The Study Of Presentation Of Female Characters In The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins, includes three books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, which are published separately on 2008, 2009 and 2010. As soon as these books are published, they enjoy a great popularity among adults and teenagers. At the same time, many scholars and commentators begin to study this novel from the perspective of culture, politics, social issues and feminism. The present essay intends to examine Suzanne Collins’ s writing techniques of presenting female characters, especially the protagonist Katniss, who are wise, determined, independent, ready to sacrifice, and equal with males and even stronger than males in some ways. It argues that Collins’ s characterization, use of images and the plot reveal her attempt to create a balanced situation between females and males.The present study can be divided into five sections.The first section is a brief introduction of The Hunger Games Trilogy and the author, the literature reviews at home and abroad and structure of the thesis.The second section is to discuss the characterization of female characters from three parts. The first part analyzes one of the techniques of characterization----direct judgment. It includes direct judgment from male characters and judgment among female characters in an objective way. The second part is about the analysis of characters’ action and external appearance. The third part analyzes the author’s use of analogy in characterization. It first examines the naming of two main female characters---Katniss and Prim----from the aspect of analogy, and concludes that Katniss never gives up her life no matter what the condition is. It also indicates the transformation of Prim from fragile to adamancy. Secondly, through the analogy between male and female characters, the author conveys the view that females are not weaker than males, even stronger than them in some way.The third section examines Suzanne Collins’ s common use of images relating to female characters. Firstly, the image fire indicates the fire of destruction and the fire of revenge. The fire of destruction reveals females’ power to survive and their strong physical force which isnot weaker than males. The fire of revenge shows that females could take part in the fight as well as males. Secondly, the image mockingjay suggests that, like males, females also begin to participate in political affairs. Public revolts against the Capitol and alliance forces formed in the process of revolting exhibit females’ wits and brevity. The political power, which is grasped in the hand of females, makes it clear that females have the same abilities to deal with political affairs. Last, the use of image Buttercup implies that females could make a decision independently by themselves, and that females could be the knights to protect males successfully.The fourth section makes an analysis of the novels’ plot. Firstly, it argues that the single linear structure in time-relation comes to emphasize the females’ independence in politics and economy. Secondly, the juxtaposition of politics and love from sequence plots highlights the leading position of the main character, Katniss, in public affairs and her relationships to males.The fifth section is the conclusion. The Hunger Games trilogy is not a series of novels that expose the strength of males and the weakness of females. The trilogy actually puts female characters on a relatively equal position as males’ to indicate that females are the same with males, even stronger than males in some way. On the whole, Suzanne Collins attempts to create a balanced situation between females and males.