Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Nadine Bergeron Nov 2011
The colour draining from my face.
The life draining from my body.
The hatred for the Capitol building.
The everlasting sound of her name.

“Katniss Everdeen”

She doesn't deserve to be killed.
She doesn't deserve to fight
An impossible battle to live.
That battle takes place here everyday.

“Katniss Everdeen”

It's painful to watch.
It's immoral to watch.
It's too vile to watch.
But I can't stray my eyes
      From
    Her.

“Katniss Everdeen”

The blood, the gore, the killing:
Is not the reason I can't look away.
Each glance, each touch with him
Kills.
Me.
Inside.

“Katniss Everdeen, I love you”


                                                          ­      - Gale Hawthorne
A poem based on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Maegan  Sep 2012
I am Katniss
Maegan Sep 2012
I am Katniss Everdeen.
I volunteered for my sister in The Hunger Games.
I survived, so did Peeta.
I know the Capitol hates me.
I am a rebel.
I love Peeta.
I wonder if he is alive.
I am the mockingjay, symbol of all rebels.
I killed President Coin because she killed Prim.
I live in District 12 now.
I have 2 kids.
I watch them play in the meadow, the unknown graveyard.
I am Katniss Everdeen.

written by maegan cattermull
I'M ONLY 12
raw with love Nov 2015
(Yes, better than Harry Potter, get your pitchforks ready)

My first encounter with THG was approximately four years ago, when I had barely turned fourteen, did not consider myself bilingual and was romantically frustrated. Naturally, I made several mistakes at the time. First off, I read the series in translation, since I'm not a native English speaker, and missed out a huge chunk of the significance of the story. Then, as I said, I was romantically frustrated and thus paid such a monstrous amount of attention to the romance aspect of the story that I want to bitchslap myself. Finally, at fourteen, I was still ignorant and uneducated about so many things that I read the series, got hyped for perhaps six months or so, then forgot all about it, save for the occasional rewatch of the movies. In retrospect, this is probably one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. Now, at the ripe old age of eighteen, a significantly better-read person, waaay more woke, as well as socially aware, I decided to finally read the series in the original and am finally able to put my thoughts together in a coherent, educated review of the series.

The Hunger Games has continuously been compared to a number of other books and series, occasionally put down as inferior and forgettable. In those past few years I managed to read a great part of the newly established young adult dystopian genre and am able to argue that A. The Hunger Games is undoubtedly universal and unrestricted to young adult audiences and that B. it is, without the slightest shade of uncertainty, the best series written in our generation.

While many people draw parallels between The Hunger Games and, say, Battle Royale, the similarities end with the first book, which, while spectacular in execution, seems unoriginal in its very idea. As the series unrolls, however, it is hardly possible to compare it to anything, save for, perhaps, Orwell's 1984. The social depiction and the severe criticism laid down in the very basis of the story are so brutally honest that it fails my understanding how the series was ever allowed to become this popular. What starts out as a story about a nightmarish post-Apocalyptic world works up to be revealed as a cleverly veiled portrayal of our own morally degraded and dilapidated society (if you're looking for proof, seek no further: as the series was turned into several blockbuster movies, public interest was primarily concerned with the supposed love triangle rather than the bitter truths concealed in the narrative). Class segregation, media manipulation, dysfunctional governments are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the realities that The Hunger Games so adroitly mimics. If I were to dissect, chapter by chapter, all three books, I'd probably find myself stiff with terror at the accuracy of the societal portrait drawn by Collins. I strongly advise those of you who haven't read the series between the lines to immediately do so because no matter how many attempts I make to point it out to you, you simply have to read the series with an alert sense of social justice to realize that it doesn't simply ring true, it shakes the ground with rock concert amplifiers true.

Other than the plot that unfolds into a civil war by the third book (the series deals so amazingly with trauma survival and with depicting the atrocities of war that I am still haunted by certain images), the characters of the story are what makes it all the more realistic. Though Hollywood has done a stunningly good job in masking the shocking reality of the fact that these are children - aged twelve through eighteen, innocent casualties paying for the adults' mistakes; children forced into prostitution, fake relationships, children forced into maneuvering through a world of corruption, media brain-washing and propaganda.

Consider Katniss. She is a person of color (olive-skinned, black-haired, gray -eyed, fight me if you will but she is not a white person), disabled (partially deaf, PTSD-sufferer, malnourished), falling somewhere in the gray spectrum both sexually and romantically. As far as representation goes, Katniss is one of the most diverse characters in literature, period. Consider Peeta, his prosthetic leg (which, together with Katniss's deafness, has been conveniently left out of the movies) and his mental trauma in the third book. Consider Annie's mental disability. Consider Beetie in his wheelchair. Consider all the people of color, as well as the fact that people in the Capitol seem to have neglected all sorts of gender stereotypes (e.g. all the men are wearing makeup). There is absolutely no doubt that the series is the most diverse piece of literature out there. Consider this: the typical roles are reversed and Peeta is the damsel in distress whereas Katniss does all the saving.

Furthermore, the alarming lack of religion (in a brutal society reliant on the slaughter of children God serves no purpose), as well as several other factors, such as the undisputed position of authority of President Snow, is suspiciously reminiscent of the already familiar model of a totalitarian society.

The Hunger Games, in other words, is revolutionary in its message, in its diversity, in the execution of its idea, in its universality. I mentioned Harry Potter in the subtitle. While this other series has played a vital role in the shaping of my character, it has gradually receded to the back line for several reasons, one of which is how problematic it actually is. This, though, is a problem for another day. (The Hunger Games is virtually unproblematic and while it may be argued that the LGBTQ society is underrepresented, a momentary counterargument is that *** has a role too insignificant in the general picture of the story to be necessary to be delved into this supposed problem). Where I was going with this is that, at the end of the day, Harry Potter, while largely enjoyed by adults and children alike, is a children's book and contains a moral code for children, it was devised to serve as a moral compass for the generation it was to bring up. The Hunger Games, on the other hand, requires you to already have a moral compass installed in order to understand its message. It is, as I already said, a straightforward critique of a dysfunctional society, aimed at those aware and intelligent enough to pick on it.

As for its aesthetic qualities, the series is written, ominously, in the present tense, tersely and concisely, yet at the same time in a particularly detailed and eloquent manner. It lacks the pretentious prose to which I am usually drawn, yet captivates precisely with the simplicity of its wording, which I believe is a deliberate choice, made so as to anchor the story to the mundane reality of the actual world that surrounds us.

That being said, I would like to sum up that The Hunger Games is, to my mind, perhaps the most successful portrayal of the world nowadays, a book series that should be read with an open mind and a keen sense of social awareness.
Anoushka Jain  Dec 2014
Fandoms
Anoushka Jain Dec 2014
Hermione taught me,
Never dumb down.
Prim whispered,
It's Okay to fall down.
Ginny smiled,
Don't stop loving, He'll come around.

Katniss screamed,
Seize the fire.
The doctor whispered,
Rose Tyler-

Haymitch scorned,
The people need to be raised!
Snape replied,
Always.

Okay, so we conflict.
Our thoughts fight.
But whichever fandom we follow,
As a fangirl, we unite.
Books have been the reason of many people's survival, today. So, as a fangirl, here's a tribute to books.
jai Nov 2014
I know we have a past
But that's okay
We fit like puzzle pieces
Linked together through the days
So give me one last shot
I'll hit the bulleyes this time
I'll Bring the arrow back
Now you let it fly
Maegan  Sep 2012
The hunger games
Maegan Sep 2012
There was a young lady of Panem,
District 12 and had a sister named Prim,
She and Peeta won the 74th Hunger Games,
But she hated all the glory and fame,
Her name is Katniss Everdeen and she is the Mockingjay for the rebel's team.

written by maegan cattermull
Francie Lynch Feb 2015
Where are the Eleanors
And Godivas riding
In power and insight,
With spirit and mystique.
They aren't in jewelry
Or splashed on jeans.
Vishti refused to attend
Her drunken Lord;
She is no mirror for Isabella,
So inexperienced in love.
Anne H. fought for liberty,
Bella likes to shake blonde ringlets
On her shoulders;
The nervous Anastasia,
The clumsy Swan,
So modest
And ill-spoken
With downcast eyes.
Katniss is no Palla Athena
Or Garibaldi, though there's promise.
They are bound, timid heroines.

Malala never shot an arrow,
But spoke like Rosa, like Golda.
Yet, your childish sword-bearers
Are still desired by the men
They encounter;
Not as Susan B was courted.
Do they understand
How the chase ends,
These self-depricating heroines.
Today's heroines don't seem to be the best role models.
MIAS  Jul 2013
Untitled
MIAS Jul 2013
I am a lioness you didn’t know you disturbed and how to tame, I would have been fine without you.

2. I can’t say this was my cousin’s fault, but sometimes I wish I’d never met you so I didn’t have to feel like there’s a void in my heart that is the size of the universe. You make me feel empty - no, you empty me, even now.

3. I let you under my skin, and inside my head and you found that it was too crowded with existentialism; I thought I had found my life’s meaning when you showed up, love seemed like an awfully good reason to be alive.
3. You told me to get over it instead of helping me get through it.

4. I left because you made it seem like you had no more reason to stay.

5. You chose your friends over me, I had to choose myself over you.

6. But wherever you are, I hope you’re happy.

7. Don’t think of me as an ex. Think of me as a practice dummy, a test run, so you don’t feel bad about hurting me. I had to teach you how to love, so you’ll know what to do when you find the right one.

8. Just because I’m not the one for you anymore, doesn’t mean I never was.
8. But was I ever the right one?

9. You said I was the best thing in your life, I didn’t think ‘right now’ lasted two weeks.

10. I still keep your Valentine card between the pages of Mockingjay when Katniss realised she loved Peeta.
10. I’m still writing about you, and you seem to be doing perfectly fine without me.

11. I still remember when you told me you were up all night thinking about me, and how terrified I felt.

12. My heart literally skipped a bit when we first held hands.

13. Sometimes I forget what I told you the night of our first kiss. I said: I will fall in love with you, you don’t have to love me back. I’m gonna give you all my heart. 4 seconds of insane and humiliating courage.
13. I’m sorry I expected more than you can give.
13. Sometimes I wish I’d stayed, because leaving feels almost the same as being left.
13. I ask my cousin about her friends, hoping she’d mention how you are, I hope it’s nice where you are.
shiftingclouds  Jun 2014
Wants
shiftingclouds Jun 2014
Let's get one thing clear: When people say "You're all I've ever wanted", they're lying.

I want many things. I want a pizza. I want to get an A for a paper I hardly studied for. I want a room with wooden floors. I want a house facing the sea. I want to walk into Forever 21 and take home anything I like. I want to travel around the world. I want to be better at sports. I want my ulcer gone immediately. I want longer eyelashes. I want to finish an entire season of a tv show without anyone bothering me. I want more followers on Twitter. I want to be friends with my favorite Youtuber. I want a pair of twin boys. I want Hogwarts to be real. I want to be good at archery like Katniss-freaking-Everdeen, cause it's so ******* cool. I want a new phone. I want to sleep late watching chick flicks without having to worry about sleep deprivation. I want three hamsters. I want superpowers. I want to fly.

But you see, here's the catch: What I want most, is you.
What about you?

— The End —