I am the mockingjay...the symbol of the rebellion : a Foucauldian reading of Suzanne Collins' the hunger games trilogy

Abstract EN

Drawing on the theoretical insights of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, this paper presents a reading of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games Trilogy in which power is a central theme.

Power* discipline, punishment, domination, docile bodies, subjection, and resistance are terms that feature heavily in Foucault’s writings particularly his famous book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.

Accordingly, 1 try to explore how far the Foucauldian views related to power and its operations apply to The Hunger Games Trilogy in which the female protagonist confidently sees herself as the symbol of the rebellion against a highly oppressive political system.

Therefore, she determinedly chooses her own way and daringly challenges the dictatorial government whose members do their best to oppress people and force them to conform to strict laws and firm standards.

A deeper goal the rebellious heroine strives to achieve in The Hunger Games Trilogy is to inspire the spirit of revolution in the hearts and minds of the long silenced people of Panem so that they can find their own voice, can assert themselves and can consequently put an end to the oppression excessively practiced against them.

To maintain political control over the powerless citizens, the government takes children as tributes and forces them to kill one another in a televised show watched by the whole country.

According to the view of those in power, Collins explains in the narrative, this is the best way for imposing authority over people and the most effective means for punishing and threatening them should they ever think of rebellion.