Remember the time when the dystopian triology genre was taking the world by storm?
The writers were churning out these books so fast that one can only wonder what were they even writing. But to be fair, the stories of all of them were pretty similar with different atmosphere.
I mean, there is not much difference between Maze Runner triology and Divergent when you cut it to bare.
Then there was The Selection series, Shatter Me and other triologies that came and went. Few were amazing, like The Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness, but even the best of the best falls into the trap of the Matrix effect.
The Matrix effect is when the first part of a triology is good, but the last two are mediocre.
For right now, fantasy is leading (courtesy of Six of Crows).
However, among all the Dystopia, Hunger Games triology is most popular, and it should be because it is an excellent book.
I would like to be bold here and say that the Hunger Games series is the reason for the popularity of the Dystopian Triologies.
(When I say Dystopian Fiction, I mean Young Adult Fiction one, not 1984 type of books.)
Hunger Games and Revolution
The Hunger Games series is about many things, but the thing I want to discuss here is the revolution and the circle of revolution.
When the first time I read the Hunger Games, I read it as a book, like any other book. Later, like a few months later, I watched the movie, I find a scene in the book that I think of grave importance.
After the game was over, the President Coin (self-made) asks the remaining Victors if they would like to begin the Hunger Games again. This time with the kids of the people of the Capitol, as the punishment.
The same thing the Capitol was doing with the Districts.
However, one could say that Civilians of the Capitol were not responsible for the yearly massacre. But they did not do anything to stop it, so in a way, they were behind the idea of it.
When the time comes, District was angry because of the years and years of the oppression, and President Coin was right when she said that people need a way to release their anger.
Or else, what could be the alternative?
The suffering and miseries of the District people would not let them live peacefully with the Capitol. Sooner or later a Civil War (if you call it a civil War) would begin, and the newly made country would be in flames.
As much I do not want to be on anyone's side, but then I admit that people need to release their anger healthily.
When people become slaves of technology and form a routine life, their wild side starts to cool down. But it never disappears.
Humans are naturally wild animals, however years of modern civilisation may have trained as to be modest and discipline, but there will always remain a barbaric caveman inside of us. Studies has shown that humans are still as violent as before.
We can see that in the Hunger Games.
People were furious and sick of the ruler class. They wanted to be a ruler, to show that if they can be violent while slaving, they could do much more while ruling.
When the Coin does the Voting for the 76th Hunger Games, the result was in support of Hunger Games.
Well, we can assume it is all part of the plan of Katniss and Haymitch, but making plan was never the strong game of the Katniss Everdeen.
So what her to go with the Hunger Games? May we will never know.
We can only speculate her reasoning. The death of her father has impacted her a lot. She volunteered herself for Hunger Game to protect her sister, but she failed to protect her.
She might be thinking herself as a failure, and she does not have anything left to loose. May be in that moment the hatred towards the everything was enough to make her such a wrong decision.
But one thing was important here, there was supposed to be 76th Hunger Games. Victors said YES to it.
The existence of idea is itself a strong suggestion that people wanted the revenge.
It is like having a Second World War after the First World War, but, again, the second World War happened. It might be the most stupid and valiant affair of the human history.
However, we cannot deny the existence of spiteful behaviour of people, more important, when they are hurting for a long time.
As soon as the District came to the Powers, they wanted the revenge, the Hunger Games and massacre of the Capitol.
Now rewind to 75 years back.
What do we know about how the Hunger Games started??
All we know is the Capitol was oppressing the Districts. District revolted and a Civil War broke. It was the First Rebellion.
There is too much history into it, but the basic is that Capitol won, with various means. However, District 13 somehow take the hold of Capitol's nuclear power and got his independence based on power.
The other District also surrendered when District 13 left the fight.
To teach the lesson to the 12 Districts, Capitol begins the Hunger Games. The idea was to show them that even the strongest of them is nothing in front of Capitol.
After 75 years, the District catches fire and Revolution Begins.
It all begins from the 74th Hunger Games when Katniss and Peeta try to swallow those berries and go directly against the order of the Capitol in front of the live audience.
A light of hope, even the slight one burn brighter than the Dark.
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellarc gave them that hope, and they were not alone. A revolution is not an instantaneous event, it is a result of years of progress. It is itself a progress.
The district started going against the Capitol one by one.
In the Catching Fire, the series comes to the full glory and displays how symbols, tunes, and signals become the pathway to freedom.
There is the story in English, The Last Lesson. The Berlin forced France to teach the German instead of French in the school. The teacher in the story tells the student that this is the last lesson of the French class and they will not learn the French language anymore.
Until you have your language, you have your freedom.
The Languages, words, and symbols united the people against the capitol.
I think the biggest mistake of the Capitol was not controlling the language here. Though they try to fight off the tune, and the three-finger salute, but it does not work well when the masses started doing it.
Coming back to the point, the first Hunger Games begins to teach the Districts a lesson for their revolution.
But there is more to it.
If you oppress the people, they will be angry. And you cannot keep a group of angry people together in one place peacefully. They will soon start fighting.
The only way is to make them feel helpless and hopeless. Also, give them a distraction to vent out their anger.
That was also the reason for the Hunger Games.
The district would fight each other, be angry at each other, and then they will kill each other. While the Capitol would sponsor them and show them how tiny and unimportant they are.
It will also keep them away from uniting. An excellent plan covering everything.
So, what went wrong?
The Civilians grew closer to the Victors, and the Capitol have to keep the Civilians happy.
In the 74th Hunger Games, people see it live, that a pair from District 12 went against the Capitol and Capitol has to accept the display of live dissent. (Pressure of the Show Fans)
It is how a revolution starts.
The anger turns to hopelessness, and a little ray of Hope shows that there is a way to get out of it.
People begin to gather.
I am not declining the help of District 13 here. The district 13 came forward after looking at the Katniss's brave attempt of going against the Capitol.
So, all in all, it was the hope of being successful that starts the revolution.
As the saying is, the oppressor always digs his own grave.
Now, from the hope, the early revolutionary begins to rise. Then the masses, and then even the people of Capitol helps the District.
Later after the fight was won, and everything was as normal as possible, President Coin asks for voting for the 76th Hunger Games.
At the moment she was thinking the same thing the Capitol thought at the time of first Hunger Games.
A foolproof plan to keep everything in control.
It is the best way to solve the civil war.
A purposeful distraction that also gradually decrease the anger of Districts.
This is the circle of revolution.
If the Games begin, after the 75 year, the Capitol will revolt. The table will turn.
We do not know what happen to the World.
Do they have democracy, republic, or what??
But one thing is clear.
If anyone has to look for a book that tells the story of a revolution in an amazing manner, Hunger Games is the series you should read.
Hunger Games is a fucking case study is what it is.