hunger games hero's journey essay

Hero's Journey

Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces , in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does —follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World

We see the ordinary world before the Hunger Games begin, and frankly, it stinks. There's fences and wires up everywhere, the TV's all "mandatory viewing this" and "you must comply" that, and Katniss frankly has no use for it at all. She periodically sneaks out of the fence to go hunting in the woods; it's the only time she feels at peace or contented. Both she and Panem are pretty complacent when we find them. Time to do a little shaking up.

Call To Adventure

It's not hard to see the call coming. Effie Trinket and the selection ceremony for the Hunger Games start Katniss off on her perilous adventure. In true Campbellian fashion, she's not doing it for herself but to protect the people she's leaving behind. In this case, it's her sister Prim, who's been selected as Tribute and who Katniss will do anything to keep safe.

It's also interesting to note that in many ways, this call to adventure is just business as usual: there've been 73 of these things before now, after all, and everyone's more or less become used to them. The only difference is that Katniss volunteers, something that hasn't happened in District 12 before. It's a signal that this time, things aren't going to go entirely as planned.

Refusal of The Call

We can't say too much here because of spoilers for future Hunger Games adaptations, but as far as this story is concerned, ain't no refusal going on. Katniss steps up when the call is given and terrifying as the Games may be, she's not going back.

Meeting The Mentor

Modern girls don't have to settle for just one mentor. In the future, they get a whole team. The big kahuna is Haymitch, who may be drunk as a skunk, but certainly understands the politics involved, as well as the things Katniss needs to do to succeed in the Games. She gets a back-up mentor in Cinna, and even Effie and her team help out when they need to. Team Katniss is armed and fabulous. Believe it or not, they may give her everything she needs to survive.

Crossing the Threshold

You might think that crossing the threshold starts when Katniss enters the arena. But it actually takes place much earlier than that—as soon as Katniss is pulled off of the stage and starts her journey to the Capitol. It has all of the hallmarks of a classic fairy tale: a speedy means of moving (the train), magic food and goodies on the way, and even a surly drunk for entertainment.

Tests, Allies, Enemies

The tests take place before the Hunger Games start. In the Capitol as Katniss has to earn attention, gain sponsors and keep from being blinded by the dazzling teeth of Caesar Flickerman. Her guides and mentors offering sound advice, and she gets a boost from allies like Peeta and her new buddy Rue. We recognize the Careers as enemies before things even get going in the arena.

Approach to The Inmost Cave

The innermost cave is most definitely the Games themselves: an enclosed arena from which there's no escape.

Mutant wasps, evil Careers, poisonous berries, fire—you name it, and the arena has it, ready to push Katniss to the limit before she finally earns victory.

Reward (Seizing The Sword)

The reward comes when Cato is finally eaten alive, leaving Katniss and Peeta alone in the arena. They're both saved by the virtue of an eleventh-hour rules change letting them claim victory together instead of butchering each other for the pleasure of a live audience. Except….

The Road Back

The Capitol changes the rules again after they've won, forcing them to choose who gets to live. That's dirty pool, and it marks just one of a number of very bad tactical decisions on the Capitol's part.

Resurrection

Katniss and Peeta still have one trick up their sleeve. They can both eat the poison berries, denying the Capitol the sight of them killing each other; it could them into martyrs to a potential revolution. They mean it, and the Capitol backs down in the face of their self-sacrifice/blackmail.

Return With The Elixir

Peeta and Katniss survive, and now get to enjoy their reward: a life of privilege and luxury for as long as they refrain from drinking themselves to death. But in truth, the elixir is a lot more than that. By defying the Capitol and earning status as a beloved celebrity in the process, Katniss now becomes an example to stir the people's hearts. Do we sense a revolution brewing? The elixir might be that thing that Snow fears is dangerous in large doses: hope.

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The Hunger Games Essay: A Hero's Journey

The hero's journey is the way a hero in a story starts and ends. It has four main parts, with more ideas within each part. Those four parts being Call to Adventure, Initiation, Transformation, and Hero's return. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen goes through this journey. Katniss goes through every part of the hero's journey.

In the first step to the hero's journey, Call to Adventure, is when the hero or main character starts their journey in becoming the hero. The call to adventure for Katniss begins at a ceremony called the reaping where a male and female tribute get chosen to compete in the hunger games and her sister Prim gets chosen but she volunteers to take her place. There are 3 steps to the Call to adventure, The ordinary world, Call to adventure, and refusal. The ordinary world were we see where they live and how they live. The call to adventure is when the hero is given there task. Lastly the refusal is when the hero refuses to accept the task. The ordinary world for Katniss is District 12, Panem were you have to hunt, trade and gather to survive like katniss said, “With both of us hunting daily, there are still nights when game has to be swapped for lard or shoelaces or wool, still nights when we go to bed with our stomachs growling.”. The Call to adventures when the reaping begins and her sister Prim is chosen to compete in the hunger games. Lastly, Refusal is when Katniss refuses to let Prim compete in the hunger games and says, “I volunteer as tribute!”

The Initiation is when the hero gets help, starts their adventure, and they meet their allies and enemies. Like the Call to Adventure there are also three parts to the initiation, mentor, crossing the threshold, and tests allies and enemies. The Mentor step is when the hero meets the person or mentor that helps them throughout their journey. Crossing the threshold is when the hero leaves the ordinary world to start their journey. And Tests allies and enemies is when they face challenges or tests and meet their friends and enemies. In the hunger Games, the mentor stage is when they meet Haymitch and he coaches them for the hunger games. The next step is crossing the threshold, this is when the hero leaves district 12 to the capitol to prepare for the games and again when they are sent to the arena. Finally, it tests allies and enemies, in the hunger games this happens at many points throughout the journey. The first ally Katniss meets is Peeta, he is the male tribute for the games and later she meets Rue, a younger girl who helps her destroy the enemies supplies but later dies. The enemies are introduced when Katniss is chased up a tree by a group called the careers, this is also where she faces a task of getting rid of them so she decides to cut down a branch with a tracker-jacket nest  to try and scare them or kill them.

The next step, transformation, is when the hero faces their final task and loses something important to them but also gets their reward. The three parts to transformation are approach, ordeal, and treasure. The approach is when the hero starts to fight the final conflict but fails and has to go back and prepare to return with allies to fight, and then the ordeal is when the hero loses something but returns stronger than before. And the treasure is when the hero kills the final conflict and gets there reward. In The hunger games the approach step is when Peeta was injured and the had to stop and recover before they fight. The ordeal is when there realize there can only be one winner so they decide to both commit suicide but the gamekeepers change the rule for this so they both win. Lastly, the treasure is when Katniss and Peeta both win and get to go home to their family.

The last step of The Hero's Journey is the road back or the hero's return. The three steps for this are road back, growth, and reward. The road back is what the hero goes through to get home to the ordinary world. Growth is when the heroes accept the consequences of what happened throughout their journey. The last part is the reward which is when the hero returns home to the ordinary but changed world. In the hunger games the road back is when katniss had to deal with the capital being upset with her for how she ended the games. Growth is when they have accepted their new life in district 12. In the end the reward is when they finally get home and get to stay in district 12 and Katniss and Peeta give their district and others hope for the future....

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Hunger Games Heros Journey Essay

The Hunger Games tells of an ordinary teenage girl who lives in District 12, who struggles to live within the fences. Katniss’ Call to Adventure is when her younger sister Prim is called to be a tribute and participate in the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games. Katniss does not Refuse her Call to Adventure because she immediately volunteers to take the place of Prim. Katniss does not want her sister to be in danger so she does everything in her willpower to keep her from harm, even if that includes sacrificing herself.

A Threshold Guardian would be Prim because when she was chosen Katniss volunteered to take her place, but Prim did not want her to go.

Essay Example on A Hero’s Journey – The Hunger Games

Katniss doesn’t necessarily have a Mentor, instead, she uses her own independence to strengthen her. On the contrary, she does have the help of her best friend Gale to encourage her, while also receiving help from the “mentor” that has been given to Katniss and Peeta – Haymitch, who has already survived a hunger games.

The Talisman that Katniss has is the Mockingjay pin given to her by Madge, which is a small sign of rebellion. One of Katniss’ Companions is Peeta. She is accompanied by Peeta to compete in the Hunger Games with her. He becomes a significant character throughout the series and through the Games.

Katniss Crosses the Threshold when she boards the train with Peeta, Effie and Haymitch to go to the Capitol.

Proficient in: Hero

“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”

When they get to the Capitol everyone is dressed weird with weird wigs on, and their faces painted. At the capitol she meets their stylist, Cinna, who gives her the nickname “the girl that was on fire”. When they go to the main plaza in the city where they will go in front of an audience, Cinna lights them, and tells them to hold hands. When they get to the training center, Katniss is in awe of how luxurious her room is.

Katniss’ Road of Trials begins and she is raised into the arena and the 74th annual Hunger Games begin. At the cornucopia Katniss gets an o…

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Katniss Everdeen Is My Hero

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By Sabaa Tahir

• Oct. 18, 2018

Katniss Everdeen and I met on a rainy Virginia day in 2010. I’d seen “The Hunger Games” and its sequels at nearly every bookshop I visited. On that particular day, feeling glum about my own failed attempts to write, I decided to pick up this book everyone was talking about.

I read the first quarter right there in the store, bought the sequels, and ignored my family for the next few days while I binge-read the series.

Dystopias were not new, of course. As a high schooler, I’d read about power hungry governments (“Brave New World,” “1984”), and in college, I’d discovered underage death battles (“Battle Royale”) and ambiguous but hopeful endings (“The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Giver”).

Suzanne Collins’s pointed social commentary about war drew me in, and her almost journalistic writing style helped the pages fly by. But it was Katniss who kept me hooked. Complex, flawed Katniss, with her bow and her braid and her tempered fury. Katniss with her fierce familial love and cussed hope. Katniss, who, as a teenage girl, is scarred and underestimated and dismissed by her government. Until they finally figure out how dangerous she is.

Katniss is a character of contradictions. She’s skilled at hunting but she second-guesses herself constantly. Her strength keeps her alive, but her decisions are often questionable. Her struggles made her real and vulnerable — enough that I could imagine myself in her shoes. Enough that her character stayed with me, long after I finished the books.

Clearly, I wasn’t alone. In the 10 years since its publication, the trilogy has been translated into 53 languages, with more than 100 million copies in print. Its success altered the landscape of young adult fiction. If Harry Potter revealed a vast market hungry for children’s literature and Twilight extended the market to young adult books, The Hunger Games cemented the buying power of that market.

[ Suzanne Collins talks about “The Hunger Games,” the books and the movies. ]

Waves of heroine-led dystopian books followed Collins’s, including many that spawned their own huge fan bases, like Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” and Marie Lu’s “Legend.” The rise of social media allowed fans to form communities on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to share art, theories, blog-posts, videos, dream casts and reviews — all of which are still very much a part of young adult publishing.

And so Katniss became an embodiment of teenage anger. One that was respected and vaunted, immortalized on the big screen, in cosplays and even action figures.

“Katniss Everdeen’s name always booms through me like a firework,” says Dhonielle Clayton, author of “The Belles,” and chief operating officer of We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit organization. “A bright reminder of what is required to change the world: defiance, irreverence and a stubborn determination. I needed to read girls like her; girls who weren’t so nice; girls so angry that their rage could topple anything in their path; girls that could face the dark; girls who could never be contained.”

Indeed Collins’s vision for a heroine was uncannily prescient, as is so much else in the series. Katniss’s story is set in Panem, ruled by the Capitol, which uses propaganda to turn the populace against each other and hang onto power. Class divisions are rife, and the economically disadvantaged are forced to become participants in their own oppression. Rebels are quickly silenced. The Capitol’s cunning media encourages an obsession with perfection that permeates every aspect of society.

To survive all this, Katniss adapts. Her enemies do not expect her to. Again, they underestimate her.

Leigh Bardugo, author of the forthcoming “King of Scars,” recalled the scene in “The Hunger Games” where Katniss gets a makeover. “Collins spoke to aspiration and commodification all at once, and the larger way Katniss is forced to transform in order to survive. She has to become a girlfriend, a proto-wife, and then a prospective mother to garner the sympathy and interest of the crowd. She has to belong to a certain kind of narrative to be seen as valuable at all — and that’s something young women and girls soak up every day from the media and on their Instagram feeds.”

Katniss uses her commodification against the Capitol. She fakes a romance to survive. She pretends docility to win over crowds. But doing so has its costs. In “Catching Fire,” a dress Katniss wears transforms into a symbol of rebellion. In response, the Capitol brutally murders the dress’s creator. The scene sends a message that applies as much to Katniss’s world as to our own: Challenging power-hungry governments can be deadly.

But that message also emphasizes one of the trilogy’s primary strengths: The story is ugly, because life is ugly. Heroes are not always heroic. The good guys do not always win, and when they do, they are haunted. Collins’s acknowledgment of the lasting impact of war on Katniss’s psyche is heartbreaking and powerful. This young woman who had been so ill-used by her country, a woman who stood up and fought anyway, would never be fully healed.

That is a hard truth, and it made me wonder: If Katniss knew what she would endure, would she still have fought? To me, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Her courage is sewn into her very bones. When the violence of the world knocks at her door, she must fight. Because of that, her character, one who will forever burn bright in the pantheon of beloved children’s book heroes, also serves as a timely reminder to all who care to heed it: Teenage girls are powerful and courageous and capable of great rage.

And they should never, ever be underestimated.

Sabaa Tahir is the author of “An Ember in the Ashes,” “A Torch Against the Night” and, most recently, “A Reaper at the Gates.”

Follow Sabaa Tahir on Twitter: @sabaatahir .

Follow New York Times Books on Facebook and Twitter (@nytimesbooks) , sign up for our newsletter or our literary calendar . And listen to us on the Book Review podcast .

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The Hero’s Journey: A Classic Story Structure

Writing a compelling story, especially if you’re new at this, can be grueling.  

Conflicting advice online can overwhelm you, making you want to quit before you’ve written a word.

But you know more than you think.

Stories saturate our lives. We talk, think, and communicate with story in music, on television, in video games, in books, and in movies.

Every story, regardless of genre or plot , features a main character who begins some adventure or quest, overcomes obstacles, and is transformed.

This is generically referred to as The Hero’s Journey, a broad story template popularized by Joseph Campbell in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).

In essence, every story ever told includes at least some of the seventeen stages he outlined .

In 1985, screenwriter Christopher Vogler wrote a memo for Disney titled The Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces that condensed the seventeen steps to twelve.

The Hero’s Journey template has influenced storytellers worldwide, most notably George Lucas (creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones ).

Vogler says of Campbell’s writings: “The ideas are older than the pyramids, older than Stonehenge, older than the earliest cave painting.”

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a prime example of The Hero’s Journey, so I use “she” inclusively to represent both genders.

• The 3 Hero’s Journey Stages

1. The Departure (Separation)

The hero is compelled to leave her ordinary world.

She may have misgivings about this compulsion, and this is where a mentor may come to encourage and guide her.

Example: Katniss Everdeen is a devoted sister, daughter, and friend. She’s an avid hunter, well acquainted with the forbidden forest outside District 12, where she and her friend Gale hunt to keep their families from starving. The Hunger Games, wherein only one winner survives,  loom, and she fears she or one of her friends will be chosen. 

2. Initiation

The hero crosses into the other world, where she faces obstacles.

Sometimes she’s alone, sometimes she’s joined by a companion. Maybe a few.

Here she must use the tools she’s been given in her ordinary life to overcome each obstacle. She’ll be rewarded, sometimes tangibly.

Eventually she must return to the ordinary world with her reward.

Example: District 12’s Representative and Stylist Effie Trinket arrives to choose the Tributes who will compete in The Hunger Games. 

Katniss and her family attend, and she breathlessly wills Effie not to draw her name. She gets her wish, but to her horror, her little sister Primrose is chosen. 

Peacekeepers shove Prim toward the stage before Katniss volunteers to take her place. She’s joined by the male tribute, the baker’s son Peeta. They are soon whisked away for training and then the competition. 

The hero crosses the threshold back into her ordinary world, which looks different now. She brings with her the rewards and uses them for good.

Example: Unexpectedly, Katniss and Peeta are told there can be two victors instead of one. But Katniss and Peeta, to the dismay of the Capitol, decide they’ll die together or emerge as victors together. They emerge not only as victors, but also as celebrities. They have changed in unimaginable ways. 

• The 12 Hero’s Journey Steps (and How to Use Them)

1 — Ordinary  World

Before your hero is transported to another world, we want to see her in her ordinary world—who is she when no one is watching? What drives her?

This sets the stage for the rest of your story , so show her human side. Make her real and knowable.

But don’t wait long to plunge her into terrible trouble. Once you give your readers a reason to care, give them more to keep them turning the pages.

Example: Katniss Everdeen is introduced as a teenager for whom life isn’t easy. Her father is dead, her mother depressed, and Katniss will do anything to provide for her family and protect her little sister. 

2 — The Call to Adventure

This is the point at which your hero’s world can never be the same. A problem, a challenge, or an adventure arises—is she up to the challenge?

Example: The Reaping, where Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s place. 

3 — Refusal of the Call

Occasionally, a hero screeches to a halt before the adventure begins. When faced with adversity, she hesitates, unsure of herself.

She must face her greatest fears and forge ahead.

Example: There is no refusal of the call in The Hunger Games. Katniss eagerly steps forward. 

4 — Meeting With the Mentor

The mentor may be an older individual who offers wisdom, a friend, or even an object, like a letter or map.

Whatever the form, the mentor gives your hero the tools she needs for the journey—either by inspiring her, or pushing her in the direction she needs to go.

Example: Katniss is introduced to Haymitch the minute she reaches the stage to accept the challenge. He’s the only person from District 12 to have ever won The Hunger Games. She’s not initially impressed, but he eventually becomes her biggest ally. 

5 — Crossing the First Threshold

In the final step of the departure phase, your hero musters the courage to forge ahead, and the real adventure begins.

There’s no turning back.

By now, you’ve introduced your hero and given your readers a reason to care what happens to her. You should have also introduced the underlying theme of your story .

Why is it important for your hero to accomplish this task?

What are the stakes?

What drives her?

Example: Katniss is transported via train to the Capitol to begin training for The Hunger Games. She’s promised Prim she’ll do everything in her power to return home.

Your hero is laser focused, but this is the point at which she faces her first obstacle. She will meet her enemies and be forced to build alliances. She will be tested and challenged.

Can she do it?

What does she learn in this initiation phase?

Example: Katniss meets her competitors for the first time during training and is able to watch them to get a sense of what challenges lie ahead.  

6 — Tests, Allies, and Enemies

Things have shifted in the new world. Danger lies ahead. Alliances are formed, chaos ensues.

Your hero may fail tests she’s confronted with at first, but her transformation begins. She has the ability and knowledge to accomplish her tasks, but will she succeed?

Example: The Hunger Games begin. Tributes die. Katniss fights without water or a weapon. Her allies are Peeta and young Rue (the 12-year-old Tribute from District 11). The strongest players have illegally spent their young lives training for The Hunger Games and loom as her enemies from the start. 

7 — Approach to the Inmost Cave

Your hero approaches danger—often hidden, sometimes more mental than physical. She must face her greatest fears time again and may even be tempted to give up. She has to dig deep to find courage.

Example: Katniss is in the arena, the games underway. There’s no escape. She’s seen death, fears she may be next, and must find water and a weapon to survive. 

8 — The Ordeal

Your hero’s darkest moment and greatest challenge so far, in a fight for her life, she must find a way to endure to the end.

This may or may not be the climax of your story, but it is the climax of the initiation stage.

During this terrible ordeal, the steepest part of her character arc takes place.

Example: Katniss faces dying of thirst (if she’s not killed by another Tribute first) and faces every obstacle imaginable, including the death of Rue, before she finally wins the battle. 

9 — Reward (Seizing the Sword)

Against all odds, your hero survives. She’s defeated her enemies , slain her dragons—she has overcome and won the reward.

Whether her reward is tangible depends on the story. Regardless, your hero has undergone a total inward and outward transformation.

Example: Peeta and Katniss stand alone in the arena, told that because they are from the same district they can both claim the victory—or can they?

10 — The Road Back

As she begins to cross the threshold back into the ordinary world, she learns the battle isn’t finished.

She must face the consequences for her actions during the initiation stage.

She’s about to face her final obstacle.

Example: The Capitol reverses and announces that only one winner will be allowed. 

11 — The Resurrection

During this climax of your story, your hero faces her final, most threatening challenge.

She may even face death one more time.

Example: Katniss and Peeta decide that if they can’t win together, there will be no winner. They decide to call the Capitol’s bluff and threaten to die together. As they are about to eat poison berries, the Capitol is forced to allow two winners. 

12 — Return With the Elixir

Your hero finally crosses the threshold back into her ordinary life, triumphant. Only things aren’t so ordinary anymore.

She’s been changed by her adventure. She brings with her rewards, sometimes tangible items she can share, sometimes insight or wisdom. Regardless, this all impacts her life in ways she never imagined.

Example: Katniss and Peeta return home celebrities. They’re given new homes, plenty of food to share, and assistants who tend to their needs. Katniss learns that her defiance of the Capitol has sparked a revolution in the hearts of residents all across Panem. 

• Hero’s Journey Examples

You may recognize The Hero’s Journey in many famous stories, including Greek Mythology and even the Bible. Other examples:

• Sleeping Beauty
• Lord of the Rings
• Indiana Jones
• Sherlock Holmes
• Pilgrim’s Progress
• The Wizard of Oz
• Should You Use The Hero’s Journey Story Structure?

Structure is necessary to a story , regardless which you choose. Because the Hero’s Journey serves as a template under which all story structures fall, each bears some variation of it.

For fiction or nonfiction, your story structure determines how effectively you employ drama, intrigue, and tension to grab readers from the start and keep them to the end.

For more on story structure, visit my blog post 7 Story Structures Any Writer Can Use .

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Inside a Hero’s Journey Suzanne Collins’s novel The Hunger Games illustrates the challenging transition that Katniss Everdeen faces while growing from a young adolescent to an adult

Inside a Hero’s Journey Suzanne Collins’s novel The Hunger Games illustrates the challenging transition that Katniss Everdeen faces while growing from a young adolescent to an adult. Katniss loses her father to a mine explosion; and eventually volunteers in the games to protect her sister. Fear of being in the spotlight ignites her psychological issues, traumatic experience of losing her father, her mother paralyzed from depression, and due to the harshness of the games, as well as the pressure to not show any sign of weakness or be seen as an easy target. Collin’s novel captures Katniss’ growing responsibilities under the Capitol’s spotlight in the games. A psychoanalytic approach has the potential to reveal the elements of Katniss’s personality, her defense mechanisms, and the psychosexual stages she goes through during her evolution from traumatized teenager to adult victor. Katniss Everdeen seems to connect quite a bit to the Freudian stages: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. In The Hunger Games it is clear to see that the protagonist, Katniss, is an inspiring survivor who provides for her family at a substantially young age. Katniss states, “I knelt down in the water, my fingers, digging into the roos. Small, blush tubbers that don’t look like much but boiled or baked are as good as any potato. “Katniss”, I said aloud. It’s the plant I was named after, and I heard my father’s voice joking, “As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve”, (Collins,52). This passage emphasizes how Katniss is struggling with loss of her father. On top of that, she is struggling to take care of her mother and her sister, Prim. Essentially, as long as she can find herself and her family food, she will be okay. Firstly, conscious is the small amount of mental activity we know most about. Katniss is always aware of her surroundings and her actions, the book is narrated from her point which is initially her conscious. Katniss states: “In the woods waits for the only person with whom I can be myself. Gale. I can feel the muscles in my face relaxing, my pace quickening as I climb the hills to our place, a rock ledge overlooking a valley.”(Collins,6) This quote explains the way she felt while being in the woods. Even at the age of 16 alone she knew her surroundings and what do in certain situations. For example, in the woods she knew how to hide away in trees or tunnels, hunt, fish, and support her family. Secondly, the preconscious; this consist of the thoughts, feelings, knowledge, and memories a person possesses.According to .. states: ” In addition, to save her younger sister Prim on reaping day, she volunteered. Even Though, Katniss was afraid and knew what she was volunteering, for her action was heroic and did whatever to keep her sister safe. It was noticeable to Peeta’s mother she told Peeta, “She’s a survivor that one.”(Collins,90) She knew how to hunt, fight, fish, and trap or hide which made her a fierce character. Always focusing on her work of living and not very sentimental which sets her apart from other women heroines. The third element is unconscious, the process in the mind that stores all the memories and experiences that are disturbing or traumatic. This related to Katniss because she had so many situations that haunted her, she lost her father, having to deal with her mother.According to Pozios Vasilis states :”Psychological trauma is pervasive for Katniss, she is haunted by sheer brutality and life threatening nature of the games.”(How bad is Katniss,2014) Her mother has abandoned Katniss and Prim after her father died and left eleven year Katniss to take care of herself and support Prim. Quillazy states: “With her mother out of the picture, Katniss successfully puts herself in her mother’s position to not only take care of the house, but to become the mother figure for Prim who is her father’s child.”(Quillazy,2015) The meaning to “mother is out of the picture” was she was depressed from her husband’s passing and was just like a human body no life inside. Therefore, that made Katniss always feel betrayed by her mother and never felt like she could trust her especially when she leaves for the games and Prim is alone with her. She knew if she did not support herself and her sister the district would of taken them away from her depressed mother. Katniss while in her room on the train turns to her mom to tell her, “Are you listening to me? She nods, alarmed by my intensity. You must know whats coming. You can’t leave again.”(Collins,35) In other words, she knew her mother has left them multiple times but now she is not there so she can’t leave Prim on her own and being in the games fighting for her life. Throughout The Hunger Games “the real Katniss” is in the spotlight, this forces her to be heroic by showing her survivalist mindset. According to movie psychoanalyst, Heather Hardison, “This forces her out of her comfort zone and makes her question herself through the games and throughout her found friendships with Peeta and Rue.”(THG Psychoanalyst ,2012.) This is important because it focuses on the way Katniss had to hold in her emotions and show no sign of weakness. According to Sacrificing Childhood THG, states: “As Katniss fights against the dictates of a society that demands sacrifice she becomes “the girl on fire”.” (Susan Tan, 2013) In fact, she knew if she cried or showed any signs of weakness she would be marked as an easy target. In other words, she was a warrior who went through losing her father and having to take care of her mother and sister but still managed to be strong and push through in regards to the games. While in the games, many opposing players from differing districts try to survive in their ways, which consist of stealing, teaming up, hiding, and killing each other. Therefore, these actions are components of the personality of Katniss her Id, Ego, and Superego. First is the Id, all those thoughts that make you feel good, even if they are wrong. So Katniss knew it was wrong to hide but it was a pleasure for her to get some safety by climbing the tree, so the other players could not see her. She didn’t want to be harmed in any way so she took the action of climbing and hiding pleasure for safety. Instead of going into battle with Peeta Katniss knew that the nightlock, the poisonous berries were a way out for both of them. They proceeded to put the berries in their mouths and knew it was wrong but it made her change it all, in the game! Katniss states : “I give Peeta’s hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a goodbye, and we begin counting.One. Maybe I’m wrong. Two. Maybe they don’t care if we both die. Three. it’s too late (…).”(Collins,344) It seemed as if she knew Claudius Templesmith would not let them die just like that, so she let them go along together and both come out alive as victors of the seventy- fourth Hunger Games. On the other hand, is the Ego, it is the Reality helps us direct ourselves and it has no idea right from wrong. As explained before Ego has no concept of right or wrong, for Katniss playing a role as the player in the games like the others, to survive she hid in a tree and throws a beehive at players who teamed up on her. Therefore, climbing the tree gave her a satisfying feeling, she teams up with Rue helping her hide also, she is the youngest participant in her district and games. As Katniss sees young Rue as her sister Prim, she says “Rue has decided to trust me wholeheartedly. I know this because as soon as the anthem finished she snuggles up against me and falls asleep”.(Collins,288) Rue and Katniss both trusted in one another and Katniss felt as if she did not have to take precautions with Rue, but knew in the back of her mind not both could win which upset her. However, the ego is a way to survive as it reflects the world she lives in, helping others like Rue, competing with all districts and fighting for her life, and succeeding in the games. The last of the stages is Superego, the part of the mind that is based on our morals. Superego to Katniss was when she helps Rue to survive together, she knew she had to win this game and survive for her district 12 but she found another point of that. “Besides, if I’m going to die today, it’s Rue I want to win.”(Collins,189) This quote showed the caring person Katniss is, even though, she knew Rue was from another district she would warn her of any signs of other players. In the games, Rue and Katniss trusted each other and Rue reminded her of her sister Prim. They treated each other like sisters, Katniss knew how to survive, find berries, plants medicine, and hiding in the trees. In the final analysis, the psychoanalytic criticism explored the heroic Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl from district 12, brave, determined, independent, and resourceful.

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Harry Potter & The Hunger Games: Part 1, The Hero’s Journey

2013, The Hog's Head

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Tatiana GOLBAN

Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games has as its central metaphor the monomythic journey of the hero. This research focuses on the novelist's attempt to redefine the monomyth in terms of gender, and on the ways in which Collins's retold version represents human experience in the contemporary world. This study presents Collins's protagonist, Katniss, who embarks on the traditional heroic quest and confronts multiple challenges and frustrations on her journey to success. During her heroic enterprise, Katniss turns inward, discovers and embraces her feminine nature and seeks a satisfactory life paradigm as a result of which she attains the inner integration and reconciliation of both masculine and feminine aspects of her personality; she also understands and accomplishes her purpose in life. By recognizing the mythical and archetypal situations, which are subverted or inverted in the novel, Collins revises the significance of private and public achievements in the contemporary community.

L'Atalante Revista de estudios cinematográficos , Marta Fernández Morales

Popular culture in the twenty-first century is witnessing a process of re-signification of the role of the hero, which we analyse here in the film The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012), which depicts a dystopian world enslaved by totalitarian power and controlled by the mass media. Through a deductive approach based on a gender-focused epistemology, this paper explores the film version of the first novel of Suzanne Collins’s trilogy of the same name. Our thesis is that Katniss Everdeen, a contemporary version of Theseus who also shares elements with the myths of the Amazons and Atalanta, subverts the patriarchal order when she is revealed to be an autonomous and courageous subject. Contrary to what has often been the case in audiovisual narratives, this powerful female role does not fall prey to either traditional standards of femininity or an imitation of masculinity, but is constructed independently and with positive results.

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a film devised to reflect postmodern fears that the United States will eventually decline like the Roman Empire. The dystopian Panem is built on the ruins of North America, ravaged by a slew of natural and man-made disasters and practically uninhabitable. The location itself highlights the sense of fear, anger, violence and misery to come. This setting of devastation frames the need for a hero, in this case Katniss Everdeen from District 12. In this paper, I will focus on exploring how gender roles for heroes have evolved over time. I believe that modern heroes need not follow traditional gender roles, as shown by how Katniss subverts her gender role in The Hunger Games. Katniss displays traits of masculinity throughout the movie, which goes against the traditional female role. Butler (Mitchell, p.141) posits that " there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender ". In other words, there is no necessary relation between gender expressions and the underlying gender " truth " – a character can be naturally female but have masculine gender expressions, which are exemplified by Katniss. In the movie, Katniss aggressively resents her mother's depression, deeming it an overreaction to her father's death. She fails to identify with her mother's turmoil, portraying her as not overly emotional, a typically feminine trait. Katniss becomes both mother and father to Primrose when their mother withdraws from the world, and she feels compelled to detach herself from feminine emotions lest she ends up like her mother, an apparent rejection of feminine traits. In patriarchal Panem, women's most significant role is possibly reproduction, yet Katniss associates motherhood with a lack of control, as she will have to risk her child being selected for The Hunger Games. Again, she rejects a defining female characteristic, highlighting her disillusionment with being female. After her father's death, Katniss becomes the " man of the family " , hunting to put food on the table and doing illegal trade to provide for her family. Although she assumed the role out of necessity, this underscores Katniss' ability to be masculine when the occasion calls for it, and surfaces possibly inherent masculine traits in her. Katniss' obvious discomfort when her mother lays out a dress to be worn to the reaping shows how beauty is low on her list of priorities as it has no stake in supporting her family and is an unnecessary luxury. Women are traditionally associated with vanity as opposed to men; the fact that Katniss is immune and disturbed by such thoughts further highlights her lack of femininity. Lorber (Henthorne, p.45) proposes that sex is assigned " on the basis of what the genitalia looks like at birth, " gender is not just assigned but affirmed through everyday practices. Based on this claim, Katniss displays masculine traits that debunk the traditional female stereotype. Despite possessing masculine traits, Katniss can display a maternal side, albeit at times just for show. Nicholson states that for Joseph Campbell, at the crucial juncture in the hero's journey, the woman is " recalled to nature " and becomes " symbolic flesh: sex, desire, generative motherhood " (Nicholson, p. 190). Katniss' actions and intentions are not in line with Campbell's portrayal of female heroes, although at times her actions befit the traditional female role. This is shown by her instinctive sacrifice for Primrose, who is akin to " her " child. Katniss' function is not

Sara Francesca Soncini

A play saturated with images of food, eating and being eaten, Coriolanus provides the most thoroughgoing exploration of the hunger paradigm within the Shakespearean corpus. From the very early moments of the tragedy, Shakespeare’s emphasis on hunger as a literal, material condition is paralleled by a probing investigation of the rhetorical and metaphorical dimension of alimentary imagery and its problematic applicability, and actual application, in the political sphere – most notably, in Menenius Agrippa’s fable of the belly, a rhetorical attempt at naturalizing social inequality which however fails to appease the plebeians’ threatened uprising against the Roman aristocracy. Shakespeare’s politicization of hunger has played a crucial role in securing and shaping Coriolanus’s afterlife. This essay deals with a very recent take on Coriolanus by investigating the Shakespearean palimpsest within Suzanne Collins’s highly popular The Hunger Games trilogy (2008-2010). While unacknowledged by the author and so far unregistered in critical studies of the novels, Collins’s extensive borrowing from Coriolanus across the three instalments of her science fiction adventure amounts to a consistent and comprehensive reframing of Shakespeare’s hunger paradigm, here remoulded into cautionary dystopia about the social and political order of the global era.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Hero's Journey — The Hero’s Journey: A Short Story

The Hero's Journey: a Short Story

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