Literature : The Hunger Games, Divergent, And The Maze Runner

Dystopia is a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games, imagines a world where people are divided by district just like the real world does with the high, middle, low classes. This book is full of themes, literary devices and also talks about how the government — in this case the Capitol — oppresses their citizens.

Visual media, such as the computer and television distract people from the natural world, and instead blinds them from reality. Fahrenheit 451 exposes the idea that mass visual media initiates problems of violence, unawareness, and ignorance. The advanced technology causes the people of society to stray farther away from reality, and they become trapped in their own world of unawareness. Thus, unlike in nature where everything is free, the advanced technology confines people within the boundaries that technology allows. The boundaries created by visual media imprison the people of society into a world of mental incapacity and illiteracy. This unfamiliarity with the world, shown by numerous characters, shows how society is negligent. For

The book I read for this first independent reading assignment is Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. This novel showed a dystopian world, in which books have been banned outright, and are being burned by the firemen. This work of fiction possessed many elements that had been shown in other works of literature that I had worked with in the past, though it also possessed definite differences, specifically Lord of The Flies, Ender's Game, and finally The Hunger Games.

The book “Lord Of The Flies” is about a plane crashing onto an Island and no adult supervision left for the group young boys left behind. Once all of the boys that were scattered along the island gathered, they realized that they were left on there own and can do whatever they want to. The boys then created a structured civilization that doesn't quite strive throughout their time there. In the novel, “Lord Of The Flies” written by William Golding the novel supports philosopher Thomas Hobbes’ theory of the “Ruthless Savage” because the boys are portrayed as bullies and careless. The movie “The Hunger Games” shows several of the same qualities as the novel “Lord Of The Flies”.

Have you ever wondered how how much our life have changed since technology modernized? Technology has advanced so much that it is present everywhere in our lives and there is almost no place on the globe where this important trend of the last two centuries has not entered. Technology has taken control of the world. This situation leads to the decline of the society, including human’s ability to think. The book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury provides the interaction of the protagonist, Guy Montag, in a particular way with the technology. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job is to to burn books. Fahrenheit 451 presents a world where, under the motto, “...the books says nothing” (Bradbury 51-63), people start burning them and bookless happiness is illustrated by the empty streets of the city, people could not detach for a moment from the screens that give the images of a perfect world. The science fiction film “Wall-E” (2008) is the story of the last robot on Earth, whose job is to clean up the trash left by hymans. Meanwhile, the planet had to leave the planet. As a consequence, the robots take the control of it. So, technology changes the ways in which people interact with each other that does not move humanity forward.

The book “The Hunger Games” was written by Suzanne Collins and it’s the first book out of the trilogy she has written. Collins uses a mixture of modern and classical as elements in this story and it allows for any age reader to enjoy it. Some the literary devices she uses in the book are setting, symbolism, and themes. It’s everything you could want in a book because it has a little bit of each genre, like action, romance, comedy, and even mystery. This book will have you sitting at the edge of your seat on minute and then grabbing for a tissue the next. When reading this book, “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins and looking at the setting, symbolism, and theme it’s easy to sense the different tones and emotions going on in the story.

The world of burning books, talking parlor walls, and speeding cars captivated the readers who read Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. Through the use of figurative language, Bradbury creates a complex, yet a dull-minded, society where literature and human philosophy are degenerating. Bradbury illustrates this society through the protagonist, Guy Montag, who develops and changes his mentality on his society throughout the novel after realizing the truth behind it. However, Bradbury does not only paint the truth about Montag’s society, but he also conveys a representation of our society through the media of Fahrenheit 451. The media of Fahrenheit 451 displays a rather disillusioned, ‘perfect’ image of how this society portrays itself to be even though it is the opposite.

We are all victims. We are all victims of being captured into the world of technology. A dysfunctional lifestyle comes to mind when we think of a world without technology. Think about how many opportunities we missed, friends we never met, and lessons we didn’t learn all because we were too busy looking at a screen. The increasing lack of human interactions in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury demonstrates how the rapid abuse of technology will lead to the demise of tradition and a world with little emotion.

In this essay we will be addressing the similarities and even differences of Fahrenheit 451 and other comparable texts and movies. Over time we can see that authors write about similar messages, even though they may have different writing styles. Fahrenheit 451 is about a married couple Montag and Mildred who live in a possibly near future where the society is disgusted by books and it is even illegal to have them in your home - firefighters burn down houses that have books in them instead of fighting fires. One of the movies I will be comparing the theme of is WALL-E, WALL-E’s are robots made to clean up the disastrous Earth that has become trash filled from the humans there is only one of these robots left in a working manner. The humans

“As cities grow and technology takes over the world, belief and imagination fade away, and so do we”(Julie Kagawa). While technology spreads and completely takes over one’s life, the electronic wave cannot be tamed. Once society fails to take control of their lives over technology, they lose contact with our loved ones and reality, as well as the ability to think for one’s self. In the dystopian world from Fahrenheit 451 technology is found everywhere, and the people highly depend on it to do hard work for them or for entertainment purposes. Bradbury illustrates a society that has lost the ability to enjoy life without technology through a variety of characters that rely on unnatural and modern objects to fill the void of an emotionless society.

Literature is the window to realizing the negatives of society and how destructive certain norms can be. Readers are brought into a completely different story than their own, but by using similar issues in today’s world, the readers can actually learn from the story and its overall message. All writers write for a purpose, whether it’s for a new meaning to life, to live a different life than our own, or to impact others on an emotional level by teaching them to see the importance of the little things. As a reader, you search for pieces of literature that interest you whether you find the story like your own, or wish you lived the life in the story. By using issues in today’s within their works, authors are able to grab the reader's attention long enough for them to get across what they wanted to get across. Often in many works of literature, writers use societal issues as their basis for the work’s themes and symbols. By doing so, this allows the reader to question the morality behind social norms and how impactful certain ideals can be in people’s lives.

The Fahrenheit 451 is a novel published in 1953 by a writer known as Ray Bradbury. The book is regarded as one of the writer’s best works as a novelist. In the book, the writer presents a future American society where there is no freedom or democracy. This is shown through an act where books are outlawed and in a case where they are found they are to be burnt by ‘firemen’. The society is obsessed with the mass media and driving fast cars. The main characters in the book are Guy Montag, Clarisse McClellan, and Beatty. The genre of the book is based on science fiction.

​Oftentimes when reading books set in the middle of societal unrest or deterioration, we find the characters struggling with difficult, and sometimes impossible, decisions. These types of decisions delve into an individual’s sense of humanity. At what point will their actions carry them over the line they thought they would never cross? How do you preserve your humanity when everyone else around you have compromised their own? In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Road by Cormac McCarthy the theme of preserving your humanity amidst an inhumane society is carried throughout the narration. The argument can be made that when leaders begin crossing the line and losing the basic humanity of protecting life, society as a whole falls in line.

In the book Divergent by Veronica Roth a young girl named Tris who decides her fate against her parents will. As the cities around her turn to war Tris must stick by her friends and do what is right. Similar yet different, in the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins a young girl named Katniss takes the place of her sister in an annual war between 11 other districts. Katniss must choose between her well being and the wellbeing of the people she loves. In this essay readers learn how both books express similarities and differences in the theme, the setting, as well as the usage and meaning of symbolism.