Monday, February 6, 2012

The Huntress, The Fireman, and The Emperor

What possibly could a 16-year old girl, a 30-year old grown man, and a male jailbird have in common?  You probably are thinking that there is no way they have anything in common.  Well you'd be right, unless you've read The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit 451, and Harrison Bergeron.  Katniss, Harrison, and Montag  all live in a society heavily controlled by their government.

In all three stories, the government has complete control over everybody.  In The Hunger Games, the government controlled where everybody could go, and took away privileges, like hunting.  Owning books in Fahrenheit 451 is outlawed to the point where firemen come to your house and burn it down.  To keep everybody in Harrison Bergeron equal, the government forces its citizens to be handicapped in numerous ways, ranging from lead weights to head phones.

As you can see, these characters all faced very controlling governments, but they also opposed these controlling governments.  In the book The Hunger Games, it was illegal to hunt.  Katniss, however, hunted to feed her family and also sold some of her meat to earn some money.   Although this is only a small act against the Capitol, it is still an act of defiance nonetheless.  Also, at the very end of the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are the final two contestants in the arena.  In an act of defiance, they refuse to kill each other.  They both demand to be winners, and threaten to  commit suicide at the same time if this does not happen..

Katniss was not the only one to oppose her government.  Montag, from Fahrenheit 451, opposed the government by owning books, which was illegal.  This is actually very ironic because his previous job was being a fireman, which required him to burn and destroy books.  Harrison, from the story Harrison Bergeron, opposed his government by refusing to wear  his handicap equipment.  Once he stopped wearing it, he freed some ballerinas from their handicap equipment and tried showing the world how much fun it is to be unique.

These characters all opposed their governments in some way, but not all of them faced the same outcome.  When Katniss opposed the government, the Capitol warned her to stop.  Unfortunately for the Capitol, the damage had already been done. A  revolution to overthrow the Capitol began, and it was eventually successful.  Montag's obsession with books soon became known, which got the attention of the firemen.  Once the firemen arrived, Montag panicked and ended up killing Beatty, which forced him to stay on the run until the government found a scapegoat to punish.  Finally, unfortunately for Harrison, he faced the worst outcome.  Because of his actions, the Handicap General shot and killed Harrison while he was on TV. 

Katniss, Montag, and Harrison all lived in societies where the government was oppressive.  All three characters refused to blindly follow their government rules. They knew their governments were unfair, so they opposed them.  Their opposition met with different levels of success.

No comments:

Post a Comment