Surveillance and Manipulation Theme Analysis

A tyrannical government, headed by President Snow, controls the nation of Panem. While this government has a huge amount of physical power over Panem, one of the most important aspects of its power is its ability to run surveillance on its citizens, or—just as powerful—imply that its citizens are under constant surveillance, and thus manipulate their behavior.

At the beginning of Catching Fire, President Snow tells Katniss that he’ll be watching her to make sure that she “behaves” during her tour of the twelve districts of Panem, rather than trying to start a rebellion against the government. The fact that Katniss believes him so readily indicates just how extensive the government’s surveillance of its citizens is: it taps their phones, installs secret cameras in their houses, and sometimes makes them compete in the Hunger Games, filmed by a TV crew at all times. In short, Katniss’s society is one in which the people are under near-constant surveillance, especially if they’ve been judged by the government to be “dangerous.” (In this sense, Panem it must be said, bears an uncanny resemblance to many real-world countries, including the United States.) This leads us to ask a number of questions. What does it mean to be watched at all times? How does it influence one’s sense of safety, or one’s interactions with others?

To begin with, the threat of constant surveillance makes people censor their own behavior and act more cautiously. At many points, Katniss makes her speech milder and less politically charged because she guesses that the government is tapping her phone. This is, of course, what President Snow wants. Nevertheless, there are several times in the book when Katniss seems to forget that she’s being watched. During her Victory Tour, she describes herself forgetting that her relationship with Peeta, the Hunger Games’ co-champion, is all for show—she thinks that she feels genuine love and affection for him. This suggests that the government’s surveillance and spying is so pervasive that it becomes a part of people’s lives—their cautious, self-censored behavior becomes, simply, their behavior. A third effect of government surveillance is that it encourages people to place greater value on privacy and intimacy. When she’s sure that they’re alone, Katniss savors her interactions with Gale, because she knows how rare these moments are. Thus, even the most banal of conversations with Gale becomes special.

Surveillance is a recurring theme in all three volumes of the Hunger Games, and because Catching Fire is only the middle book in the trilogy, Collins doesn’t resolve this theme altogether. The book ends with Katniss, knowing full well that all of Panem is watching her, openly defying the government’s authority by shooting at the force field that imprisons her in the Hunger Games. Collins suggests that one cannot merely accept or adapt to constant surveillance, as some of the characters (including Katniss) appear to do. Instead, the best course of action would seem to be, “Be yourself.” And yet immediately after this, Collins reveals her “twist ending”—all along, Katniss has been manipulated by a group of rebels, including her mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, into defying the government. Is it really possible to “be yourself,” Collins seems to ask, if you don’t know who your friends are? On this uncertain note, Collins moves on to Mockingjay.