What does it feel like to be watched? Imagine walking places and sensing someone is stalking. Does this happen and individuals aren’t even aware? People can be watching at any time. Who is watching? Friends? Parents? The government? There are ways the government knows where people are. When a person uses his or her credit cards the government knows where the person is located. No one ever quite knows who or WHAT is watching them. The country of Panem is very similar to your society today.
In both the USA today and Panem physical appearance is thought to be very important. In both societies people have surgery to alter themselves to become “more beautiful” or “pretty”. People dye their hair different colors. Kind of like in Hollywood, stylists collaborate and try their best to make people POP and stand out. The opening ceremonies at the Hunger games are like the red carpet edition shows before big award shows. In both places there seems to be a special place for fashion. Here it’s the Hollywood area and California in general and in Panem the place for fashion is the Capitol.
Violence is similar in both Panem and the USA. Some people think violence is entertainment. Here people just play graphic video games about death but in Panem people are thrown into an arena to fight to the death for other peoples’ entertainment. In both places it seems that people use weapons against each other. In both places there was some kind of law enforcement to deal with law breakers. Here they are called police and in Panem they are referred to as peacekeepers.
Both in Panem and in the USA they have government. In charge of the country is a president. In both places the president lives in the capitol city. The government makes the laws and rules. The government holds dinner parties in both societies. Both governments have armies. Each state or district has a leader (the mayor or governor) as well as the one main president. Both governments have ways of watching people. In the US every time someone uses their credit card at a store someone knows where that person has been. In Panem the government just has its different ways of watching people and everything they do.
Physical appearance is very different from civilization to civilization. In Panem not only do people dye their hair but also their skin. People in the USA are big into tattooing but it isn’t as popular or “in” in Panem. In the United States people like to have body piercings, but they are also not as popular in Panem. In Panem people want you to look perfect. Like when Cinna and the prep team got Katniss ready for the opening ceremonies they took care of every major detail of Katniss from every frown line to her delicately detailed nails.
Violence is very different in each civilization. In Panem children from the ages of 12 to 18 get thrown into an arena to fight to the death for the entertainment and enjoyment of others. Here in the US people try to blow up buildings and bomb cities in anger and disagreement.
The Government in Panem and the US are different in many ways. The government in Panem has forced children to fight to the death for entertainment since District 13 rebelled. During tough times in the war the government of the US has forced men to help fight in the wars. In Panem the government forces people to stay within the bounders of their home district surrounded by an electrified fence, put around the boundaries of the district to act like a citadel, while the people of the US are free to cross from state to state. A person will be severely punished if they are caught hunting in Panem, but in the US hunting is legal with the correct licenses and following the rules. The people selected for the government are voted on by the people of the US, but in the country of Panem the leaders are just appointed. And another difference is that the government in the US doesn’t own any hover craft- at least we think they don’t. The education in public school is much different. The schools here would like us to learn as much as possible. In Panem they only want the children to know how to talk and read very little. Panem does not value education like some public schools in the United States.
Next time someone is in need of a good book, we will hope that they pick up The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins. We also hope that they think about which country they would rather live in, The United States, or Panem while reading. Which district will they chose?