Grade Nine Novel Study

What are the Games? The Hunger Games is an annual event in the country of Panem whereby districts have to offer up one boy and one girl as tribute for rebelling against the Capitol many years ago. These tributes are then put into an arena where they fight to the death until one person is left. This person is declared the winner.

Where is Panem? Panem was created in the ruins of the former North America. It is a country made up of a ruling elite, the Capitol, and the places which serve it, the districts.

Map of Panem

The Districts There are twelve districts which serve the Capitol. They each specialize in producing a commodity or resource which the citizens of the Capitol desire. The citizens of the districts do not communicate with citizens of other districts and are not allowed to leave their district. Citizens’ lives are higher controlled, harsh and in many cases, brutal.

Characters Katniss Everdeen Katniss is the first person narrator and protagonist of this novel. At the age of sixteen she volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games. Proficient with a bow and arrow, Katniss possesses a fighting chance of surviving against the other tributes which tributes of District 12 have not traditionally had. Katniss displays a range of physical and emotional characteristics throughout the novel.

Primrose (Prim) Everdeen At her very first reaping, Prim is selected for the Hunger Games. Proving her deep love for her younger sister, Katniss volunteers to take her place. Katniss’ relationship with her younger sister sets the stage in how she interacts with other characters in the novel. We learn more about Prim’s character through flashbacks and stories told of her by Katniss.

Gale Hawthorne Gale is Katniss’ closest friend back home in District 12. Although they are not romantically involved at the start of the novel, there definitely is room for this relationship to grow. Katniss’ relationship with Gale puts a strain on her developing relationship with Peeta as the novel progresses.

Peeta Mellark Along with Katniss, Peeta represents the people of District 12 in the 74th Annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games tells the story of Katniss and Peeta’s evolving and challenging relationship. As the Games begin, for Peeta to survive, Katniss must die.

Haymitch Abernathy Like all past victors from previous Hunger Games, Haymitch is charged with being a mentor. He has the responsibility of preparing tributes from his own district, District 12 to survive within the arena. With a thirst for alcohol and being curt, Haymitch offends many people in his proximity.

Rue Physically unthreatening, Rue is a tribute who is not given much hope to survive. Rue is from District 11. She meets up with Katniss in the middle portion of the novel. In many ways, Rue reminds Katniss of her own sister, Prim.

Thresh Almost the complete opposite to Rue in regards to size and hopes of survival, Thresh is the male tribute from District 11 who is physically dominating and has a large chance of survival.

Cato Like Thresh, Cato is physically impressive. Unlike Thresh, Cato is from District 1 and has been trained for combat within the Hunger Games. He is arrogant and deadly.

President Snow He is the leader of Panem. Although he does not have a large physical presence within the novel, the cruelty and oppression of the Capitol is supported by much of his behind the scenes actions. He is given additional scenes within the film version of The Hunger Games which did not appear in the novel.

Conflict As the Hunger Games are an annual event where contestants fight to the death on live television for the entire nation to see, you can expect to observe a fair amount of interpersonal and external conflict within this novel. Aside from the actual tensions amongst tributes participating within the Games, there are also other internal problems which characters must confront.

A Note on the Film Version of Novel Although we will be watching the film version of The Hunger Games in conjunction with our reading of the novel, it is important for you to realize that we are, first and foremost, studying the novel. Movies can help us visualize the events of a novel, however they do not always go along perfectly with the events of the novel. Simply put, there is no substitute for reading.

Evaluation The Hunger Games will serve as the basis for our second novel study this year. The reading of the novel will be a combination of in-class reading and independent reading on students’ own time. Students will be given multiple opportunities to demonstrate their comprehension of the events of the novel as well as their understanding of key devices in English language arts.

Evaluation Piece Number One Comprehension Tests: The novel is broken into three different sections: The Tributes, The Games and The Victor. The first section, The Tributes, will be read within the classroom aloud to students. The final two sections will be assigned to students for independent reading. After each section of the novel has been read, students will be required to write a short multiple choice comprehension test to demonstrate their understanding of the particular section. These tests are designed not to confuse or trick students, but to help them understand the characters and events of the novel and to show students if they truly comprehend the novel.

Evaluation Piece Number Two Essay Writing: Once reading of the novel has concluded, students will select an essay topic of their choosing which is related to the events of the novel. They will then prepare to write a well crafted and intelligent piece of writing. Students will be given multiple school periods to brainstorm their topic, work with their peers to begin to craft this piece of writing, create a first draft and then edit and publish their final copy of the essay. Students are encouraged to use their in-class time wisely, however in some circumstances; students will have to finish their pieces of writing at home.

Evaluation Piece Number Three Creative Assignment: As students all have unique strengths, the last piece of assessment for this novel study is one which does not focus on writing, but on being creative in another way. Students will be asked to depict one of their favourite scenes of the novel in either a diorama or a very detailed poster. Examples of well produced dioramas and posters will be demonstrated within the classroom. When students have completed work on their dioramas/posters, they will be required to display it to their classmates and give a short spoken explanation on why the scene they depicted was their favourite and explain their unique staging of it. Work on this creative assignment will take place primarily out of the classroom environment.

“May the odds be ever in your favour.”