2005, Form B. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work
Many books use power as a motive for the character's actions. The Hunger Games is a futuristic tail in which public entertainment is supplied by pitting youth against each other in a lethal game. The government in The Hunger Games struggles to maintain control of the populace through brutal means. The story told through Katniss' eye's illustrates the larger meaning in the book.
Katniss is one of those youths sent to the hunger games by the government. Right away she already figures she will die, so at first she doesn't even try to resist against the games. Turns out, she and her partner both win, this is when her struggle with and against the capital really all began. The government doesn't know it, but Katniss turns out to be a real threat against their "perfect" society. The author uses Katniss' struggle to emphasize how weak the government really was, they needed food from all of the separate districts, and couldn't actually provide for themselves, if each of the districts decided to rebel and keep their food and supplies to themselves.
The other struggle in this book would be the rebellion. The rebellion all started in district thirteen, and has been growing ever since they were "bombed" out of existence. District thirteen's struggle also shows how the government failed to get rid of a district, and tried to cover it up by ignoring district thirteen, which thrived by staying under ground. This power of thirteen helps them stay hidden for years, and then finally come back with a vengeance. The authors whole meaning for this book was to show that no matter how strong a government looks, it still has it's flaws, like relying on other districts to keep the government alive, and can still be overthrown. Katniss' and district thirteen's struggle to come out from beneath the government's power help express the authors point throughout this trilogy of futuristic books.
When Katniss volunteered for her sister to be in the hunger games, she never thought she would live through the first few days. In the arena, she realized that she could do it, she just had to try. When she won, and had won in a little battle with the government, she became the mascot for the rebellion. Ever since the little win against the government, ever since then, Katniss and Peeta struggled to continue fighting and taking down the government.
Like I mentioned in your first open prompt revision, you may want to start of with a "global" statement, so to speak. Your thesis is very vague in your introductory paragraph. You are basically restating the wording of the open prompt. You need to state what the power struggle was and how this contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the whole body of your essay, there is a lack of ample evidence of a power struggles on the part of Katniss and too much plot summary. Moreover, you are referring to the power struggle of society as a whole against the government rather than that of Katniss as the protagonist. Furthermore, there is a lack of circling back to the central theme of the work with regards to how the power struggle sheds light on the obstacles that Katniss must overcome to free the shadow of oppression of the government.
I think you could be a bit more specific in your thesis as well--you could have expounded more upon Katniss and her personal struggle against the government, because she's somewhat abruptly introduced in your thesis sentence. Also, throughout the essay you could draw your paragraphs more in line with the prompt, which sometimes gets lost in the explanation of the plot. The conclusion would be an especially pertinent place to do this.
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