Theology
In this section I will explore the simillarities in religious values and beliefs that are in both The Hunger Games trilogy and Christianity. By looking at the various aspects, it draws in the emphasis that indeed there is religion in The Hunger Games.
SACRIFICE BY THE SAVIOR.
In both The Hunger Games and Christianity, Sacrifice by the Savior falls on the responsibility of an individual. In Collins books it is Katniss Everdeen (The Mockingjay) and in Christianity it is Jesus Christ (The Savior). Despite the destiny of the savior, their whole intention is to help someone achieve salvation. And by sacrifice -"act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy". In Christianity Jesus was willing to sacrifice his own life to save man from sin and restore man’s relationship with God. "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren".(1 John 3:16).
Both The Hunger Games and Christianity have sacrifice as the foundation of the act that later defines the outcome. In both cases, sacrifice of one’s life for love for another person is evident. In Collins’ nation of Panem sacrifice is a very common theme. Katniss begins her journey of trials and tribulations initially by putting her name several times in the “Tesserae” in order to have a year’s worth of grain and oil for the love of her mother and sister. But the most important sacrifice is when she decides to volunteer to take up the place of her sister Primrose Everdeen when her name is drawn as the female tribute for District 12. It is the genuine love that Katniss has for her sister that makes her volunteer as a tribute. "Prim….is the only person in the world I know I love". She continues to show a growing concern for others and again continues to willingly sacrifice herself in order to do what she believes is right. She tries to protect another tribute, Rue, even if she knows it might cost her her own life, She continues to put herself at risk in order to get medicine for Peeta Mellark who is close to dying in the arena. That is why Katniss becomes the savior that the oppressed people of Panem are looking to, in order to save them from the ruthless Capitol in a revolution led by the Mockingjay.
'HOLY VIOLENCE'
'Holy violence' has been a part of Christianity for a very long time as known to human existence. Killing to offer sacrifice to appease the transcendent God played an important role in earlier forms of Christianity. When sacrificing animals in the temple was discontinued by the early Christians, an ultimate Sacrifice was given to man in the form of Jesus Christ. He was crucified and thus it gave Christianity the new breath of life it needed. Death for a good cause has also played an important role in Christianity. After several years of Christian persecuton,under Constantine Christianity gained acceptance as a religion for the empire. This however led to the Christians persecuting and using violence against pagans and later against the Jews with violent attacks on their temples and synagogue.s It is believed that ‘holy men’ like priests and monks were involved who believed that it was an act of pleasing God by destroying the people who were not walking in the way of Christ. This also carried on into the Gospels where Jesus is preaching about a Godly Fight against the Law and the Oppressors,(Luke 22:36), Jesus encourages his followers to own a sword. Similarly in The Hunger Games, Collins uses violence as an appropriate vehicle to deliver her message, ‘it is violence but for a good cause’. Katniss has to kill to get food to feed her family and also kills to stay alive in the arena. In the end she is the Mockingjay that leads the people of District 13 to the Capitol to kill President Snow and bring an end to the oppressive tyranny of the Capitol and its residents. Even though violence and death are against the moral obligations of both Christians and Katniss Everdeen, it is believed to be the right thing to do and that is why the Christians who fight in these wars and Katniss in The Hunger Games get the greatest and most glorious honor.
PERSECUTION AND SUFFERING.(Confessors and Martyrs:To Be A Christian is to suffer)
When a person is treated with hostility and ill treatment because of their belief, in the case of Christians and their religious beliefs and of Katniss and other characters in The Hunger games, their belief in justice and freedom from the Capitol, it is considered persecution. In the early first century approximately 27 BCE Emperor Octavian (Augustus, which meant worship) had the desire to enforce his status and authority among his subjects. He did so by venerating himself to position of “Son Of God” and everyone in the Empire at the time was supposed to worship him as the Divine Being. This caused intense turmoil, especially among the Jews who only believe in the worship of One God. When they refused to worship Augustus, the turmoil increased and later led to the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. All this happened at the time Jesus was a a child, he lived in this oppressive dominant authority of the Roman empire and we see the evidence in the gospel of Luke (Luke 2:1-12). It is from oppression and suffering of the people of Israel from the oppressive Roman empire that Jesus begins to challenge the socio- political norms of the Roman rule. As Christianity was still growing, many of Jesus’ followers preached his message of salvation not only from sin but also from their state of being compromised citizens in poverty and despair. This threatened the dominant authorities and eventually Christians were persecuted and even killed for believing in justice and slvation from their oppressors. As a result we find several instances of martyrs and confessors who believed that being a Christina is to suffer. This later helped in building the strong foundation that Christianity has today. Similarly in The Hunger Games the suffering and oppression of the people in the districts at the hands of the Capitol creates a zeal the drives Katniss to be recognized as a Mokingjay to endure suffering and even risking her life in order to break away from the oppressive Capitol. In Collins' work not only does Katniss "carry the cross" but inspires others too to follow her and fight to break away from the Capitol through a Revolution. By this act, we find martyrs especially the tributes who die in the arena, the tortured residents of the 12 Districts, death from starvation from hunger, and death sentences from the authorities of the Capitol to those who do not abide by the rules. We then see even more martyrs like Prim who was killed while doing what she believed was right, helping the wounded. Katniss, Gale, Peeta are all confessors like most Christians that suffered torture and ill treatment because of what they believed was right.
HOPE
The message of hope for things to get better is also very dominant in both Christianity and The Hunger Games. In Christianity; hope plays an important role in belief. It is hope for the coming of the Saviour that will save human race from suffering in sin, it is the message that we see is preached in the Gospel. It was hope that made the Christians endure suffering at the hands of their oppressors, it was hope that made the religion we know today as Christianity prosper (1-Corinthians 15:54-58). In The Hunger Games, hope is what keeps Katniss and the people in the districts going on, that one day the Capitol will be overthrown and peace and justice will be restored. It is the hope that President Snow wants to destroy when he realizes it is all that his populace will use to fight him. When Katniss acknowledges the bread the Peeta gave her that fateful night brought her hope that she was not going to die from starvation, she realizes that the lessons she got from her father while hunting will help her keep her mother and sister alive, and the dandelion in the field that reminded her that she was not doomed. It is the hope that makes her promise to her sister that she will survive The Hunger Games and everything will be better for them. Hope is what drives humankind every day when we see a very blurry future. It is the hope early Christians had when they were being persecuted for their faith, it is hope in Jesus Christ to save man from suffering on earth, and it is hope that Suzanne Collins has based her trilogy of novels, to send a message to all those suffering in poverty, oppression, hunger, persecution, and war. There is hope in love ,hope in friendship and hope in all of us.There is a strong belief that things will be better if there is hope.