No Tengio

    Within the novels, there are a few reoccurring themes such as survival, independence and government control. Survival seems to be the most obvious one as the point of the Hunger Games is to be the last one standing. Throughout the novels, all Katniss thinks about is surviving and helping Peeta survive as well. In fact, one of the only bits of advice that Haymitch, their mentor, offers is to“Stay alive”. This applies not only to the fights in the games, but also (especially in Mockingjay), to the rebellion against The Capital, . The main part of their plan for most of the novel is just to keep the spirit of revolution alive in the districts long enough to have a squad infiltrate the Capital while it is in disarray. In a broader sense to all of the citizens of Panem must worry aboutsurviving both before and after the rebellion. Since they live in a post-apocalyptic world where the foundations of society have been removed, everyday is a fight for survival~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~    The next theme of independence is a bit more subtle, but also very important. During the beginning of The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta mustbalance the independence of separately wanting to survive and win the Games with their need to care for one another and ensure that the other one does not die. At first this is in order to evoke sympathy from watchers who follow their “love story” and might send gifts. However, later they do develop true feelings for one another and become interdependent. In Catching Fire, both are trying to protecteach other to the point where if one dies, the other may not have the strength to go on. Indeed in Mockingjay, Katniss is so distraught about Peeta being taken by the Capital that she refuses to go along with procedures in District 13 until he is rescued. And even then, since he is not the same as he was she is deeply affected and not able to concentrate on her training.    The Hunger Games weremeant to promote hostility between the districts and individuality. This erected barriers between them and ensured that they would not gang up and overthow the Capital. Those barriers and the mentality of the individual began to break down along with those of Katniss and Peeta. As the two of them become close and start to fight for survival as a team, so do the districts of Panem.~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ -~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~    Finally, there is the idea of government control that is quite apparent throughout the books. The most notable example is the establishment of the Hunger Games created by the Capital in order to keep control of the districts after the first rebellion. Each of the procedures involved in the games from the Reaping to the fight itself, tothe mandatory viewing are meant to assert control over the districts and remind them that the Capital will have no mercy for those who misbehave. Also, the presence of Peacekeepers in each of the districts is a constant reminder of government intervention and may even be a way that the Capital obtains information about possible trouble in a district. In a post-apocalyptic world, there needs to besome sort of authority to keep order. Otherwise people will adopt an every man for himself mentality and chaos will ensue. As often happens in apocalyptic fiction, the group that takes power becomes obsessed with it and will do anything to keep from loosing it. This is how societies in post-apocalyptic fiction cross over into also being dystopias at times. Other minor themes in the book includemorality, obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love and law.        When compared to other post-apocalyptic science fiction novels, the Hunger Games series exhibits similarities to a few different categories within this genre. Since nowhere in the series does it explicitly state what caused the apocalypse that transformed the North America of today  into the nation of Panem, the disaster is left up...