwhelmed at all. Whatever was presented to her, she just went along with it no matter how silly it was. The Duchess’ baby who slowly changed into in pig, the soldiers that were actually a deck of cards, a Cheshire cat which can pop in and out at any given time at any given place, etcetera.

When I thought of patterns in the book, I instantly thought of the shrinking and growing, but also of the rabbit. I think the rabbit is supposed to be a symbolic creature, for he is always late and time is running out. I struck to me that this might be a reference to Alice’s childhood. Maybe time was running out for her too, and the rabbit was a reminder that she had to grow up. This is connected to the other pattern, the shrinking and growing. She is growing up, but maybe she does not want to. This would explain the constant changes in her size, despite it being an entertaining obstacle in the story. This theory only started to form when I was forced to think of the book in a literary way, not just an entertaining one. Actually, it happened when I started writing this blog…

What puzzles me about the book is the ending. It was all a dream, another thing I do NOT like about this book, but at the end the older sister has the exact same dream Alice had. I do not quite understand why the author wanted to put this element in there, because it seems way to much of a stretch (even though the whole book is basically a stretch).

All in all, I quite enjoyed this book, even though it had its ups and downs. Alice in Wonderland will always be one of my favorite stories, but this book has changed my outlook on the film.

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After discussing this book in class I noticed I have made a slight mistake while reading. The ending of the book is not as confusing as I thought, because it appeared that Alice told her sister about her dream in Wonderland and this story triggered her sister to dream about this world too. This clarified a lot for me!

We also determined that, though most of the students thought Alice was in fact a bratty child, she was exactly that: A child. So we mustn’t look at her decisions and realizations as an adult, because when she was not capable of those kind of rationality.

When I heard the writer of this book was quite a bit too friendly towards little kids, I was appalled. The story lost its touch to me, and I think I can never read this book without judgment anymore.

We also discussed Peter Pan, the Secret Garden and The wizard of Oz, which are similar stories. The stories are similar, because they are all obviously children’s novels. There are a few characteristics that show this. For one, in all of the books the main character is traveling somewhere where there are no parents. They are free to do whatever they like, and growing up in the process. They learn they have responsibilities and start acting accordingly. All of these books have a very straightforward plot. There is no subtext hidden in the books, because that would be too difficult to figure out for young children. The scene in all of these books is an imaginary place. This means that the children reading it can let their imagination run wild, which is something they do in that age.