Theseus and the Minotaur Vs. The Hunger Games
An ancient foundational story and a modern story that have some similarities are Theseus and the Minotaur and The Hunger Games. Both have a storyline where one-person volunteers to protect someone else and prepare to take on a difficult challenge that could end up being fatal in the end.
In the story between Theseus and the Minotaur, King Minos requested that seven boys and seven girls come to Crete from Athens every nine years so his son the Minotaur could feast (Gods, Heroes and Monsters, 4.11.). The Minotaur lived in the center of a very tricky maze called the labyrinth. Theseus didn’t like the idea of sending young children to Crete so he volunteered to go himself and defeat the Minotaur. Theseus says to his father “When it is time to send the next tribute, I will go as one of them and I vow that it is the last time the Minotaur will be fed with the flesh of any of our people (Myths and Legends, 2006)”. The bravery Theseus had to save his people is part of the reason why he is considered a mythological hero. He volunteered himself to defeat the creature not knowing if he was going to make it himself. He was confident and wise but the maze was confusing and anyone who goes in doesn’t necessary come back out. King Minos wasn’t worried because if he were to defeat his son, he wouldn’t find his way back out. In The Hunger Games, there are twelve districts. Every year a boy and a girl from each district is selected to enter
In the novel, The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian young adult book that is based in Panem that is divided into twelve districts. Each year the districts have to send a boy and a girl into an arena to fight to the death. The novel’s protagonist is Katniss, who lives in the poorest district. Katniss makes the audience think of the important ideas of bravery, societal class and love.
The Hunger Games is a brawl between twelve separate districts. These districts are governed by one main capitol, which has much wealth unlike the poor districts, where Katniss struggled to feed her family. They are also responsible for making The Hunger Games. The capitol randomly selects two people from each district, one boy and one girl, to compete in the games. All of the people chosen must be taken to an arena where they are forced to fight to the death.
In the book it says, "The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins."
The Minotaur, meaning Minos bull, was “a monster of dire appearance, having the body of a powerful man and the head of a bull” (Seltman 98). Against his newfound father’s request, Theseus leaves Athens in hopes of returning victorious against the bull-headed beast. In a heroic fashion, Theseus leaps over the next step in Campbell’s hero journey and never refuses his call to adventure. The next step to any hero’s journey is an encounter with a super natural aid, but Theseus’ story takes a moral mentor to gather resources needed for the rest of his journey (Robertson 269). Theseus encounters his unlikely mentor upon arriving to Crete; Minos daughter, Ariadne, instructs Theseus to take a ball of linen with him into the labyrinth in order to trace back his steps after defeating the Minotaur (Martin 129). Crossing the threshold, Theseus ties one end of his ball of linen to the front door and journeys into the unconquerable maze and towards the beast (129). Theseus passes through his first trial of navigating the labyrinth inwards with ease straight into danger. Walking
The Minotaur, half man half bull, lived in Crete. Trapped in a labyrinth, constructed by the great Daedalus, the king of Crete, King Minos, demanded a tribute of seven boys and seven girls from Athens to satisfy the Minotaur’s savage hunger. But one year, Minos was deceived, for a new hero arose, Theseus, son of Aegeus, Prince of Athens. He won over the heart of Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, and used her ball of string to venture into the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. After a hard-fought grapple within the lair of the minotaur, the beast fell to the sword of Aegeus, which Theseus had smuggled into the maze. Using the string, he found his way back out. The Labyrinth went underground, void of life, never to be seen again.
While I was analyzing the two Greek heroes Theseus and Oedipus origins, it became obvious that they share quite a few differences and similarities as is common amongst heroes in Greek mythology. The first similarity I found the two heroes shared was the love and honor their subjects regarded their kings with. Theseus was revered for his strategic planning and how he used his power to create an equal ruling between the power of the king and his people. He was acknowledged as one of the first leaders to create a Democracy, allowing his people to have a say into how the kingdom is ruled. “I myself, will be your leader in wars, and at all times the protector of laws, but beyond this all my fellow citizens shall have equal rights with me” (216). By allowing the inhabitants of Attica to access part of the power of the king, Theseus knew that his subjects would abide by this ruling because of the value and gain they would receive from becoming a united community. I feel this peaceful treaty between the two dynamics; the rich and the poor shows that Theseus was an intelligent and courageous king worthy of the equal amounts of love and fear the king instilled in the city of Athens. The way Theseus resolved the issue between the two class systems leads me to believe that Theseus admirers rigid structure and control but since he is willing to give some of his power to the citizens of Athens in order to keep peace, he became known as a peaceful ruler instead of a forceful tyrant.
In the Hunger Games, one young male and one young female are randomly selected from each District, or town, every year to go into war with one another. Only one of the twenty-four make it back out of the game alive. The mayor announces the chosen ones every year at a ceremony known as the reaping, where he explains the history and purpose of the games. There was a war in the past between the Capitol and the Districts. Since the Capitol won, they hold the Hunger Games in honor of their victory. The story mostly focuses on a specific Hunger Games tribute, Katniss Everdeen, who chose to volunteer for her sister who was originally chosen as tribute. Katniss and District 12’s boy tribute, Peeta, are shipped off to train for the games for a few weeks in order to learn more about how the game is played and how the Capitol actually has a huge hand on who wins depending on their likeability. People who live in the Capitol actually send survival gifts in the games, which is the key to winning.
He trains them, strengthening their skill and power. He shows his true leadership, becoming a sort of teacher to them. When they arrive at Knossos, he tries to convince King Minos to let the tributes go. He is not only thinking for himself, but for his people. Minos refuses, but Theseus is still set on fighting the bull, not for the glory now, but so others will not have to be killed. His mindset has practically switched, instead of being self-pitying, he is now selfless. Theseus successfully slays the Minotaur, and takes his tributes and the two of Minos’ daughters home. He is so happy, “drunk with strength and joy,” that he forgets a promise he made to his father. When he was leaving Athens, he swore that if he killed the beast and made it back alive, he would change his sail from black cloth to white. Theseus forgets to change the black sail, and his father, under the assumption that Theseus is dad, jumps off a cliff, killing himself. This makes Theseus the king, and he unites many City-states in Greece, and eventually takes King Minos’s kingdom as well. He rules as a fair and wise king, and many people look up to and respect
‘The Hunger Games’ written by Suzanne Collins (2008) describes a narrative where there are 12 districts that came from the ruins of North America that is called Panem, 3 of the districts are favoured by the Capitol, the rest of the districts are really poor. Each year a male and female ranging from 12 to 18 must go to the Capitol’s arena where they fight to the death reality television show called ‘The Hunger Games’. The text describes a teenage girl named Katniss Everdeen who lives in the dystopic district (District 12). Throughout the novel she makes friends and enemies. Despite being portrayed as a reality television event in Panem, there is mostly nothing realistic about the hunger games. In the novel the arena is altered and prepared with
The reason for the Hunger Games is to remind all the Districts of what had happened to District 13 whom decided to rebel against the capitol. They hold a "reaping" every year and they send them to
of Theseus and more specifically the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth. The
Dystopian films and books have become popular over the past few years. These tend to reflect the way in which society could possibly soon turn if expecting extremes. Dystopian literature and media also tend to have utopian elements as well. While the societies in these works are strict and controlling, they do offer something that our society could possibly benefit from. Divergent has this element. The population is broken up into five factions that represent the different types of people in society and separate those who would fight easily due to their personal morals. The Hunger Games on the other hand (when modern society crumbled) they punished their citizens for fighting the government. While yes there was a chance for riches in the Hunger Games, it took risking your life to get it. In addition, if one did win the Hunger Games they would have an extremely easy life due to riches and a free luxury house. Divergent does not have this part, as its utopian aspect is the fact different ideals are separated from each other. Utopian literature is a reflection that is a perceived direction society may go. In these stories, mirrors are a device used to symbolically state the universe of the film is a reflection not a reality.
The Hunger Games (2012) – based off of a novel of the same name – depicts a dystopian society of Panem. Twelve districts in total compromise the nation of Panem, each of their own status and wealth, with District 1 being the most rewarded for their loyalty to the Capitol. The Capitol annually selects two “tributes” from each district – one male and one female – aged 12-18 to fight to death in a televised event. After her younger sister is chosen to represent District 12 – the poorest of the districts – the main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, volunteers as tribute to take her place. After all of the competitors have been chosen, they are given mentors and taken to the Capitol for training prior to the games. Once competitors from poorer districts
The Hunger Games are literally a fight to the death in which each of the 12 districts sends too tributes, one male and one female. Being entered into the Games means either fortune and fame or unavoidable death. Katniss Everdeen volunteered for her little sister Prim when she got chosen. And the male tribute was Peeta Mellark, for district 12. Katniss knew Petta when he trew a piece of bread to her when it was raining.
The Hunger Games is about a teenager named Katniss Everdeen. She lives in a place called Panem. In Panem, there’s the capitol and 12 districts. The president and Capitol citizens live in the capitol. All the districts contribute something to the capitol like food, or power, and in return, the capitol gives the district's security. Katniss lives in district 12. District 12 provides coal but is also the poorest district. Everyone lives off of small animals they can catch. In order to survive, Katniss hunts on illegal land to provide for her mom and her sister, Prim. Every year the Capitol holds an event called the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is were two tributes from each district come to an arena and