Dangerous books part 8: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The districts are beginning to rebel.

In her sequel to “The Hunger Games,” Suzanne Collins takes us back to Katniss’s homeland, District 12, but we find Katniss, as a victor, leading a very different life. She and her family are given a huge house on the outskirts of town, away from the small, dilapidated houses of her friends, and guaranteed and ample amount of food, clothing, and money for the remainder of her life. She has never been a greedy person, but is relieved that her mother and sister no longer have to worry about where their next meals will come from.

Collins continues with the theme of the stark difference between the lives of the privileged class of the Capitol and the lives of the other 92% of the people living in the districts, who are barely surviving from day to day, powerlessly watching the fruits of their labor shipped off to the Capitol. She deliberately describes the food in detail, so that the reader can’t help but compare the meals in the capitol to those of a typical American restaurant, and the dinner table in the districts to the third-world family’s fare. Her main character straddles both worlds, conflicted since she wants the best for her family but is heartbroken at the injustice that robs the lives of her friends and neighbors.

Her confliction turns to hopelessness as, in classic reversal of fortune, those who thought they were safest become the least safe. This year for the Hunger Games, the Capitol draws the names of its gladiators from the list of victors, those who have won in previous years and so should have been set for life. At the same time, Katniss hears rumors of uprisings in the other districts, inspired by her act of defiance in the last Hunger Games. She is tormented at the thought of thousands of desperate people crushed by the “peacekeepers,” the Capitol’s military enforcement, but also discovers a deep desire that the rebellion might succeed.

The reversal of fortune for the victors is a powerful reminder that wealth, fortune, and security, which may seem guaranteed, can all be lost in an instant. The victors owe all they have to the totalitarian powers in the capitol, so are victims to their whims, but even those in power could lose all they have, for there is only so long that an oppressed people will suffer inequality and injustice.

“Catching Fire” reminds us that history plainly teaches that no empire lasts forever. The balance of power continually shifts. Power is only ever a temporary privilege, and those who wield it have the choice to either use it for their own pleasure and security, creating misery for most others, or to seek to create a world where individuals have the freedom and opportunity to live decent lives and pursue happiness.