History Literature / TheHungerGames

* TearsOfRemorse: After Katniss's meeting with the odds makers.

** Here is how we come to that number [[spoiler:District 12, the smallest district (possibly excluding 13), had a population of between 8,000 and 10,000 before it was bombed, if a little less than 10 percent survived and it amounted to 800 or 900 people. That would mean the bare minimum population of the districts 1-12 would have to be about 96,000, and most likely more, since districts 2 and 11 appear to be several times the size of 12./spoiler]]

** Here is how we come to that number (spoiler alert). District 12, the smallest district (possibly excluding 13), had a population of between 8,000 and 10,000 before it was bombed, if a little less than 10 percent survived and it amounted to 800 or 900 people. That would mean the bare minimum population of the districts 1-12 would have to be about 96,000, and most likely more, since districts 2 and 11 appear to be several times the size of 12.

** Panem and [[spoiler:Disctrict 13]] are nuclear powers locked in a stalemate. Panem is decadent, wealthy, and corrupt. Its citizens enjoy outrageous luxury while they exploit the surrounding communities to feed their enormous appetites. [[spoiler:District 13]], on the other hand, is a dull and drab place, ruled by an a totalitarian regime that regiments every aspect if its citizens' lives. This sounds a lot like the Cold War between the United States and the USSR.

* HollywoodHealing: Due to the advanced medicine available in the capitol, most injuries sustained by the characters are healed completely. Aversions include Chaff's hand and Peeta leg, though he gets a prosthetic leg that is rarely referred to again. In the end, [[spoiler:Katniss and Peeta are both covered in skin grafts and burns that the medics didn't bother replacing]].

* EvilGloating: When Clove catches [i]Katniss[/i], she decides to give her something to think about. Followed- as usual- by a ThwartedCoupDeGrace.

* VillainBall: The Capitol wouldn't have had to face a major rebellion (or at least, not for a while) if it wasn't so hellbent on making Katniss's life miserable. Indeed, there wouldn't be a rebellion at all if they had allowed the Hunger Games to cease after the first few times.
** Aside from the central extravagance of the Hunger Games (and even that is in some ways an inspired form of repression in that it forces people to become complicit in it through starvation, quite Stalin-esque actually) the tactics the capital uses to repress the districts are actually a fairly realistic representation of the terror methods that RealLife regimes use, and just like in RealLife but unlike in most stories: they work, to a point. In 75 years of power the capital had almost certainly weathered minor uprisings that it had been able to quell through force, control of information, and playing disctricts off against each other. What tips the scale in the period of the plot is [[spoiler: military support from district 13, inter-district organizational and information support from district 13 and rebels in the capital, and a unifying symbol for all the districts in the form of [[TheHero Katniss]] and [[TheLoad Peeta]] that had already been helpfully broadcast through the capital's own propaganda machine.]]
** Indeed, in addition the games helped keep a degree of animosity between the individual districts (not only as basic competition but because that competition involved killing each others children) which helped to reduce the chances of them organizing as well as letting the capital showcase all the amazing technology for killing they have at their disposal (where as the districts are lucky to have a few weapons between them, much less be skilled at using them). As for Katniss, the capital is just so used to winning (having put down uprisings in the past as well as winning the initial war) I doubt they really considered it a major issue until it began getting out of control.

** It has more than that, at least before the war. District 12, the smallest district (possibly excluding 13), had a population of between 8,000 and 10,000 before it was bombed, if a little less than 10 percent survived and it amounted to 800 or 900 people. That would mean the bare minimum population of the districts 1-12 would have to be 96,000, and most likely more, since districts 2 and 11 appear to be several times the size of 12, and the book doesn't say what the population of the Capitol or 13 is. Still, there were many casualties from both soldiers and civilians, and by the end of Mockingjay this figure could very well be true.

[[quoteright:259:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MockingJay_5707.jpg]]

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Collins' knowledge of basic archery is hurting, and she seems to not be 100% clear on the difference between a crossbow and a flat bow.

A feature film adaption has just wrapped filming and is set to be released in March 2012. It will star Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Liam Hemsworth as Gale and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch. Should be interesting.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler: Finnick is a rather unusual example, being an unwilling male hooker.]]

* HumansAreBastards: At the end of ''Mockingjay', Katniss hits this trope ''hard.''

* BlackMarketProduce: Katniss makes her living poaching game and selling it on the black market. In addition, most food that isn't made from grain rations is expensive and rather rare in the Districts. The decadent Capital, on the other hand, has tons of food of all kinds.

* BettyAndVeronica: Gale is the Betty and Peeta is the Veronica to Katniss's Archie. [[http://apricotteacup.deviantart.com/art/Hunger-Games-Peeta-VS-Gale-152229494?q=sort%3Atime+favby%3ATaylorswifty1&qo=3&offset=130 This picture]] sums it up nicely.
** It is also possible to see Peeta - blond, kind, meek, has had a crush on Katniss forever - as the Betty while Gale, who has a "dangerous" personality and dark good looks, is more akin to Veronica. Peeta is the one society tells Katniss she should be with, while her relationship with Gale was risky.
** Regardless of whether Peeta is or is not more societally acceptable than Gale, the books make it extremely clear that Katniss did not choose Peeta based on what society thought; they also made it clear that Katniss is not the kind of person who would remotely care about what society thinks. Moreover, from an evolutionary standpoint, Gale is the more society-approved choice: the hinted at playboy alpha-male, with enough broody handsomeness to win over every female. Peeta, on the other hand, is artistic, sensitive, sweet, not very confident, non-competitive, and, while unpredictable, not secretive and mysterious. Society has a way of disregarding sensitive guys as weak, which, ironically, makes Peeta the risky choice. Which proves that Katniss wasn't looking for a "survival partner".

** [[spoiler: Finnick and Annie]] also have a child after [[spoiler: Finnick dies in the war]].