There is so much I feel that could be discussed about this novel that I am not quite sure where to begin. The first point I would like bring up is that my practicum teacher this past spring taught it to his regular eleventh grade English class and he was very satisfied with the results he got from teaching this novel, so this is a book or series that should be considered for us future teachers!
While reading this novel I thought back to the old debate between whether or not a good leader is feared or respected. Other times it is argued that a good leader is considered to have a mixture of both fear and respect from his or her citizens. The President of Panem is feared, but not respected by the citizens of his country in this novel. He keeps them trapped in their own district, deciding their future career if they even make it past the age of 18. He requires that one boy and one girl tribute from each district excluding the capitol, to go into an arena and fight to the death until only one tribute remains. This is done to show the districts who is in control after there was a rebellion 73 years ago. Everything had gone according to plan until a girl, Katniss Everdeen, entered the arena without fear, without respect for the President. I think she also never quite realized what she was doing until it was too late, but acting before thinking is another story for another day.
I think students can learn about the qualities a good leader from this novel. As teachers we are preparing our students to become the future leaders of this country. Everyone may not grow up to be the President of this country, but that isn't the point. A leader does not have to be the head of a country. A leader in my opinion is anyone who sets a good example for others to follow. From that perspective, we all can and should be leaders. I think starting a debate about whether a good leader is feared or respected would also provide a valuable lesson for students while reading this novel. Students could provide examples of when they have been a leader or when they have seen someone else be a leader. They could also provide examples of when they have seen people be a poor leader or settle for being a follower. They can then take what they know about being a leader and compare it to this novel. If we as teachers aren't good leaders to our students who knows, maybe our country will resemble Panem some day in the near future. We need many leaders, not just one leader if we want to move forward as a society. The opinions of many are necessary, not just the opinion of one. If we have many leaders with multiple perspectives, we can avoid a society such as Panem in The Hunger Games.
Matt! This is brilliant. I did not even begin to think about the theme of "what makes a good leader?" in The Hunger Games. My attention was completely fixated on analyzing Katniss, the relationships she had with all of the other characters, and Panem at large.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of having students explore whether a great leader is to be respected or feared, and bring in examples of good and poor leadership. You could even do a role play of this by making a Hunger Games-esque type government in your classroom for a day or two with defined roles for each student and see what erupts.
Thanks for bringing up that great point!