Deviations in Gender Roles in The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins,

The Hunger Games has women's liberation covered up in the most profound corners of its pages and the author has portrayed an extensive variety of thoughts that can relate the book to feminist viewpoints. Suzanne Collins has put forth her thoughts by incorporating culture, generalizations, parity, power, class and stereotypes through the characters and the setting of the novel. This assignment analyses the extent of feminism present in the novel with reference to the portrayal of its characters in the dystopian post-apocalyptic future juxtaposing it with the present-day society.

Is it natural for people to act outside the boundaries their gender? In today's society the answer is "no" and most people see it as unacceptable act. In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss must endure a brutal competition where the last kid standing wins. Throughout The Hunger Games several characters such as Katniss and Peeta Mellark both reinforce and undermine gender roles. However The Hunger Games as a whole presents an argument against gender expectations.

Society has created the concept of gender and how men and women have certain roles to follow. Some of these characteristics have been broken in today's society but many still exist. As people start to accept who they are and who they want to be, normal stereotypes do not stand out as much as they used to. By doing this, we are turning over a new leaf, where men and women are intermixing qualities and characteristics. Now a days, there are women who have become the providers and some men who have become the nurtures. Not being tied down by certain roles and expectations gives those who want to do more the chance to step out and be comfortable changing those said roles and expectations. In the novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, she portrays some characters as having opposite gender roles and expectations. Two characters who show this the most are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Both of these main characters are portrayed in a unique way throughout the novel and portray traditional roles and break them throughout the Hunger Games.

Here are the traditional gender roles implemented by society: women as natural caregivers and more nurturing while men as the providing responsible emotionless heads of family. I’m not denying that men and women are biologically different, but the childhood environment impacts, as numerous studies have scientifically proven, the traits that define their personality. For example, girls playing with dolls are subconsciously modified into a mother- nourishing and empathetic; through army sets, leadership roles are embedded into the boy’s brain.

Based on modern society's ideas of femininity and masculinity, we can see how characters in The Hunger Games ignore these social roles and benefit from taking on characteristics of the opposite gender. Katniss, for example is not described as a typical female character. She is tough, provides for her family, and seems uninterested in romance. The main duty typically associated with women is that of being a loving

Many people don’t know the difference between gender and sex. Sex is anatomical and biological. Gender role can be defined as a person’s inner sense of how a male or female should feel and behave. Culture and society are two important factors in relation to this particular topic. This implies that various societies and cultures may produce children and later fully grown men and women who may have diverse perspectives of a man or a woman’s place or role in the world around them; this is often determined by their culture’s gender stereotypes. Gender roles are the products of interactions between individuals and their environments, and they give certain cues about the behavior that is acceptable based upon their sex. Members of the society must learn the appropriate way for them to behave and what is actually expected of them as well as others. These roles are also based on norms or standards created by society.

Furthermore, the Capitol only dissolves the boundaries of gender on a superficial level, as they explicitly hold Katniss and the other female tributes to different standards than Peeta and the male tributes. Sean P. Connors, author of “The Subjugation of Nature and Women in The Hunger Games”, is said to have maintained that “Katniss is coerced by the patriarchal structures of Panem society [. . .] into performing emphasized femininity in order to increase her own chances of survival” and that “male characters are not required in the same way to appear physically attractive to the audience” (Guanio-Uluru). This is especially evident before and during Katniss’s pre-Games interview. In preparation for the interview, Katniss spends four hours with Effie counseling her on presentation. These four hours consist almost exclusively of Effie feminizing Katniss by teaching her to walk in high heels, sit up straight, and smile more. When Katniss struggles to perform this role of emphasized femininity, an exasperated Effie sighs, “Well, that’s the best I can do” and reminds Katniss that she wants the audience to like her, thus implying that femininity is essential for Katniss to be well-perceived (Collins 115). The authors of the article “Discourses of Masculinity and Femininity in The Hunger Games: ‘Scarred,’ ‘Bloody,’ and ‘Stunning’” eloquently highlight this point saying, “it is made very clear that, in order to gain support from sponsors who can provide life-saving resources in the

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a fiction book that takes place in the future. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, lives in a community called District Twelve. Her districts, along with many others, are very unwealthy. Overall, there are twelve different districts. Every year these districts come together for the annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are made up of people from each district fighting against each other for riches and fame as entertainment for the people of the Capitol, the supreme ruler of all districts. One boy and one girl from each district, each from age twelve to eighteen, are picked to compete in the Games. On the 74th Annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen’s sister, Prim Rose, is picked and Katniss volunteers

What are gender roles? According to the dictionary, gender roles are "a set of behaviors that indicates one's gender (dictionary.com)". In the story, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, demonstrates the effect that gender roles have on the tribe of Umofia. Society should not have clearly defined gender roles because it restricts people from being who they really are and defined gender roles also prevent people from being able to form bonds with other people and their own families.

What are gender roles? Gender roles are set of expectations, attitudes, and behaviors that are expected from a male or a female in a particular culture. We are socialized to these expectations from our agents of socialization such as media, parents, schools and as we grow up we see a platform that reinforces us to these expectations. The meanings attached to male and female are different and our society valued male over female. The man is supposed to be aggressive, strong, a leader and woman is supposed to be nurturing, submissive and passive. Traditionally the woman is supposed to cook, clean and take care of the household while the man provided for the family.The cycle continued and thorough repeated socialization women and men have started

Body image. Intelligence. Respect. Ethics. All are expressions that can be affected by numerous factors, but one is gender roles. Society puts out gender roles for men and women, which are considered daily, but what is the actual meaning of a gender role? A gender role is the public image of being a gender that a person presents to others, yet society presents men and women the person that they are meant to be perceived as. Men are perceived as resilient and masculine; meant to be the rock of any relationship and the main source of income for any household and women are downgraded. Women are perceived to be the nurturers; the emotional jumbles, the melodramatic ones. They are meant to be the one who stays home to take care of the kids and have

If you could picture a terrible government that hates its citizens, this book has it. The government forces its citizens to kill each other, and shows courage, and kindness throughout with some of the characters.

Culturally, the concept of masculinity and femininity has created gender roles. Within these gender roles, males are expected to be masculine while females should be feminine. Also, these roles dictate how they should look, dress, and behave. Ethnically, these gender roles differ. For example,

Our culture ultimately determines the roles in gender and what is masculine and feminine. This includes everything from beliefs, certain characteristics and behavior. Men are generally characterized as competitive, self-reliant, and dominant. For women, there is a tendency to be passionate, considerable and socially believed that feelings have an effect on things. Of course, everyone is has different inspirations and objectives. Everybody has distinctive perspectives on how each gender should act but not everybody has the same experience in

Gender roles are social and behavioral norms that are considered generally appropriate for a man or a woman. America, as some describe it, is the land of great and equal opportunities for all, but the fact is that women are somewhat degraded and reduced to stereotypical gender roles such as being seen as only house wives instead of working, active women. Gender roles, he strong views of how a man and a woman are supposed to act, work, and live all still exist in our day to day lives. They are deeply embedded to most cultures.In some cultures it is so strong that, in certain circumstances, a man could control a woman's life because of the deep beliefs in the pre-modern gender roles.