Reaction Paper Catching Fire

Hunger Games tells the story of Panem (a country established in North America after the near extinction of human race) and how the wealthy and advanced Capitol takes control of the twelve poorer districts by an inhumane method known as the Hunger Games. It is an annual event where each district is forced to send a boy and a girl to participate a game wherein they need to kill the others to be declared as a victor.

 

With these things said, Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy of Suzanne Collins, is considered a science fiction for it gives the readers her own prediction of our future. She illustrates the next age as an era where only few people are left. She also assumes that people will be able to generate future machineries capable of performing mass killings such as modern air craft, high calibre bows that can shoot down an air plane, and mutts (mutations) which are made in laboratories. There is also a force field that can prevent the participants from escaping the arena and toss back everything you throw at it. Following the trend of events we have – people being killed by super storms and wars of different countries – Collins’s prophecy has actually a relatively high chance of becoming true. Nevertheless, it is still uncertain if our world will suffer exactly the same fate of Panem.

 

Whether it is a commentary film about the past, present or future of human society, it is clearly a story set in the distant future where humans have already the strength of the gods because of their own arsenal of high-tech weapons.  However, it also incorporates the basic livelihood of early civilizations up to present third world countries. These are farming, fishing, and mining. Moreover, if you analyze the book and movie, one will be able to tell that its main theme has actually a touch of the past. Clearly, “Hunger games” is actually a modern type of gladiator fights.

 

Going back to the fictional world of Suzanne Collins and how science, particularly technology, affected their society. It was clear that through science, people can create machines that will help them in their daily activities by maximizing physical effort and saving time such as wheels and levers. With the Capitol’s advance knowledge in physics, mathematics, and other sciences, they were able to survive the catastrophic incident that nearly finished the entire human race. In this sense, technology was able to be a decisive tool that kept humans alive. Without it, the survivors would not be able to regroup and establish a durable shelter that would save them from harmful chemicals and radiation. Unfortunately, it is also because of this technology that made the world unbalanced. The disaster that caused massive killings before the story could be because of a misuse of modern artillery. Finally, the new form of technology of the Capitol eliminated the concept of humanity. Technology failed its purpose.  

 

2013-10197

Al Francis Masallo