In the Hunger Games Peeta and Katniss face a very difficult decision. In the middle of the games the Gamemakers twist the rules and they say that two people form each district can win. They do this to emphasize the Peeta’s admiration for Katniss. When the two of them are the last ones surviving they think that they have won they Hunger Games, but to their surprise, the Gamemakers change the rules back to the way it was before, and now only one can win. Katniss decides that she can’t kill Peeta, and Peeta won’t kill her, so they decide that they will both have to die by eating poison berries. 

In Romeo and Juliet Juliet takes a potion that makes her appear dead, but she really is in a deep sleep. Romeo thinks that she’s actually dead, so he decides that hes going to kill himself right by her side. When Juliet wakes up and finds that Romeo has killed himself, she too kills herself, for real. 

The relation of these two stories have more to it than the double suicide. In both stories they were committing suicide for rebellion against the higher power. Although suicide is never the answer, they thought that would be the only way that they could beat the higher power. Also in both stories they are sacrificing themselves for one another. This relataes back to the the theme, they were showing that they really did care about each other, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives for each other. 

In the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins shows how little children are eligible at the age of 12 to have their name placed in the reaping box, so that when the time comes one of them can have their name randomly chosen to be a part of the hunger games. The reaping is a parallel to another piece of literature called The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. This book is about a small town that every year holds a lottery, but much like the Hunger Games, winning means death. In the lottery this death is brought by stoning, for a means of sacrifice so that the crop of the town will flourish that year. In the Hunger Games winning could possibly mean death, unless the person chosen wins. The winner is also a sacrifice, but instead of a sacrifice for food, they are a sacrifice for entertainment. More than enough times in the novel Katniss refers to how the entertainment of the crowd affects her actions. She always knows that whatever is done in the Hunger Games is being seen by millions of people around the country, and if her sponsors like what they see they will provide her with some of the necessities that she needs. 

            Also in The Lottery a mother is chosen to be stoned, but her son takes the largest rock to stone her with. This boy is a parallel to Peeta in the very beginning of the hunger games when he teamed up with the Careers. The Careers are people who have trained their whole lives to be in the Hunger Games. They hated Katniss, and they were trying to find her, so that they could kill her. In the end Peeta ends up falling in love with Katniss. 

Sacrifices show a lot about a person, what a person is willing to sacrifice for a person can show their true feelings towards that person. Actions speak louder than words, so showing someone that you love them through sacrifice is a lot better than simply telling them. 

            Katniss sacrifices herself in many ways form the very beginning of the novel. She gives uo herself to make sure that her family always has food, and shelter. She goes hunting and is the head of her home. During her youth she shouldn’t be the one who has to do that, she should be the one receiving food, and enjoying her time as a 16 year old. 

            Although this sacrifice is very important in the novel, the most evident sacrifice in the Hunger Games is when Katniss volunteers to take her yournger sister’s place in the Hunger Games. This could mean that she could lose her life, and never see her family again, but she still sacrifices herself to let her sister go on and live. This shows how deep Katniss’ love for her family. She was willing to give her youth and now possibly her life up for Prim and the rest of her family. 

            Peeta also sacrifices himself in many ways in the book. The first memory Katniss has of Peeta is when he burned the bread and gave them to him. He knew he would get in trouble with his mother, but he did it anyways. Katniss remembers this act of kindness for years after that, and this affects her thoughts during her time spent with Peeta before and during the Hunger games.  During the Hunger games, Peeta gives up his position in the alliance, and joins with Katniss. This could have meant him loosing his life, but he did it anyways.

She and Peeta are also willing to sacrifice themselves for each other when they find out that only one of them can win the hunger games. Neither of them wanted to kill the other, so they decided that they would both die at the same time. Their sacrifice for each other shows how much they really do care about each other, and that they are more willing to die than to kill each other. 

When sacrifrices are made, people see how much they are truly loved or not loved. Most people say I would do anything for you, but when the time comes for them to really make a sacrifice, they actually don’t make the sacrifices that they said they would. 

The Hunger Games is a book by Suzanne Collins. The beginning of the book is the introduction to the nation of Panem, which is future North America. It has a capitol and 13 districts. The capitol is a very shiny, beautiful place, but looks are very deceiving in this book. The capitol is also very harsh and cruel. Every year they make a girl and a boy from each district come together in an arena, and fight for their lives, whoever wins, gets immediate fame and fortune, but of  losing , not only means losing the game, it means losing your life. The protagonist of this story is named Katniss. She is the head of her household, and brings in the food so that everyone can survive. When her sister’s name is chosen to be in the hunger games, Katniss gives herseld as a tribute, so she and the boy Peeta end up going to the Hunger games, and though they face face many trials they train, and they win the Hunger games. 

       Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it did have a few downfalls. Personally I thought that the book had too much going on for just one book. It seemed as though the author tried to pack a lot of information into the 300 pages of the book. Also, they ending was so predictable, the protagonist had the victory, and all the others died. I think maybe Rue should have been the winner, because even though she wasn’t the protagonist, she was still a good character, and it would have given the book a great twist. Otherwise Hunger Games turned out to be just as good as I was told it would be.