Rodas 1 Elissa Rodas Professor Lawson English 114B 23 April 2014 Project Text: Final Draft Word Count:

1230 Its Like Looking in a Mirror: Economic Crisis and Racism Through the Hunger Games trilogy, the complete inequality presented in this book is like looking in a mirror in our own world today. Although subtle, economic inequality is an issue today that is very serious and alive. Nearly everyone in the United States have been talking about how wealth in our country is extremely unequal. The 99 percent versus the 1 percent represents the idea that the top one percent of Americans controls almost 50 percent of financial wealth in the United States. Young readers are exposed to harsh matters that are sugarcoated in America day by day. This book opens a path to help young readers understand and give an insight on the complexity in our country. In the Hunger Games trilogy, many issues are presented, including economic inequality, unfair wealth distribution, and slight racism, which are swept under the table but are still active in America today. Furthermore, the wealth distribution in Panem is completely unfair and easily seen. In the Hunger Games, all twelve districts face economic inequality through starvation and malnutrition. District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety was not only a joke but taken very seriously (Collins 6). With the Capitol living the high life with an unspeakable amount of money, the districts suffered. The districts were forced to produce products for the Capitol and were

Rodas 2 always under high surveillance, yet they were never given enough food. In America, we have the same issue, although it is not as dramatic, it is definitely not hidden nor hard to find. With roughly 318 million Americans, 1 percent of them control almost 50 percent of this countrys wealth while the other 99 percent barely hold on to the other 50 percent (Lowrey). According to Annie Lowrey, there is a dramatic increase in wealth inequality and the economic gap is only getting bigger (Lowrey). Not only are the rich getting richer but the poor are getting poorer and it is happening today. In the Hunger Games, working in the Seam would barely put food on the table for Gale and his family. Most of the wealth is held by major corporations, this is still a serious matter in the fact that the workers of the corporations are not being paid enough. A man could not be able to afford to feed his family off of his minimum wage job, alas he decides to sell drugs. Resorting to selling drugs is an act that ends him up in jail for many years. Different scenarios but they hold the same concept and unfairness. The Hunger Games trilogy is a warning that our society is built on unfair terms. In Catching Fire, Peeta and Katniss witness people in the Capitol wasting food by throwing it up and stuffing more in. While the districts are starving and wanting food more than anything, [there] in the Capitol theyre vomiting for the pleasure for the pleasure of filling their bellies again and again (Collins 80). In the Hunger Games, all twelve districts are filled with extremely poor and starving people while the Capitol consists of wealthy people who throw food away. Through the districts, it is a punishable crime to steal food regardless if you are starving to death. In Mockingjay, the rebels in District 13 make a rule that you cannot leave your table without finishing all your food based off the fact that the Capitol wasted so much of it. Many people in America are put through nearly the same thing every day. How can 50 million people face hunger in a country that wastes billions of pounds of food a year? According to figures

Rodas 3 provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, millions of Americans worry about how they will feed their children, the amount of safe, edible food wasted in the United States soars. Roughly 70 billion pounds of edible food is lost in the United States each year (Foo). In America, we waste food from as much as restaurants and cafeterias to our own kitchen table. That makes it so 1 in 6 of the U.S. population (including more than 1 in 5 children) are going to bed hungry nearly every day. Although there are many organizations that are trying to help fix the problem, they only make a small dent in this dilemma. Think twice before throwing food away next time. In addition, the population of African Americans, including those of more than one race, was estimated at 44.5 million, making up 14.2 percent of the total U.S. population, yet among all racial groups, they have the highest poverty rate at 27.4 percent (Bla). Compared to the amount of whites that live in poverty, which is less than 10 percent, it is a shocking statistic. According to the State of Working America, 45.8 percent of young black children (under age 6) live in poverty, compared to 14.5 percent of white children (Pov). With more blacks living in poverty compared to whites in America, it is more likely and common to see a rich white man rather than a black man. In the Hunger Games trilogy, Cinna was never described as neither a white or black man, he was just described with short hair that appears to be its natural shade brown who wears metallic gold eyeliner which brings out his green eyes (Collins 63). Katniss points out that she cant help thinking how attractive [he] looks compared to the other stylists in the capital. Still many people bickered when Cinna was played by actor Lenny Kravitz because he is black. Assuming that only white people have green eyes is narrow-minded to most readers. It is acceptable to see how readers were confused when Cinna was played by a black man but it is not enough to make one upset. Rue and Thresh should not be so arguable for they

Rodas 4 were described in the book to both having dark brown skin. In addition, their district (District 11) would have a predominately African American population because it is in what are the southern United States states and alluded to the African slavery there. Just as Bim Adewunmi said, so it comes to this: if the casting of Rue, Thresh, and Cinna has left you bewildered and upset, consider two things. One: you may be a racist congrats! Two: you definitely lack basic reading comprehension (Adewunmi). In conclusion, the Hunger Games trilogy was just one of many books that helped young readers understand the issues we are facing in todays world. The wealth distribution and economic gap in America is unfair and only getting worse with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. While big corporations hold billions of Americas wealth, many underpaid workers are holding on to their minimum wage jobs. This is where hunger arises and many people go to bed hungry each day yet we waste so much food. With an unfair economy and hunger is not where the issues stop with the similarities in the book but there is also racism. Many readers cannot grasp the concept that blacks can be rich too and the fact that there are characters in this book that are black. These strong issues that are faced in the Hunger Games trilogy will always still be tackled in America.

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Works Cited Adewunmi, Bim. "'Why wasn't The Hunger Games cast as I imagined in my racist reading?!" theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. This online article talks about the on-going fuss and debate about the races in the Hunger Games. It talks about how many people believe that Cinna should not have been portrayed by an African-American man, instead a white person. The article provides information on how people believe that Cinna should have been white because he lives in the Capitol. They argue that it is more likely that a white man is rich than a white man, which is true in American society. I would like to use this article to show how race can effect and predict an economic well-being of a person. "Black or African American Populations." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. This article gave me the census on how many African Americans reside in America. I used this statistics to compare the amount of people we have in jail and how they are predominantly African American. I found this source through my google search engine when I typed in black population. Although I only used this article for its numbers, it gave me a great start in making my point on how African Americans are seen. I used this to back up my claim with Thresh, Rue, and Cinna being black. Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire, Book Two. New York: Scholastic Press, 2009. Print. Collins, Suzanne. Hunger Games, Book One. New York: Scholastic Press, 2009. Print. Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay, Book Three. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Print.

Rodas 6 "Food Waste." Feeding America. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. In this article, in gave me the statistics on how much food is wasted every year by us in America. These numbers were very shocking to me especially how much food we waste. In goes in depth on who in America does not have food and percentage of each race and ethnicity. I used the numbers of how many of both whites and blacks were starving in America. This article also showed me how much food is wasted by a single American which I found very sad. This cite was an organization were you can donate food and/or money. I found this cite with the google search engine when I typed amount of food wasted in America. Lowrey, Annie. "The Wealth Gap in America Is Growing, Too." Economix The Wealth Gap in America Is Growing, Too. The New York Times, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. In this New York Times article, it gave me information on the growing gap today. I was not fully aware about how bad the gap was until this article. I did not use this article at its full potential, I just quoted a line or two that really stood out to me. This article was a bit difficult for me to read because I do not fully understand the issues but I did my best. I found this article with my google search engine by typing in wealth gap in America. Pharr, Mary F.; Clark, Leisa A.; Palumbo, Donald. "Panem in America: Crisis Economics". Of Bread, Blood and the Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012. Ebook Library. Pages 20-29. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. This chapter in this article explains the crisis economics of hunger games and how it compares to the economic crisis we have in America today. The Hunger Games shows the separation between the districts and the Capitol, well a slightly similar separation is presented in America. In the United States, the top 1 percent of America holds more than 40 percent (almost 50 percent) of the wealth, which gives the

Rodas 7 other 99 percent the other half. I would love to use this article to pick out the examples it uses for the similarities of the two worlds. It shows perfect examples on how Panem is found in America today and the inequality it has. "Poverty." State of Working America. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. This article describes in details the how many people in America face poverty and who these people are. It gives insight into the percentage of each race lives in poverty and they compare and contrast this to other races. I used this article to get the statistics of how many people and African Americans live in poverty today. This source was found through my google search engine when I typed in percent of African Americans in poverty. Not only did it give me information about African Americans but with every other race which I also found helpful.