by Matilda Hawkins ‘27

Suzanne Collins released Sunrise on the Reaping, another prequel to her iconic young adult series The Hunger Games, on March 18. The book focuses on Haymitch Abernathy, who was featured in the first book as a disgruntled mentor to the series’ protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, and his experience as a tribute in the 50th Hunger Games. The prequel provides fans with valuable insight into one of the series’ most beloved characters, building upon the dystopian world established in the previous novels.
Many fans of the series and readers of the new novel took to social media to discuss the connections between the novels and the real world. Fans have noticed that the examples of censorship described in the book often align with what they believe is happening in actuality, particularly the blocking of content on social media.

The world Collins creates in her award-winning novels is set in a country called Panem. It is divided into twelve districts, each responsible for producing a specific resource, and the Capitol, which controls the districts. The Capitol is wealthy, while the districts are mired in poverty and oppression. As a result of a rebellion from the districts, the Capitol created the Hunger Games, where one girl and one boy from each district are forced to fight to the death in a televised arena.

Collins shows the glamorization of violence as a disturbing aspect of the Capitol’s control. The Hunger Games is seen as a form of entertainment in the Capitol, where people watch the brutal murders of children as if it were a sport. The tributes are crafted before being sent to the arena to please the Capitol’s citizens, turning them into objects of spectacle before they are sent to their deaths. In the newest book, it also highlights how the use of media in the world is used to hide the behind-the-scenes horrors that occur to these tributes.

Media censorship is a prominent topic in this new release. Its featured from the very beginning when Haymitch was picked to be a tribute in an illegal way, the footage was strategically altered to make it look like a normal reaping, which is what they call when they pick the tributes. There are several other instances where it is confirmed that the footage the Capitol citizens see is edited to leave out rebellious actions that Haymitch partakes in.

Although these are not the only issues Collins highlights in the series, these two are very prominent issues that occur in reality. Collins was specifically inspired to start this series as a result of the war in Afghanistan. She was scrolling through TV channels and flicking between reality television and news channels showing graphic clips of the war, and she recognized her desensitization to the things going on around her. These channels were utilizing the violence shown in the war as a form of entertainment to interest their audience. She used this as fuel for the Capitol citizens who receive their entertainment through the form of violence.

The Hunger Games series overall shows how the media can be used in detrimental ways, like violence glamorization and censorship. Collins depicts the Capitol as similar to our wealthiest parts of the nation, showing that the Hunger Games itself is a deliberate and obvious allegory to the United States and the trajectory that Collins felt the nation was heading towards when she wrote the series.