Literary Criticisms 

Themes of violence

Violence is a big part of most of Collins’ works, and with the overall theme of violence being talked about on a daily basis, Collins’ works get a lot of criticism. Violence is a constant theme in The Hunger Games series, with children being forced to fight to the death. The thrill of the games mixed with the violence in the books can be easily seen as a way of glamorizing violence and war, but when one reads deeper into the way the violence is described and utilized to progress the story, the theme of violence being bad is clear. The topic of violence in Collins’ books has split critics over the years with some believing she glorifies violence, some believing her books are anti war propaganda, and others believing her books are not inherently violent, but they use violence in a satirical way. Overall, While the series may just seem like a typical violence novel on the surface, when a deeper analysis of Collins’ work is conducted, it is clear that her books use fictional violence to critique real life violence.

Point of View

Suzanne Collins utilizes a first person point of view, giving the reader a deeper understanding of Katniss. The first person point of view allows the reader to understand how Katniss is thinking in certain situations and builds a sense of connection between the reader and the characters in the book. A downside to the first person point of view is that the reader tends to get a biased perspective, leading the reader to dislike or like certain characters based on what Katniss thinks of them. A benefit of her first person point of view is that the reader is limited to the knowledge that Katniss has, leading the reader into suspense and shock as Katniss discovers and encounters more. The first person point of view increases urgency and emotional investment the reader has. Overall, the first person point of view is a good choice for the hunger games series because it is more engaging to the reader. 

Marxism

Collins does an amazing job of showing power struggles through social class. This divide is evident through the way the people of the richer districts tend to get more sponsors and how everyone fears the capitol. The prequel shows that president snow came from money and was destined to be a powerful upper class member of the society, and that although he is considered one of the most powerful people, he still has struggles to keep that power. It shows how the poor people of district 12 don’t ever have high expectations for their tributes and what happened to the one victor. The people of district 12 don’t try to break the cycle and become rich, they accept the constant threat of the capitol and live in poverty, specializing in what they're good at and trading for what they need to survive. Marxism is one of the biggest looming critical theories in the series.

Dystopia 

The dystopian setting of The Hunger Games Series forces the characters in the book and readers to confront difficult questions about society and violence. It embeds real world problems and ideas such as media manipulation, government surveillance, and social class struggles. The dystopian setting combined with the first person point of view makes it easier to understand because it simplifies the complex ideas by clearly establishing the Capitol as the bad guy and the poor people of the districts as the good, honest people. While the dystopian setting in The Hunger Games series has its benefits, it also has some drawbacks. The dystopian setting can lead readers to become desensitized to the idea of violence in the series to the point of risking glamorizing the violence. Overall, critics see the dystopian setting of the Hunger Games series as a positive.

Survival

Collins utilizes survival to write her book and to pose questions to the reader in the Hunger Games series. The entire book is based on life or death. She puts heavy emphasis on survival with things like survivors guilt and trauma from the games with characters like Haymitch. The inherent need for survival forces characters to make unethical decisions that can lead to consequences later on, and as the need to survive forces characters to change, they discover what their morals are. These moral discoveries lead characters to form alliances in order to survive. The need for survival also leads characters to become more animalistic and brutal, increasing the threat. The survival leads to sacrifice and heartbreak with characters like rue pulling on the readers heartstrings. Overall, The survival core of the book combines with the dystopian themes, themes of violence, and the first person point of view perfectly, tying them all together by dragging the reader in and making them feel for the characters in the book.