Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York City: HarperCollins, 1932. Print.
In Brave New World, the directors of society have built a seemingly perfect "utopia." But not everyone feels this way, especially Bernard Marx, a Beta in the society who feels that everything in the society is wrong. Looking for a way to find society more attractive, and to take a girl on a trip, Bernard flies to a Savage Reservation in New Mexico, where he finds a glimmer of hope for society, something that hasn't been seen in decades: a woman from the society who gave birth to a child. Bringing the child and his mother back to England with him, Bernard unknowingly sets of events that will affect the lives of every single individual involved in the journey. A key element of the story in BNW is John the Savage. John lived on the reservation with the other savages for his entire life, until Bernard brings him back to England with him. John differs from the other members of society in a complex, yet extremely simple way: he can deal with emotions, while the other members of society take soma to handle emotions. This makes John calm and able to fly through most situations with ease, until he becomes conflicted and loses control, diving into Shakespeare or losing control completely. John effectively shows the conflicts between the old society where he once lived, and the new society where he lives now, one of the important themes of the book. (259 pages)
Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. Waterville, ME.: Thorndike, 2009. Print.
After the ordeal of the Hunger Games is over, Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, and the rest of the support staff from the first Hunger Games are forced to go on a mandatory tour of the twelve districts in celebration of their victory. The only problem with this is Katniss has to act like she still loves being a victor and Peeta, even though both situations are shaky at best. If Katniss can not play off the image of being another Capitol stooge and convince the rest of Panem not to break out into open rebellion against the Capitol, everything in Katniss' life will be destroyed to keep order. What Katniss does not know however is how their is both a plan to destroy her no matter how she acts, and a plan to also defeat the overlords who have had Panem in a death embrace for so long. Both plans come to a head and Katniss' world is turned upside down, with consequences for everyone connected to her. One element of Catching Fire that resonated with me was the theme of how even the most unprepared and unthinkable person in the world can start a revolution. This is what Katniss does, becoming the unlikely face and symbol for an underground movement, even though this is the exact opposite of what she tried to accomplish. Katniss has struggled all of her life, never being given any help, and this has made her somewhat bitter and unable to deal with other people very well. She is not the type of person to be a great leader or guide a group of people to freedom, more like the hyperbole of the town outcast. But, this may be why the people look to her, since she is the most unthinkable choice for a revolutionary, and the only person to defy the Capitol and survive. One noise can start an avalanche, and Katniss was this noise. Just a very endearing and epic trait that everyone needs at some point. (400 pages)
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Waterville, ME.: Thorndike, 2009. Print.
In the twelfth district of Panem, a sixteen year old named Katiniss Everdeen has stepped up and taken the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, a vicious competition where two tributes from each of the twelve districts fight to the death against each other on public television. The reward for the victor and their district is a years supply of food, but Katniss' district has not won in so long that the only remaining victor is a raging alcoholic with anger problems. Also, her fellow tribute in the games is a friend who at one point helped Katniss and her family, further complicating her situation. All of these problems and more are brought to a head in the arena where Katiniss' survival is her greatest concern. One of the most interesting aspects of The Hunger Games is the world of Panem. The world is basically a futuristic version of the United States, the only difference is the states have been replaced by districts and the Capital is a district itself. The people of the Captital are the most privileged of Panem and love to show that fact, mainly by following all of the material trends of the time , including dying their skin and hair a multitude of colors, wearing outlandish clothing, and augmenting their bodies to never show the signs of age. The Capitol seemed like an extremely twisted version of our society today, with many aspects of society tweaked to seem more futuristic. This future was like a warning to everyone reading to do whatever needs to be done to not let this happen in the world, and really struck a chord with me. (384 pages)
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