Identity Formation in the Dystopias of The Hunger Games and Divergent

This thesis follows in the great popularity of first Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy and later Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy, both works of dystopian fiction aimed at young adults. This thesis will argue that the identities of the female protagonists of these trilogies are both formed, moulded, by their respective oppressive (dystopian) societies, but that they eventually take their own fates and that of their societies in their own hands in order to change it for the better, thus becoming active agents in their own lives. Although Katniss Everdeen remains a pawn of the system which requires her to perform various (gender) roles until the very end, her conclusion signifies that she has learned to discriminate between the real and the appearance of the real: she kills President Coin, the next evil dictator, and allows a peaceful and stable future for herself as well as for the entire nation. Similarly, Tris Prior is for a long time confined to thinking according to her...Show moreThis thesis follows in the great popularity of first Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy and later Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy, both works of dystopian fiction aimed at young adults. This thesis will argue that the identities of the female protagonists of these trilogies are both formed, moulded, by their respective oppressive (dystopian) societies, but that they eventually take their own fates and that of their societies in their own hands in order to change it for the better, thus becoming active agents in their own lives. Although Katniss Everdeen remains a pawn of the system which requires her to perform various (gender) roles until the very end, her conclusion signifies that she has learned to discriminate between the real and the appearance of the real: she kills President Coin, the next evil dictator, and allows a peaceful and stable future for herself as well as for the entire nation. Similarly, Tris Prior is for a long time confined to thinking according to her society’s faction system, but she ultimately recognizes the fallibility of this system which only creates prejudice, social division, and limits identity formation. Tris is essential in taking down this faction system and allowing her society a chance to start afresh.Show less

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Identity Formation in the Dystopias of The Hunger Games and Divergent