Dystopian Theme within the Hunger Games Series

Introduction

            For this research project I am looking for the similarities of a dystopian theme between The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Since they are a series and have everything similar besides the plot, I am looking for similar beginnings and endings, the reaction of readers and their attraction towards a theme that doesn’t seem to have a happy ending.

Background

            During the first book of the Hunger Games series, it starts out in a depressing setting followed by depressing events. Although the author doesn’t say that the book won’t always have pleasant outcomes, just by the description of what the hunger games are (children ages 12-18 drawn at random to fight to the death), the dystopian theme is already present and will continue throughout most of the book. What most books have in common is a happy ending however with the dystopian theme present within these books, the characters do not really face a positive outcome (besides the fact that they survived the games) and already foreshadows negative events that are to come in the second book.

            The second books start off at a slow pace but the main characters end up back in the Games which also lead to the dystopian theme. At the beginning of the novel, the author suggests a happy story with the victors living a normal life, a wedding and the victor’s tour however things spiral downward after the Quarter Quells (another hunger game) begins. Throughout the novel, people die and the tributes start to rebel which leads to a positive outcome but the novel ends during the start of the uprising of all of the districts which isn’t cause for a happy ending which supports the dystopian theme that the author is accomplishing.

Questions

Why are people drawn to a book with no happy ending?

What does a dystopian theme try to accomplish within literature?

What effect does a dystopian theme have on the readers?