The Hunger Games

Unless you've been living underneath a rock, you've heard of Suzanne Collins's book, The Hunger Games. Currently my Jr. High small group girls are obsessed with it. I have to say, to start out with, that I really love these books since I first read The Hunger Games almost a year ago. I am excited to see it come to a movie but more than that, I look forward to the discussions that can come from this book. Questions about oppression, injustice, and survival in our own world.

While I am excited to see my small group girls so engaged in a book rather than some reality TV show MTV has put out (not that I haven't watched a few of those myself) I am not sure they totally understand the depth of the book. Many of them are much more invested in the romance, making camps of Team Gale or Team Peeta. But honestly, those books are not about the romance. According to Collins's herself the books themes are much deeper than romance. The book "tackles issues such as severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the affects of war among others." The books itself are not about a girl choosing between two guys (as you may see in Twilight) and isn't the battle of good vs. evil (for example as in, say, Harry Potter) but about how do we wrestle with injustice in our own world? Do we sit back and pretend it doesn't happen like they do in the capital? Do we just try to survive on our wits and knowledge like Katniss and Gale in the first book or do we step out and fight against oppression?

Collins hopes that readers walk away from the books asking how "elements of the book might be relevant in their own lives. And, if they're disturbing, what they might do about them." I appreciate The Hunger Games books, not because they are full of action, violence, or romance but because they allow us to see injustice and oppression in an imaginary world and that should lead us to reflect where do we see those things in society. I think as Christians we should take advantage of this extremely popular book as a transition into asking our churches and fellowships where do we see injustice and what can be done about it?