Blogpost #29: Catching Fire and Philosophy

     This week I finished reading the book Catching Fire.  I thought that it was very interesting and it was a great book.  As I finished the book, I couldn't help thinking that it reminded me of this weeks philosophy topic, freedom.  It made me think not only about freedom in general but, the real meaning of freedom and what it symbolizes.

     I think that the moment that I really started thinking that this book had to do with freedom is when Katniss met the two girls that were trying to run away to District 13, a district that everyone thought no longer existed.  That part made me think of freedom because they were trying to run away from their district to have a better life.  They were trying to be free from the Capitol; I think they didn't want anyone or anything controlling them anymore.  For the people of Panem, I think that freedom symbolized something important.  But it also symbolized something that they could never have because the Capitol took that away from them.  

     The Capitol not only took away their freedom, but I believe also their happiness.  Every year, twenty three different families lose their children.  Is that really fair to them?  I think not, not only is it unfair but it is cruel.  I mean, those people have been trying to raise and protect their precious children for so long.  But in just one second the Capitol can come and snatch them away and enter them into their silly little pathetic games.  Those parents can't do anything about that though, they have no freedom.  The children have no freedom, nobody has freedom in Panem.  

     This book makes me think not only about freedom, but also about philosophy and about the rest of the world.  How lucky are we, not to have to go through what the children in Panem have to go through.  Here in the United States, we are lucky to have freedom.  We have amendments that state our freedom.  In Panem they did not have any of that.  They just had a ruler and so freedom.  How selfish if that of the Capitol?

Blog Post #28: Catching Fire

     This week I started reading the book, Catching Fire.  So far it is very interesting and I do not want to put the book down.  Its the 2nd part of the Hunger Games and it continues after the 74th annual games had ended.

     After the 74th games ended, Katniss and Peeta had to do a victory tour and visit all the districts.  They find out that the districts are angry and that the president is threatening to kill them.  I think that they are very strong and tough characters.  They are nice and caring and respectful.  I think that they are great characters.  I also believe that they are very smart and intelligent.  They are sneaky, but not necessarily in a bad way.  They are very interesting characters and the author tells us a lot about them throughout the book.

     I think tat Katniss and Peeta are strong and tough because first they have to deal with all of the pressure and       watching from all the districts.    That is because they have to act like they are in love so that they are not killed.  Also for the 75th hunger games they end up having to be tributes again.  I think that is why they are strong characters.  I also believe that the are nice and caring and respectful.  I think that because they care about the districts.  Also, they care about the families of the other tributes that died in the 74th hunger games.  They offered the families money.  I think that was very caring and nice and respectful of them.  They are also very smart and intelligent.  If they weren't they never would have survived the 74th hunger games.  They had to be smart and think about what their actions would be.
   
     I believe that they are great characters.  But, they are also very sneaky characters.  They are sneaky because they both won the 74th hunger games by threatening to eat the berries.  Also they formed allies during the 75th annual games.  When I say that they were being sneaky, it's not in a bad way.  Because being sneaky is what allowed them to win the 74th annual games.

     I really enjoy reading this book.  I can't wait to finish it and then start the third book, Mockingjay.

Blogpost #27: Hunger Games

    I finished reading the book, The Hunger Games this week.  I thought that it was a really great book.  Since I finished reading it I am going to do a book review. 

    I thought that this was a really entertaining book.  I think that the characters were well described in the book.  I really liked how the book incorporated different themes.  Such as love, family, caring, wilfulness, determination, accomplishment, bravery, etc. Each of those themes were clearly portrayed throughout the book.  There were also other themes such as competition, survival, friendship, pride, poverty, etc.  I really liked how the author incorporated all of those types of themes, and even more that I did not mention! 

     I think that the theme of love was portrayed by her family, she really loved her family.  Family was also shown by the love for her family, especially at the moment when her family came to visit her before she was sent off to the Capitol.  Caring was shown by her caring for her mother and sister for so many years after her father had died.  Also wilfulness and determination was shown because Katniss was very wilfull and she was determined to win the hunger games so that she could see her family again.  Accomplishment was shown after she had won the hunger games.  Also, bravery was shown when she volunteered to be a tribute instead of her sister. 

     I believe that competition was portrayed by all the tributes competing to stay alive during the hunger games.  Survival was portrayed by all the tributes since they were all trying to survive.  I think friendship was shown at the end when Katniss and Peeta were about to both eat the berries.  Poverty was portrayed at the beginning when Katniss talked about her life after her father had died.  Lastly, pride was portrayed because many of the tributes were very prideful, especially the ones who came from the wealthier districts.

     I really enjoyed reading this book.  I would recommend this book to other people because it was very interesting and enjoying to read.

Blogpost #26: Hunger Games

     In the book, the Hunger Games the characters are training and preparing to begin the hunger games.  I am really enjoying reading this book.  It is very interesting.  I think that the readers can tell a lot about each character from the book.

     Katniss, the main character is very strong.  Also, Peeta, the other tribute from district 12 is also strong.  They both have talents and strengths that can help them survive through the hunger games.  The other tributes are not really described that much.  Except for the little girl from district 11 that reminds Katniss of her sister.

     I don't understand why the hunger games goes on.  What's the point?  Kids die, and they don't deserve to.  I understand they are trying to limit the population, but is it really necessary to have kids compete to survive and have 23 kids die every year.

     I think that the leaders of the hunger games (the people who created it) didn't really think of what they were doing.  They are destroying families and ruining people's lives.  If it was their kids, i'm sure they wouldn't want them to be in the hunger games.

     I think that it is unfair for many of the people.  I think that they should not pick people, that people should volunteer.  If nobody wishes to volunteer than no hunger games.  People are already dying from hunger because they don't have enough food.  Do people really need to die from being attacked and from competition?  I would hate to live in those times, where people's lives did not even matter that much.  Where lives had almost no value.  Maybe they did. but people made it seem like lives had no value because they would just let 23 people die each year and not do anything to stop it.

     I really enjoy reading the hunger games.  I want to read the whole series.