Mirroring Contemporary Society: A Dystopian Critique of Power Dynamics and Social Injustice in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games

Abstract

For centuries, visions of the future have been intriguing concepts for scholars and researchers alike, especially during times of crisis. Wars, global pandemics, or natural catastrophes can prompt us to take notice of the inequalities still prevalent in the present, to question the status quo and to imagine alternative futures where such injustices no longer exist. Literature is a suitable resource for experiencing contemporary imaginations of the future, set either in a utopian place, where everything is better than in our society today, or one where everything is worse—the dystopia.