Finding God in The Hunger Games

WARNING: This post contains LOTS of spoilers if you have not read all the books!!!

As I read the Hunger Games Trilogy, I found myself longing to be in the moments with the characters, experiencing every little bit of torture, sadness, victory, and love. Then I realized, I AM inside the Hunger Games. Not in the literal sense, but immediately I began picking up on the spiritual implications of what was happening in the books and movies.  While no story is going to be a perfect allegory for Christ or the Christian life, I believe there are a lot of parallels that allow readers to take a deeper look at their own spiritual condition and the life we are meant to live in Christ.

Katniss Everdeen is chosen before her life truly begins to become one of the greatest near-martyrs for a cause that will free an entire people from tyranny. Katniss is an unlikely hero, coming from one of the poorest districts and only having her experience with hunting as a skill to fall back upon (James 2:5). She requires training and must learn to trust her trainers and guides to be successful in the task she has been chosen for. This is much like the way we are chosen by God, before the beginning of time, to bring His people into freedom and life beyond the chains of the Enemy. We do not come prepared and equipped for the task set before us, but we are asked to trust God and learn and lean on the wisdom provided to us by our Trainer and Guide. (Matthew 22:14, 1 Peter 2:9)

The Enemy. Several times in the books, Katniss is told to “remember who the true Enemy is”. We are intuitive enough to realize that the enemy is not the other tributes who are meant to fight against her to the death. Rather, the Enemy is President Snow and his legions, the ruler of the Capitol, a symbol of the Dark Days, where an entire nation was obliterated and taken under the powers of darkness. Snow is even noted as snake-like according to Katniss’ narrative, similar to the snake in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Snow is represented by a rose throughout the book, which would seem almost a contradiction as the Rose of Sharon has been used in the Bible as a symbol of Christ or at least of perfected love (Song of Solomon 2:1). However, just as the serpent in the Garden took on the guise of God, Snow is taking on the guise of Katniss’ redeemer or His perfect love.

Just as our Enemy, Satan, conjures up memories of our past to hinder us from rising to our full potential for the future, Snow uses Katniss’ weaknesses and losses to hold her back from realizing what she was truly meant to do. It is not until she sees beyond the pain and torture of her past that she realizes her true calling and what she needs to do: take down the true Enemy.

As chosen ones, we are provided with protection, a guide, a mentor, much like Haymitch is to Katniss. While there are flaws in Haymitch’s character that distract from my point, I mean to liken Haymitch to the Holy Spirit. He is ever present in Katniss’ life, even to the point of being in her ear and her mind when they can’t be in person. They understand each other and he guides her with what she is to say and do. There are times that Katniss deviates from what Haymitch guides her to do, and there are consequences to that such as lost lives or increased threat upon her own life. However, Haymitch uses these moments to bring her back to being able to trust him to protect her and to be on her side no matter what. In the end, Haymitch and other allies are able to testify for Katniss in her trial, which results in her being made free. He is even assigned to go live with her in District 12 for the rest of their days. (John 14:15-18)

The Games and the arena. In his efforts to maintain control over the districts, Snow continues a 75-year-old tradition of pitting civilian children against each other in a fight for the death in an arena controlled by him and his forces. Just as we are placed on this earth where the god of this world (Satan) has complete control, the tributes are placed in the arena where Snow and his gamemakers are designing the worst possible torture in an effort to destroy those who may impact the future (we see this theme especially in Catching Fire and Mockingjay due to Snow’s extreme dislike for the way the 74th Hunger Games ended). Rather than viewing the entire world as the arena in this analogy, however, I’d like to suggest that the arena represents our specific battlegrounds (whether it be our thought life, an area of addiction or recurring sin, etc.). Exactly as we see it occurring in our own lives, the tributes are fighting against each other when what they truly should be fighting against is the Enemy. While Satan has complete control over this world, we are granted a source of power in having Jesus at our side and the Holy Spirit as our guide to strategically defeat the Enemy. Despite all the attempts of the gamemakers to defeat Katniss and Peeta, they come out triumphant in the end because of their sponsors and their training before the Games. This is very similar to the training we are raised up in before battle by going to church, getting in the word, and learning how to use our weapons and defense.  Notice that the weapon Katniss has been training with and using her whole life is what becomes her strongest asset when the battle comes! When we neglect to train properly, including in our minds, we are just like all of the other tributes that are underprepared and end up destroyed and defeated. (Ephesians 6:10-20) (1John 5:4) We do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and rulers of the darkness (Ephesians 6:12).

            The Capitol. In the story, the Capitol is the most perverse and disgusting, gluttonous part of the nation of Panem. The people who live there feed on the misfortune and lack that exists in all of the other Districts. This is the place from where the Enemy rules, likened to the way in which Satan rules this world.

            The Districts. At first there are only 12 Districts mentioned as it is believed that the 13^th has been destroyed. However, we come to find out that the District 13 has been undercover and preparing for the battle of the century. District 13 has been serving as the training grounds for those refugees who are going to aid in the revolution and bringing freedom to Panem. A suggestion is that Districts 1-12 represent the 12 tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 14:2), and District 13 is like the preparation area for all the saints and angels that are preparing for the apocalypse. While this could go into a TON more detail, it seems as though an entire blog would need to be designed just to explain the intricacies of the Book of Revelation. If you’re curious, I’d start there J

At first we see Katniss as a selfless volunteer to take her sister’s place in the Hunger Games. However, as we watch Katniss’ character develop, it becomes harder to see whether she is truly selfless. I believe that there is a part of her that is like all of us – out to protect our own lives, unable to face the reality of what a loss on the account of the Enemy could do to us. The loss of Katniss’ loved ones and the thought of having to try to live without them is a common theme to what keeps Katniss doing what she is doing. It takes an act of true, selfless love to show her what it really means to be fulfilled. This act comes from Peeta in many ways. Over time, Katniss begins to feel and act in the same love that Peeta has shown her from the beginning. He has pledged his life to keep her safe and does everything, including sacrificing his own life, to save her. In the end, the love penetrates Katniss’ heart and gives her the wisdom to do what she was made to do; and as a result, both Katniss and Peeta are brought together in a bond of love that goes beyond the romance that was such a strategy in the games.

Peeta is the Christ-figure in our little allegory. Snow has captured Peeta and is using him in a ploy to gain Katniss’ faithfulness. However, Katniss remains faithful to Peeta after much debate over whether he is worth the cost he could be to her life. Peeta relies on Haymitch to protect Katniss while he is captured in the hands of the Enemy and tortured on her account. Constantly, we are reminded that everything Peeta is getting is what the Enemy really meant for Katniss. Instead, Peeta is left to suffer, but Katniss suffers, too, at the realization of what her actions have caused the one person to endure that has shown her the truest form of love. Peeta breaks out of the hands of the Enemy over time and shows Katniss how to be strong and how to triumph. It is Peeta’s coming back to District 12 to be with Katniss that draws Katniss out of her painful past and allows her to experience love and a life of purpose with Peeta. (Revelation 17:14, Isaiah 53:5)

Katniss was prepared to meet her lover over and over again, each time made more beautiful and perfect than the last. When Peeta came back to District 12 to find her, Katniss had been repaired by the doctors and sent home to wait for him, although unknowing of his return. Peeta saw her as perfect in those moments and took her full in love to himself. This is just like the way we are covered in glory and transformed from glory to glory and prepared for our meeting with our bridegroom Jesus Christ at a time unbeknownst to us. (Isaiah 61:10, Revelation 21-22)

There are many other parallels that have been drawn between scripture and The Hunger Games trilogy, but these are the ones that stood out the most to me over my time reading them and studying some of the scripture that God led me to. It is rare to be able to find God in the mess of Hollywood movies, but I encourage you to ask God to show you His truth in the lies that are this world whenever you are exposed to them. I’d love to hear what others have to say about these things!!