Banned books are becoming more and more prevalent in our culture. Many journals and newspapers even have articles on banned books which brings the question on why are we banning books, and should they actually be banned. Some books are made for different audiences, which is why we don’t find Dante’s Inferno in the elementary school library, or we don’t find See Spot Run in a college library. But most of the books that are attempted to be banned are books that are presented to the intended audience but usually parents find some fault with that.

The Hunger Games film series is composed of science fiction dystopian adventure films, based on The Hunger Games trilogy of novels by the American author Suzanne Collins.The movies are distributed by Lionsgate and produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik. The Hunger Games begins on the day of the reaping in District 12. Katniss Everdeen, the story's 16-year-old narrator, sets out to meet her friend Gale so they can do some hunting and gathering before the reaping that afternoon.

The book I am presenting is one of these books. It is The Hunger Games which was widely accepted through the intended audience, so much so it had movies made after it, but unfortunately those movies seem to have made it in a spotlight to be questioned by some parents. This book was published September 14 2008. “The Hunger Games Trilogy has been banned in many areas of the US. “In 2010 alone, there were 348 cases involving the banning of the trilogy. Banned Books” (Owen)The novel has been banned throughout the United States mostly from schools making the top ten banned books of all time.

The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2

Synopsis
The Hunger Games is set in a future dystopia where an overpowered government controls everything for the people. There is the capitol and the surrounding districts, and each district has a job. The districts go from 1 to 12 with 1 being the richest and 12 being the poorest, not only with money but with supplies. There used to be a district 13 which rose up against the capitol in protest but was quickly wiped off the map, and ever since the rebellion there has been a competition each year called the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games have two children, ages from district 1 through 12, a male and female, fight to the death. They are given multiple weapons and supplies to try to see who can last the longest and the one left standing is the winner. The winner gets to live a life of luxury with their family, and their whole district gets food for a year.

Our heroine, Katniss, grew up with her parents and sister in district 12 learning to break the law in order to gain extra food to make sure their family didn’t starve. Her father passed away in a mine fire and Katniss became the family’s caregiver and breadwinner. Soon after her sister is drawn for the Hunger Games and Katniss offers to go in for her sister’s place, a sure death sentence.

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Why it was banned

The Hunger Games has been questioned for many reasons. Anti-ethnic, anti-family, insensitivity, offensive language, occult/satanic, violence, religious viewpoint, and sexuality are all reasons that the novel has been put up for banning. Since The Hunger Games has been made into a movie it has made it popularity skyrocket and has also made it an easier target for parents to push question the appropriateness of the book. I would argue the book is written for young adults, and is suitable for people in the young adult reading level.

Anti-ethnic

This is an absolutely ridiculous statement about this book. In the novel, Katniss has olive skin. The main character isn’t really white, more of a Mediterranean or Native look. Secondly, all of district 11, including Rue (a character very important to the storyline) are black. Perhaps they are saying this because district 11 picks fruit. The Capitol, in fact, is made of multiple different races. There is nothing against a certain race, the book didn’t white wash, and in face, nothing is said about races unless it is describing the color of someone’s skin.

Occult/satanic

Again, another ridiculous statement. No magic or witchcraft or Satan worship happens. The only thing “not normal” is it takes place in the future so the technology is better than ours. Doing a search to try and find what people say is occult about the novel leads to websites about the illuminate and conservative websites saying it is teaching children how to perform satanic rituals to make a new world order. None of this is remotely true, and upon looking at these pages it is clear that none of these people have even attempted to read the book, considering they also talk about “sexual over-tones” which are not even in the novel, along with “Satanic Rituals” and “New World Order”.

Religious view

from flicker

The novel actually doesn’t have any religious view. There are no churches, no prayers, no symbols of religion. No one talks of any God and really there is nothing to be upset about unless one only wants to read books that have their religion in it. Some say that hope is religious but hope can be there through anything, and that is really what the book series is about is finding hope in a completely hopeless environment.

Anti-family

This is the first argument that has any validity. In the novel when Katniss’ father dies, her mother spirals into a deep depression. The mother is unable to help the younger child Primm, and can’t perform any of her duties to take care of the family. Katniss is forced to no longer be a child, as much as a child could be in a dystopia, and forced to not to be able to grieve for her father. She holds anger for her mother while she is forced to take care of everything in the home. Now where some people may have a problem with this is that she doesn’t respect her mother no matter what and she has an “attitude”. This sort of behavior is something that shouldn’t be hidden though, not every family is perfect and it is ok to show how you feel about things. Sometimes people get upset at someone, and act in a way they shouldn’t and it is good for young adults to be able to see how to properly process feelings and how to be able to deal with home stress.

Insensitivity/Violence

Seen in Photo Cooper Merritt
Photo taken by Meaghan Merritt

I put these two reasons together because they really go hand in hand. The argument is saying that the violence, which there is, causes children to have insensitivity to violence, and subsequently feelings. In the novel, the violence is obviously prevalent and shown throughout the book, not only in the games but also by the government to its own people. No one argues that it is violent, but the claims that it left someone’s sixteen-year-old daughter screaming is a little ridiculous. The events in the novel that are shown are no worse than what happens in our own world between mass shootings and terrorist attacks. If someone can’t handle this book they won’t be able to handle the real world and the real violence that happens. Governments do torture people and they have for years in the past. This novel is far less gruesome than a war is.

Offensive Language

Although every family is different about what they would want a child to hear, by the time you are a young adult you most likely have heard swear words on television or see it online. The words are pretty mild for swear words and in fact they aren’t even spoken by the main character, not even in inner monologue. Other classic movies like E.T. swear more than this novel does, and the audience is younger. The audience for The Hunger Games is young adult which is described as being age 14 to 20, and those ages should be able to handle some adult words with maturity.

Sexuality

Although the novel does have a “love triangle” it’s not a main point in the novel. Katniss is in love with Gale a boy who goes poaching with her, and Peeta, a bakers’ boy, is in love with Katniss. There is complete unrequited love as Katniss barely talks to the bakers’ boy. The sexual “scenes” in this novel are hardly sexual, in fact the nude scenes are all talking about Katniss getting dressed nothing in a sexual nature. The only relationship parts are the kissing scenes which again, at fourteen, a young adult has seen at least their parents kiss if not other kids their age in the school hallways.

Why The Hunger Games is Valuable

The Hunger Games continually show good morals for young girls. Katniss is a strong, and independent young woman that isn’t someth