Although it is a much loved novel, the "Hunger Games", by Susan Collins should be a challenged book because it has gory killings and glorifies immoral actions. But it also teaches the reader a lesson of sacrificing for the people you love.
The
biggest reason the Hunger Games should be banned is because of the immoral
actions throughout the book that are portrayed as good things. During the
Games, the Gamemakers send out the mutated dogs to spur on the last fight
between the remaining tributes. Katniss
and Peeta fight against Cato on the top of the Cornucopia and Cato falls off
and is attacked by the dogs. Collins
writes, “Then the raw hunk of meat that used to be my enemy makes a sound, and
I know where his [Cato’s] mouth is. And
I think the word he’s trying to say is please. Pity, not vengeance, sends my arrow
flying into his skull”(Collins 340-341). Cato says,
“please” as he is suffering and dying.
He says this to Katniss because he wants her to end his suffering. But
people must suffer in their life. It is
one-way people can come closer to Jesus because he suffered and died for
everyone. It is not okay for people to
kill one another because they ask them to. Or if someone were having suicidal thoughts
that they would think its okay for them to kill themselves because they are in
depression or pain. Collins uses the
word “pity” to explain that Katniss feels sorry for Cato who is being eaten by
vicious dogs. So out of mercy she
“sends” her arrow into Cato’s head to end his suffering. From a catholic standpoint, the church
teaches that any type of killing is wrong.
Mercy killing is a controversial topic in the world today, especially a
certain type of mercy killing called euthanasia. The way Collins puts this killing in the book,
makes it sound okay to do if someone is about to die. This is teaching the reader that the immoral
action of ending someone’s life if they are in pain is okay to do. The scary thing is, that most people reading
it do not realize that this killing is wrong and if this killing starts to
become okay, and abortion is legal, people will start to think, "What is wrong
with killing people anyway?"
I personally think that this book is on the border between challenged and must read. Many people have enjoyed this particular book as well as the rest of the series, so much that they were made into movies. It may portray the games as vulgar and disgusting, but I do not think people today will get the wrong idea about killing people. The characters who compete, are mostly fighting for themselves and pride for their district. Those people also show how effective team work is when enough people work together, which makes me think that this book might not have to be challenged.
ReplyDeleteTo me this book is also a hard choice between whether it should be challenged or must read. Although it does glorify killing, and has some descriptive, gory scenes, the book almost offers the reader to escape. I have read this book before, and the rest of the series, and I personally think it is one of the best books i have read. It never got dull or boring, and for me it taught me a lesson on to never give up even when all the odds are against you. I do agree with her thought of killing is wrong no matter what, even if someone is doing it with mercy.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that Hunger Games should be a challenged book. I agree with your choice of topics, but not your quote choice. In fact, the quote lends itself better to a moral kind of killing more than an immoral kind. To me, the book does not seem to glorify immoral killing. As Cato is being eaten by the dogs, he is obviously in much pain. He said to Katniss "please", tacitly denoting that he wanted to die, to be set out of his misery. Katniss does so, shown by the part of the quote, "Pity, not vengeance, sends my arrow flying into his skull”". She killed him not only because he was in a lot of pain, but because he had asked her to to as such. This is unlike euthanasia or abortion because in those cases, the victims are typically unwilling or unable to propose an objection. However, Cato wanted to die; he was not being unwillingly subjected to death like in the comparisons you gave.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The Catholic Church's views are unrelated to this topic.
I totally agree with your choice on why it should be a challenged book. I think that there are parts in the book where it can be noticed as a "must read" book, but I think over all this book is considered to be a challenged book. I think that you had a good argument for your topic of discussion as to why this book should be challenged, and I think the evidence that you used, really helped describe your standpoint of the book. Even though Katniss knew she couldn't save Cato, she still decided to shoot him with the arrow to make sure he was dead, and that is the part of this that makes it a challenged book. It is the fact that she shot him as he was dying, just to "kill" him even more. I think this kind of shows the "evil" side of Katniss because prior to this scene one wouldn't think that she would have done this, it would have been thought that she might actually have tried to save him like she did with Rue. I think that this should be read by high- schoolers, because it teaches them a moral lesson, and teaches them to value their own life.
ReplyDeleteI thought that making this book a challenged book was an excellent choice. I thought this because the amount of death under these special circumstances challenge our own beliefs. Reading that quote really questions how people feel about death and killing. I also think that this book can be challenged because people read this book as an escape. Some people are not elaborating on the fact that Katniss had to end someones life to save them from cruelty. Some people may think of this book as an over exaggeration but the truth is that this life style may be closer than we actually think. Many believe that the circumstances that occur in the Hunger Games could never happen but in reality, this possible life style may be close.
ReplyDeleteIf you think of it, the "immoral" actions portrayed as good don't exist. In your example, about killing Cato, Katniss shows him mercy by ending his suffering. In reality, Katniss was exhibiting good morals. Even though killing can be seen as wrong, in all essence, this quote shows a just act in a flawed setting.
ReplyDelete