CMS English I Students Review The Hunger Games

    The Hunger Games is a novel about a girl named Katniss, who takes her sister’s place to fight in the Hunger Games. Twenty-four tributes from twelve districts in a future, dystopian America will enter this “game” and fight to the death. One survives. Katniss will do anything to return to her family, even if the odds are never in her favor.  This book and the movie adapted from it have become an international sensation.  Central High School’s English I classes were ahead of the curve on this phenomenon as they read the book as a class assignment. The students also went to see the movie as a reward for their grades on the The Hunger Games unit test.   The students agree that the writers did a wonderful job of sticking close to the original plot of the book. Jared Leger, an English I student, said, "They made the districts just how I imagined them. The characters had the same personality and appearance I expected they would.”   Raygan Owens, another freshman, noted that “even with the miniscule differences, the movie was still incredibly detailed and just what I pictured while reading the book.”  The powerful themes were still conveyed in the movie with the same, if not more, power.  The movie “also put more emotion into the book,” said Katrina Bottomlee.  Reading the book before seeing the movie also gave the students a more clear vision.  Ceci Gernant commented that, “just reading the book and not going to see the movie, I never would have been able to visualize it as well.”   

    Love and hope lie at the story’s core, and you walk away with the message that nothing and no one determines your life if you fight with all you have for what you believe in.  Both the book and movie conveyed this message beautifully, and though the movie left out scenes, the ones included were packed with emotion and detail, often moving the viewer to tears.  You saw each thought and emotion play across the characters’ faces and all the intensity of every fight.  The movie enhanced the students’ understanding of the book they’d already read and gave them the visual they needed to fully respect the story.  Some even said it made them feel extremely blessed to have the life and freedom they have. The film was fabulous, beautifully executed, and moving, as the book was also.