The novel The Hunger Games, by
Suzanne Collins, should be a must – read book because it teaches her readers
about the importance of life, the responsibility that comes with family, and
how to live life in a imperfect world.
Collins shows the readers the
importance of life when Katniss grieves over Rue’s death. As Rue lies there on
the ground she begins to die. Rue calls her over and Katniss begins to sing to
her as she breathes her last breath. Katniss thinks about all she can do for
Rue. Katniss begins “Slowly, one stem at a time, [decorating] her body in
flowers. Covering the ugly wound. Wreathing her face. Weaving her hair with
bright color” Katniss then whispers, “Bye Rue, I press my middle fingers of my
left hand against my lips and hold them out in her direction.” (Collins 237) Katniss moves “slowly” going
“one stem at a time” to be sure that she is fragile with Rue. Rue is very
little and Katniss is trying to protect her. Katniss is “decorating” her body
in flowers so that people can remember her by the light and beautiful way she
went about life. Rather then the way she was killed by the careers. In the way
Katniss says “ bye Rue” readers can see how Katniss she truly cares about this
young girl. Katniss barely even knew Rue and yet she loved her so much. Katniss
was extremely upset with the loss of Rue and readers see that when she pays
tribute to Rue’s district. If Collins wanted to promote killing she would never
have put this entire scene in the book. We see that she wanted to show her
readers how even when death is so common in this world it is still tragic and
important. The way she writes about Katniss going out of her way and collecting
all these beautiful things in creation to make Rue look pretty shows that she
was happy about Rue’s death. Rather she was quite upset and it hurt Katniss to
see Rue die. When Katniss pays tribute to District 11, Rue’s district, we see
how much Katniss really cares. She cared enough to take care of Rue in her
final minutes, but also to show Rue’s family she is going to fight for Rue.
Collins is showing her readers how life was cherished and the book is not
promoting killing but, rather promoting life.
I agree with your topic choice and with your choice of quote, but I feel that Hunger Games is more of a challenged book. There are parts of the book with very moral and even respectable actions, but there are more immoral and violent parts of the book. You did a great job explaining that Katniss cared for people she barely knew. I think that society has much to learn from aspects of life such as that, and it makes the book a very valuable asset. I agree with your opinion that she would not promote killing yet also promote (real) love, but only in some ways. I also agree that she cannot explicitly promote killing and promote love. However, by mentioning killing over and over, it can numb the minds of the readers, causing them to become less stricken by the thought of death. So, even if she does not promote it, in a way she is portraying it in a way that it becomes acceptable and for some people almost enjoyable. For that reason the book should be challenged and discussed before being able to be read for an audience similar to ours.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jacob, you did a very nice job with this paragraph and choice of topic to argue that this is a must read book. After reading this it makes me think that this book should not be challenged because of the emotions and real life characteristics that Katniss shows. This part of the book is the best part to show that it should be a must read, and you did that very well. I disagree with Jacob on that it should be a challenged book because although there are immoral parts, the parts that you show cased in your paragraph override them. This value of life is so important and Katniss allows us to understand the real meaning of life and how important is which is shown very well with the choice of your quote.
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ReplyDeleteI would have to say that there are different parts of the book that can help determine weather it should be a challenged book or whether it should be a must- read book. The quote that you chose to use to describe why this should be a must read is a good quote choice, because you were able to back it up, with information that happened through out the entire novel. I think that there are some parts of the book though that require it to be challenged, because of the killing and characteristics that go against our morals in life. But I think that this topic of discussion that you decided to write about focused more on the positive aspect of the book, and described Katniss as the character that most people see her as, which is a loving person. I think that this you did a good job describing why this should be a book that high-schoolers should read, because through out the paragraph you talked about how kind Katniss was, and how she cared for other people in the arena with her, and she would do anything to keep Rue alive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that The Hunger Games is a must read book. Although the book is based on a gory subject, the moral values of the book outweigh the immoral actions. The glorification of killing is outweighed by the life lessons that can be learned. Katniss is a character that many high school students can connect and relate to, and although high school students do not have as extreme of struggles as Katniss, they can relate to her emotional problems. Through the story of The Hunger Games, readers can come to understand the value of life and friendship.
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