The Journey of Panem’s Hero

 The Journey of Panem’s Hero

The Hunger Games is a book about a dystopian world where children must fight to the death in an annual competition as a reminder of a past rebellion that ruined their country. In this world, Katniss lives in District 12, and on the reaping day, her sister is chosen to be a part of the games, but she volunteers herself to spare her sister's life. The movie follows her experience in the hunger games alongside Peeta, the male tribute for their district. This movie follows the hero’s journey throughout Katniss’ experiences, from her leaving district 12 through her return as a victor.

During the first part of the book, the Hunger Games shows the separation stage of the hero’s journey through the train scene, which signifies the crossing of the first threshold. This scene occurs after Katniss has volunteered for her sister as the female tribute and Peeta has been reaped as the male tribute. They have said their goodbyes to their families and Katniss realizes that she is actually going into this new world entirely on her own. In this scene she is both literally and metaphorically leaving her home and crossing borders to go into this new world. One could argue that she only crosses the threshold when she enters the training center or the arena, but I think the change from District 12 to the Capitol is already a huge jump. She has been living in poverty and barely hanging on for her entire life, and now she is finally entering a world of luxury, but she must fight to the death instead of enjoying it. On the train, she and Peeta try to focus and figure out what they need to do to stay alive, and they face some difficulty getting Haymitch, their mentor, to help them. It is clear during this train ride that despite others not caring about their futures, they both know they are going into a completely different world and they are trying to prepare themselves for it the best they possibly can.

Fast forward through all the fighting in the book, the part of the initiation phase that was particularly interesting in the Hunger Games was the refusal of the return. At the end of the games, Peeta and Katniss threaten to eat poison berries together instead of having to kill each other. This is another very literal representation of a stage in the hero’s journey. She is refusing to return because she would rather die than return after killing Peeta. I think this scene means a lot to the book – it’s also the basis of the next two books – because she has been trying to get home to her sister this whole time by any means necessary, and suddenly, she stops trying. In this moment, the goal of getting home to her sister falls away and she is only thinking of how she can outsmart the government, which shows she has let go of the ordinary world and now understands the bigger picture. This matches the description of the refusal of the return because she has become resilient within the bubble of these brutal games which has allowed her to see past the human things that the government is using to distract her from the injustice. While ultimately both victors go home, this scene is pivotal to the change of her understanding of the world.

In my opinion, The Hunger Games doesn’t include any parts of the return phase. I think Katniss is permanently stuck in the world of the Capitol and the Games after she wins due to PTSD she has from the violence and the corruption of the dystopian government. The games change the way she looks at the world around her, and because of that, I don’t think there is a clear scene for freedom to live at all in this book, or throughout the series. I think the whole idea of being a victor in The Hunger Games is that you have reached the stage of “freedom to live”, but the government of Panem and the hero’s journey fail to include the downside of the perilous adventure. PTSD is very common after major events like these and often doesn’t allow the main character to live a happy life, even in the best case scenario. Katniss’ win is specifically complicated because she publicly went against the government in order for her and Peeta to both win. Even at the epilogue of the last book, she talks about how she will always remember the violence, so there is no way to have freedom to live after the harshness of her life.

Work Cited

Contributors to The Hunger Games Wiki. “Train.” The Hunger Games Wiki, Fandom, Inc., (n.d.), thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/Train. 

The Hunger Games. Directed by Francis Lawrence, Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2012.

“The Nightlock Berry Scene in the Hunger Games.” Tumblr, 9 Dec. 2012, silverducks.tumblr.com/post/37558357671/the-nightlock-berry-scene-in-the-hunger-games.

Stevens, Dana. “The Hunger Games.” Slate Magazine, 22 Mar. 2012, www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2012/03/the_hunger_games_starring_jennifer_lawrence_as_katniss_everdeen_reviewed_.html.

Walsh, Savannah. “Nobody Ever Found the Next ’Hunger Games’- but Boy, Did They Try.” Vanity Fair, 24 Mar. 2022, www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/03/the-hunger-games-anniversary-teen-dystopia.