In an attempt to intimidate the masses, and as a reminder of past failed rebellions by the districts inhabitants, one female and one male between the ages of twelve and eighteen years referred to as “tributes” are chosen by lottery from each of the twelve districts to compete in the annual 'Hunger Games'.
The names of the people from the districts are often rather pastoral. Primrose, Rue, and Katniss are all named after plants, and Thresh from District 11 (the farming and food-supplying district) is suggestive of the threshing of cereal grain at harvest.
In the course of the first book, The Hunger Games, Katniss competes in the Hunger Games after she is allowed to volunteer in place of her little sister, Primrose "Prim" Everdeen.
Tributes were residents of the 12 districts of Panem who were reaped or volunteered to participate in an annual Hunger Games. Except in special cases, such as for Quarter Quells, twenty-four children between the ages of 12 and 18 were chosen at random to participate.
How did the districts come to be in the Hunger Games?
Exactly when Panem formed is also unknown, as is its original form and layout. Some theories suggest that the Districts were once independent nations that arose from the cataclysm and that the Capitol found the means to conquer or unite them all.
The Hunger Games (1/12) Movie CLIP - I Volunteer as Tribute! (2012) HD
Why is Panem the only country?
Panem Is Thought To Be The Last Living Civilization In The Hunger Games. Though it was not directly stated, there was an insinuation that Earth fell victim to issues like climate change, overpopulation, and destructive wars. At some point, the world's landmasses changed shape while the sea levels began to rise.
Each district was responsible for a different segment of Panem's economy, and, together, they kept the post-apocalyptic world habitable. There were 12 distinct districts within Panem. The entire nation was run by an authoritarian-totalitarian dictatorship led by President Snow from the Capitol.
However, President Snow changes the rules for the 75th Hunger Games, declaring that all the Tributes will be former victors. Since Katniss is the only female victor from District 12, she is immediately selected as Tribute.
The first winner of the Hunger Games can be tricky
Esme Yule is a lumberjack from District 7 and became the victor. According to the story being told by Magnus, the games took place in a vast field. It describes Esme choking another competitor and using her axe to slaughter a boy possibly from District 9.
At eighteen years old, Gale has his name entered the Reaping Bowl forty-two times. This is because he has signed up for tessera several times (once each for himself as well as his family members – his siblings, Rory, Posy, and Vick, and his mother, Hazelle Hawthorne) every single year since he was 12.
He only uses Katniss because the Capitol is brutally oppressive and he realizes that, with Katniss's help, the rebels have a real chance of bringing it down. This sort of cynical pragmatism largely defines Haymitch, and it stems from a combination of realism and a rebellious spirit.
Katniss's focus on survival and her family's safety prevented her from fully considering romance, but her feelings for Peeta and Gale diverged in the end. Katniss ultimately chose Peeta because he understood her trauma and she didn't want to lose him, proving her love for him.
With the last killing occuring before an hour had even passed, these games shocked the Capitol audience and are the quickest in the history of the games.
Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson: Katniss' fellow District 12 tribute comes from a family of bread bakers, and his name is an alternate—or dystopic, if you will—spelling of pita. The humble Peeta stands in contrast to the grandiose Panem, which, as noted above, is Latin for bread.
Katniss has a conflicted relationship with her mother. Following her father's death, her mother fell into deep depression and now rarely speaks. As a result, Katniss has a difficult time feeling love and affection for her mother, even as she recognizes that her mother is a kind and intelligent woman.
All Gale wants is to keep his family and those close to him safe. By the time he was 18 (the same year "The Hunger Games" takes place), he had put his name into the Reaping 42 times in order to gain extra food for his family and reduce the chance of his three younger siblings being chosen as a District 12 tribute.
Finnick became a victor almost a decade before Katniss and Peeta, in the 65th Hunger Games. Hailing from one of Panem's wealthiest districts, Finnick was a career tribute, which means that he trained from a young age to participate in the games and went into the arena out of his own volition.
He eventually, however, did come to love her, but in the end chose to eschew love in exchange for power and ambition. Filled with ideas of control and power from Dr. Volumnia Gaul, he made it his ambition to rule over all, even if people called him an iron-fisted, cruel tyrant.
After Maysilee was killed, Haymitch faced off against the last remaining tribute, a girl from District 1. Although his opponent nearly got the upper hand, Haymitch outsmarted her by leading her to the force field and dodging her ax throw, causing it to bounce back and kill her.
By killing Coin, Katniss ensured a chance for a peaceful and fair country, avenged her sister's death, and liberated Panem from the fascist government. The Hunger Games franchise is still an iconic series of books and movies, with the latter truly cementing the property as an international phenomenon.
However, each tesserae they sign up for puts another slip with their name in the reaping ball. It is also cumulative, so Katniss Everdeen, when she was sixteen, had her name put in the glass ball twenty times.
Katniss comes close to crying, something she knows she mustn't do because it would indicate weakness to the other tributes and make her look vulnerable; thankfully, Haymitch distracts the crowd and the cameras by stumbling off stage.
According to the American Library Association, The Hunger Games has been banned or challenged "due to insensitivity, offensive language, violence, anti-family, anti-ethic, and occult/satanic" and the 2014 addition of "inserted religious views." While there's clear violence and horrific death scenes in The Hunger Games ...
Fans of the popular The Hunger Games trilogy know that the stories are set in Panem, a futuristic area previously called North America, with a capital located somewhere in what was known as the Rockies. Panem is divided into districts, each of which has a primary industry.
Panem is a dictatorship ruled by President Snow and predicated on authoritarian control. President Snow maintains his control by sowing division among Panem's people—divvying up the country into twelve districts—and ensuring their dependence upon the government.
