Compare/Contrast
essay on the Hunger Games:
Panem
vs. The Ancient Roman Empire
By Joseph Dobbs
There are many similarities between the civilization of
Panem in the book “The Hunger Games” and the Ancient Roman
Empire, and even the author cites that many elements of the book are,
consciously or unconsciously, based on that civilization. But how
similar are they really? In fact, in nearly all major points they are
next to identical. Even the name “Panem” is a word in Latin,
coincidentally meaning “bread”. In my opinion, all the world of
the Hunger Games is a modern adaptation with all the ideas and ideals
of the former Roman Empire. Even the arena and the tributes are an
ancient invention; they come from a Greek myth where every year,
fourteen Athenian boys and girls were sent to Crete to be sacrificed
to the minotaur to to keep their city in fear of the Cretans.
Of course, there are many differences, such as the
futuristic hovercrafts, the skyscrapers, the guns and the trains, as
well as the powerful medicine Katniss receives in the arena and the
plastic surgery that is so prominent in the Capitol. The dual use of
the games is also something new, where in the past the killing of
people in such a way was always used as a deterrent or as
entertainment, but never before has it been used as both. The Roman
philosopher and satirist Juvenal came up with a term for his era's
games: “bread and circuses”, or “panem et circences”. It was
in reference to the way the overlords pacified the common people by
diverting their attention from how they were oppressed. In ancient
Rome, the “bread” was the distribution of grain, and the
“circuses” were the gladiatorial combat that occurred often in
most cities. Coincidentally, in the Hunger Games, the same is true.
“Hello, Katniss. I’m Cinna, your stylist”. Many of
the names of the characters also share a connection to the ancient
Roman empire. For example, we see that in this quote that the
character's name is Cinna, probably after the poet Gaius Helvius
Cinna, or the general Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Seneca Crane, the head
gamemaker, is likely named after Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a
“praetor”(judicial officer) of ancient Rome responsible for “the
production of the public games”. This is just a little too
coincidental to be random, in my opinion. It also appears that
Suzanne Collins is a fan of Shakespeare, as the names Caesar,
Brutus, Portia, Cinna, Cato, and Flavius all appear both in the
Hunger Games and in the play “Julius Caesar”.
More similarities
include the word “tribute”, which comes from the Latin word
“tributa” meaning a tax paid to the government. Therefore, this
quote shows us that Katniss is basically giving herself up to be
“spent” by her rulers at their own discretion, as can be
represented by the fact that the gamemakers can kill off tributes in
the arena indiscriminately and by the amount of control the capitol
has on the lives of the surviving victors .“With one sweep of my
arm, I push her behind me. “I volunteer!” I gasp.
“I volunteer as tribute!”. This is Katniss volunteering to save
her sister from certain death, as her sister was just 12 years old
and had very few survival skills.
All in all,
the civilization of Panem is, in my opinion, too similar to the
ancient Roman empire to be a coincidence. Whether the author knew
that she was basing it upon the Romans or not, surely the ideas must
have come from someplace, and what better a place then one so old
it's almost mystical but that we know so much about? In some cases,
I'm almost sure she researched it, as shown by the origins of the
name of Katniss' stylist, Cinna. In conclusion, I don't at all mind
the basis of Panem, and as they say, “All the best stories have
already been told a thousand times, in the actions of our ancestors.”
-Unknown
The End
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