drcutiesaurus
drcutiesaurus t1_jde0o5a wrote
Reply to comment by sekhmet1010 in Appreciating the Hunger Games by Friesandmayo2665
It would have made zero sense though for us to have those details. The books are written in first-person- limited. This means we only know what Katniss knows. Because the Capitol wants to limit interaction between districts (to prevent another uprising), the government mandated education and curriculum is going to be a) major propaganda and b) limited to essentially just their own district. Any outside info that the masses get about other districts is directly related to the Games (also major propaganda!).
It's one of the limitations of first-person-limited stories, but imo one of the reasons I find it most immersive. Had we known all this extra extraneous info, it would have detracted from the story and characters to me bc it wouldn't have made sense in universe for Katniss to have known all this details.
drcutiesaurus t1_jddztcl wrote
Reply to comment by LucidDream-Reader in Appreciating the Hunger Games by Friesandmayo2665
This is what I like. The info we have is appropriate too. It's not like Katniss has information on all of the inner workings of the Snow government, for example. Or even something as simple as when she's talking to Rue and learns that they go hungry there a lot despite being major food producers. Katniss is still in school (which is government run and very very narrowly curated to what the Capitol wants from District 12). We only know what Katniss inherently knows or sees and what only makes sense for her to know and see. It's one major benefit from first person limited writing, but I often find it more immersive when done well and imo HG does it very well. Even BOSAS does it well and it's such a beautiful juxtaposition from how Katniss sees the world and why she makes her choices and he makes his. Katniss' thoughts are often quite selfless overall whereas Snow, while it seems like the world is against him, he only concerns himself with him. Not even the rest of his family for the most part. He dismissed Tigress' sacrifices for him. Didn't really actually care about his injured classmate. Felt Lucy-Gray was his to possess... that she owed him... honestly, I love BOSAS so much because of how horrible Snow is in it and how much you can see into his justifications for his choices. Katniss was very "for the good of all". Snow is very "ends justify the means". And it's amazing to see how he justifies his sociopathic tendencies throughout- and how he's rewarded for it. I really really want there to be a sequel. I want to see what happens when Mags is chosen and wins. She's the oldest Victor by far in CF. I want to know why Snow left her alive without any "unfortunate accidents". (Never mind how much I desperately want to know how and why Tigress becomes his enemy given what she sacrifices for Snow throughout!)
drcutiesaurus t1_jde1tkz wrote
Reply to comment by sekhmet1010 in Appreciating the Hunger Games by Friesandmayo2665
You have to remember that it was common in her district for people to literally just die from starvation in the street. She herself was bordering on starvation before Peeta tossed her that bread. When you're starving (or fighting for survival and your family's survival... dependent on a good hunt or forage) there's not a lot of time or energy people can (never mind want) to put into thinking about life outside survival. It's one of the reasons the Capitol is so effective in all their propaganda.
And her relationship dynamics are simplified... because she's a sheltered 16 year old. It's incredibly realistic for the character, her age, and setting imo.