Dystopian Society Defintions:
A society characterised by human misery as squalor, oppression, disease and overcrowding.
A lack of personal freedoms, political oppression and systematic discrimination based on gender, age, race or IQ.
The opposite of Utopia (ideal) - third world countries tend to be dystopian. It is difficult to escape the society. Some examples are Libya, Central Africa, India, Brazil, Southern America. They tend to be on or near the tropics.
"An imaginary, wretched place, the opposite of Utopia." (Cassel's Consice English Dictionary)
"The word 'dystopia' is the commonly used antonym of 'eutopia' [i.e. utopia] and denotes that class of hypothetical societies containing images of worlds worse than our own. [...] Dystopian images are almost invariably images of future society, pointing fearfully at the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction." (Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction)
"A dystopia is any society considered to be undesirable, for any of a number of reasons. The term was coined as a converse to a Utopia, and is most usually used to refer to a fictional (often near-future) society where current social trends are taken to nightmarish extremes. […] Often, the difference between a Utopia and a Dystopia is in the author's point of view. […] Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as satires, showing current trends extrapolated to a nightmarish conclusion. […] A dystopia is all too closely connected to current-day society." (Wikipedia On-line Dictionary)
In short, dystopian societies/worlds as in ' The Hunger Games' are the opposite to an idealic 'Utopia', and act often as a warning (set in futuristic societies) to a way our current society is heading towards.
Any developing country is an example of a dystopian society - where people are poor, or governments are perhaps corrupt wanting power and money - leaving their people hungry and in poverty, also, where people are oppressed.
In 'The Hunger Games' a dystopian society is evident as there is a large gap in wealth in Panem, with either extremity of rich and poor (the Capitol compared to the Districts - paricularly Disctrict 12). The Capitol lives in extreme luxury while most people in District 12 starve of food shortages, and are prohibited to leave their district or rebel against such an injust regeime. Panem is run by a dictatorship, stripping the people of their power to change the society and there is a certain loss of human rights and humanity created by the Capitol's harsh regeime, that is evident also. For example the people of District 12 have no freedom, and as humans, they should have food, water and shelter and most people barely have these basic neccesities. The Hunger Games themselves are an example of an absolutely savage society that has such bloodlust it has lost humanity almost altogether, by punishing innocent children in death, for entertainment and punishment for an ancient uprising. All these examples are evidence as to how a very dystopian society is evident in 'the Hunger Games'.
Quotes:
"The reaping system is unfair, with the poor getting the worst of it."
"When I was younger, I used to scare my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far off city called the Capitol."
"The country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal was for what little sustenance remained."
I try to imagine assembling this meal myself back home. Chickens are too expensive, but I could make do with a wild turkey. I'd need to shoot a second turkey to trade for an orange. Goat's milk would have to substitue for cream. We can grow peas in the garden. I'd have to get wild onions from the woods. I don't recognise the grain, our own tessera ration cooks down to an unattractive brown mush. Fancy rolls would mean another trade with the baker, perhaps for two or three squirrels. As for the pudding, I can't even guess what's in it. Days of hunting and gathering for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for tha Capitol version.
"Or why would they leave here? Haymitch had called the Avoxes traitors. Against what? It could only be the Capitol. But they had everything here. No cause to rebel."
Part 2
My first gift from a sponsor! Haymitch must have had it sent during the anthem. The pot easily fits in the palm of my hand. What can it be? Not food surely. I unscrew the lid and I know by the scent that it's medicine. Cautiously I probe the surface of the ointment. The throbbing in my fingertips vanishes. Probably not one, but many sponsors have contributed to buy this one tiny pot. To me, it is priceless."
"After a week of the finest food in the world, it's a little hard to choke down. But I've eaten pleny of pine in my life. I'll adjust quickly."
"The flames that bear down on me have an unnatural height, a uniformity that marks them as human made, machine made, Gamemaker made. Things have been too quiet today. No deaths, perhaps no fights at all. The audience in the Capitol will be getting bored, claiming that these games are verging on dullness. This is the one thing the games must not do."
"Then I remember Peeta's words on the roof. 'Only I keep thinkiing I could think of a way to ...to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their games."
"The boy from District 1 has several knieves, two spare spearheads, a flashlight. a small leather pouch, a first aif kit, a full bottle of water and a pack of dried fruit! Out of all he might have chosen from. To me this is a sign of extreme arrogance. Why bother to carry food when you have such bounty back at the camp? When you will kill your enemies so quickly, you'll be home before you're hungry."
Part 3
"When I lef tthe arena, when the trumpets played, I was supposed to be safe... But if what Haymitch says is true ... I've never been in such a dangerous place in my life."
"It's so much worse than being hunted in the arena. There, I could only die. End of story. But out here. Primmy, mother, Gale, the people of District 12, everyone I care about back home, could be punished if I can't pull off the girl-driven-crazy-by-love scenario."
"The Hunger Games are their weapon and you're not supposed to be able to defeat it."
"And right now, the most dangerous part of the Hunger Games is about to begin."
"When I was younger, I used to scare my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far off city called the Capitol."
"The country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal was for what little sustenance remained."
I try to imagine assembling this meal myself back home. Chickens are too expensive, but I could make do with a wild turkey. I'd need to shoot a second turkey to trade for an orange. Goat's milk would have to substitue for cream. We can grow peas in the garden. I'd have to get wild onions from the woods. I don't recognise the grain, our own tessera ration cooks down to an unattractive brown mush. Fancy rolls would mean another trade with the baker, perhaps for two or three squirrels. As for the pudding, I can't even guess what's in it. Days of hunting and gathering for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for tha Capitol version.
"Or why would they leave here? Haymitch had called the Avoxes traitors. Against what? It could only be the Capitol. But they had everything here. No cause to rebel."
Part 2
My first gift from a sponsor! Haymitch must have had it sent during the anthem. The pot easily fits in the palm of my hand. What can it be? Not food surely. I unscrew the lid and I know by the scent that it's medicine. Cautiously I probe the surface of the ointment. The throbbing in my fingertips vanishes. Probably not one, but many sponsors have contributed to buy this one tiny pot. To me, it is priceless."
"After a week of the finest food in the world, it's a little hard to choke down. But I've eaten pleny of pine in my life. I'll adjust quickly."
"The flames that bear down on me have an unnatural height, a uniformity that marks them as human made, machine made, Gamemaker made. Things have been too quiet today. No deaths, perhaps no fights at all. The audience in the Capitol will be getting bored, claiming that these games are verging on dullness. This is the one thing the games must not do."
"Then I remember Peeta's words on the roof. 'Only I keep thinkiing I could think of a way to ...to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their games."
"The boy from District 1 has several knieves, two spare spearheads, a flashlight. a small leather pouch, a first aif kit, a full bottle of water and a pack of dried fruit! Out of all he might have chosen from. To me this is a sign of extreme arrogance. Why bother to carry food when you have such bounty back at the camp? When you will kill your enemies so quickly, you'll be home before you're hungry."
Part 3
"When I lef tthe arena, when the trumpets played, I was supposed to be safe... But if what Haymitch says is true ... I've never been in such a dangerous place in my life."
"It's so much worse than being hunted in the arena. There, I could only die. End of story. But out here. Primmy, mother, Gale, the people of District 12, everyone I care about back home, could be punished if I can't pull off the girl-driven-crazy-by-love scenario."
"The Hunger Games are their weapon and you're not supposed to be able to defeat it."
"And right now, the most dangerous part of the Hunger Games is about to begin."