In "The Hunger Games," the recently movie-adapted, best-seller novel written by Suzanne Collins, there lies the nation of Panem consisting of a shining Capitol and twelve districts surrounding it, one of in which the protagonist of this story, Katniss Everdeen, lives. There is one thing in this nation very different from this world we live in: there is a game, the Hunger Games, that Katniss further participates in by no choice, requiring its participants to hunt and fight for each other until the last one standing. This game is cruel in every way it seems to be. How could it possibly exist then? It has something to do with the social contract, where individuals sacrifice for the sake of a better society, like how every district gave up one boy and one girl of their own to obtain "peace".
We gain for what we lost, fine and fair. That is what the social contract is all about. What is it that the people of Panem gain from the Hunger Games that they were willing to hand over 24 children every year? "The result was Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens" (18). They gained new laws which guarantee "peace." A nation free from disasters and wars, but also free from freedom. Citizens of lower-class district like District 11 and 12 have a hard time in living. Most of them do not have enough food, and their everyday work is, taking district eleven and twelve as example, agriculture and coal mining, which relatively requires much more hard work and consists higher risks of danger compared to what District 1, the wealthiest district, do, luxury industries. Even though those from the poorer districts have a lot of disapproval, they could not make any sound. They have lost their freedom to speak out, the freedom to refuse, as long as they are under the control of the Capitol.
The citizens from lower-class districts do not really gain as much as those from higher-class districts.
