So a little while back I compared The Hunger Games and Divergent in a post and recently I asked Twitter Friend Lola to do the same as part of the ongoing features on different genres that you may have seen popping up. Below are her thoughts: Warning. If you have not yet read either of these trilogies there are spoilers. So over to Lola..
The Hunger Games is a very well written and developed coming of age story that brings the dystopian genre to a whole new level. It has the main elements of a dystopian novel:
– the protagonist who usually questions the society, often feeling that something is terribly wrong
– a society ruled by an elite
– all the programs of the society and its educational system are made in a way to convince society into thinking that life under the regime is good and just
– fear and disgust of the world outside the state
– constant surveillance by the state’s police officers
– the condition of living among the lower and middle class of this society is generally poorer than in contemporary society
Katniss is the classic dystopian hero who puts the well being of future generations above her own, and who cares more about saving the life of the ones she cares about than her own life. Katniss also knows that there is something really wrong with the way things are handled concerning the games. What may be seen by anyone who lives in one of the districts. Suzanne also brings to life one of the most realistic and sometimes ignored reality we live, the manipulation of a society that thinks this is the way things should be, people who live in the Capitol think the games are nothing but a pastime or harmless games. Because they were raised and “programmed” to believe that. Surely, this is an exaggeration of our current situation, but that is what dystopia means (dys–: bad and –topia: place). A dystopian novel is supposed to bring out the worst case scenario of the writer’s reality. And, Suzanne herself has talked about this; the author brought our society’s obsession with reality shows to an extreme. Another dystopian trait that pops out in the story is the condition of living among the poorer districts, especially 12, when Gale and Katniss have to put their names again and again in the reaping so that they can receive extra food from Panem.
Having those things in mind, this is how I perceive The Hunger Games Trilogy, it is very well written, aside from the fact that there are too many characters and I really did not feel the development of some of those characters, although they have a purpose on the story like the tributes from other districts. What fascinates me about dystopian novels is that no one is entirely bad nor entirely good, even Peeta has selfish reasons to go back to the arena, he wants to be sure that Katniss will be safe. Back to how I feel the novel, it is very well written and developed; Suzanne Collins is a great writer. But it is sort of too mechanical; I cannot feel Suzanne’s voice throughout the book so much.
Now Divergent. I also has many of the main traits of a dystopian novel:
– the protagonist who usually questions the society, often feeling that something is terribly wrong
– a society ruled by an elite
– all the programs of the society and its educational system are made in a way to convince society into thinking that life under the regime is good and just
– fear and disgust of the world outside the state
– constant surveillance by the state’s police officers
– the condition of living among the lower and middle class of this society is generally poorer than in contemporary society
Tris is also a classic dystopian hero, extremely selfless and who fights for a better future and to protect the people she loves. Tris also comes to question the system in which she lives, however that comes after a while for her while for Katniss, it is something that she already does – question the system. Veronica also brings a worst case scenario of something we’ve been living for decades; society gives you a choice within a limited quantity of options. For instance, you can be a democrat or a republican or go to college or work at a burger shop for the rest of your life. And there are people who manage to create and follow new options; they would be the divergent. Also the need to belong and that is a human condition. And last but not least, the need to label is also there. And the poorer classes would be represented by the factionless and the Abnegation; Amity, Candor and Dauntless would be the middle class and the Erudite, the upper class and Elite. Veronica also shows that nobody is 100% good, not even the leaders of the revolution against the oppressive system.
How I perceive the story is that it is an amazing idea and, different from all dystopian novels I’ve ever read, the world of Divergent makes me want to live there. Which is not a common dystopian trait. But, as I said, amazing idea that was not very well developed. I don’t mean to say Veronica isn’t a good and talented writer, she is. But the novel lacks management of pacing sometimes and reasons for a few deaths. But it kept glued to it until the beginning of the last book. I feel as though the writer got a bit lost in the last book, even though I loved it. In my opinion, she should’ve stuck to Tris’s POV only seeing as she did not balance both POV’s as well as she could have and the book deserved. Also, I felt that the writer tried so desperately and rushed so much into explaining everything that some things got really messy.
Comparing both works:
1) Scenario: The Hunger Games has a better detailed scenario, which makes our lives easier. Divergent ‘s scenario is not like that, but the scenario isn’t important to the story most of the time. Why the scenario is important to THG? Because of the arena, the obstacles and position of the characters, it’s important to know that they’re in a forest and that Rue is near Katniss but not so close. When it comes to Divergent, a few scenarios would really matter, like the chasm that could and should have been better described, the aptitude test scenario also very important and it’s sort of blurred, etc.
2) Characters: That’s when I think Divergent tops THG by far. Because Suzanne brings a lot of characters into the story, makes them important (if they’re tributes, they’re important) but we know nothing about them, I hate poor character development. And that is where, in my opinion, Suzanne gets lost – developing characters. Tris knows a lot about the other initiates, which gives us a lot to work with and she grows as a person – which doesn’t happen to Katniss and it should.
3) Pace: THG trilogy, Divergent and Insurgent have awesome paces and I couldn’t stop reading, even at work. But Allegiant really got me bored and not at all excited to finish it any time soon.
4) System: President Snow is an awful person who manipulates people to get where he wants. However Jeannine thinks that what she is doing is actually right and, as Tris said many times, she is not evil. Jeannine believes in the system and that knowledge is the most important thing, above all. And that’s how this system should work in a dystopian novel.
Now to non dystopian traits:
1) Friendships: Katniss does not have friends, her only friend is actually in love with her. Haymitch is not her friend, he’s someone very special and dear to her but not her friend. Tris has friends and what really gets me in this amazing novel is how Veronica was able to work relationship conflicts very deeply. She develops conflicts in Tris’s family, among her friends, her initiate class, the system and her boyfriend. Which isn’t neither easy nor relevant to a dystopia, but it is important in a story. Especially an Young Adult novel.
2) Romance: I like the way Suzanne shows that what really matters in the story and for Katniss is being safe and helping her people, not which guy she’s gonna end up with. And that’s what makes THG more special and better to me than Divergent. Sometimes I just wanna vomit with all the importance that the novel gives the romances happening. This is not relevant.
Endings:
Mockingjay is my favorite book of the trilogy and it is an amazing, brilliant work of art. It is Mockingjay that shows what power does to someone and how not everyone who fights the system wants to change it. Coin didn’t want to change the system, she wanted kids from the Capitol to fight to the death – she didn’t want changes, she wanted revenge and being the head of everything. Allegiant was a disaster, I started hating Tris at some point and her death had no effect on me. But I liked the way it ended, it was a different ending for a dystopian novel, where people move on with their lives carrying scars that are not as deep as it is most of the time.
Thank you Lola!
You can follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/lolpondwilliams
Happy Reading Folks!
