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Reading The Hunger Games and Education for Democratic Citizenship: Suggestions for “Reading British and American Literature” Course in High School

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This study means to offer some suggestions for reading Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games for democratic citizenship education in “Reading British and American Literature,” an elective course in High School. Responding to the increased emphasis on education for democratic citizenship as a cross-curricular learning theme, this paper posits that The Hunger Games provides ample opportunities for exploring the key concepts and values of citizenship education such as autocracy, democracy, power, fairness, care, co-operation, gender, and media literacy. Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist and narrator of The Hunger Games, chooses care, co-operation, and coalition where competition is the rule. Narrated from her 1st person point-of-view, the novel invites readers/students to share her confusion and uncertainty as she feels powerless while recognizing the injustice and the violence done to her and other tributes. The paper suggests that readers/students can appreciate the reward and the difficulty of becoming a citizen capable of care, co-operation, and critical thinking by actively evaluating her choices at different stages of the Hunger Games. After examining the ways in which The Hunger Games subverts stereotypical gender roles, I suggest that students should be guided to keep a critical distance from the voyeuristic audience of the Hunger Games who cheers for a “romantic” and “desirable” woman.