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 13th 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!!
