The Hunger Games: An Ecocritical Reading
The Hunger Games: An Ecocritical Reading
by Janice Bland and Anne Strotmann
ABSTRACT: This paper examines how a popular series like Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games
trilogy can motivate students to improve their language and literacy proficiency by
extensive reading. Moving on from there, we argue a thoughtful and collaborative deep
reading of The Hunger Games can broaden as well as change perspectives; for without
being openly didactic, the series is sufficiently multilayered to provide meaningful
booktalk in the classroom and to trigger engaged debate. Recognising that the degradation
of non-human nature through human action has become a major theme in education, we
argue that the intentionally interdisciplinary approach of ecocriticism towards a literary
text can be a contribution to global issues education in the English as a Second Language
(ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. We offer an ecocritical
examination of The Hunger Games, not as an ideal or model reading, but rather aiming to
promote ecopedagogy and further critical discussion and creative language activities in the
secondary ESL/EFL classroom and student teacher seminar. To illustrate an ecocritical
reading, we trace the classical literary tropes of apocalypse, pastoral and wilderness and
reflect on the trilogy’s multilayered approach towards the relationship between the human
and the non-human. Finally, we suggest how critical issues such as consumer
manipulation, media and celebrity culture can well be discussed with reference to The
Hunger Games trilogy.
CITATION: Bland, Janice and Anne Strotmann (2014) "The Hunger Games: An Ecocritical Reading", CLELE Journal. 2(1), pp. 22-43
Bibliography
Collins, Suzanne (2008). The Hunger Games. London: Scholastic.
Collins, Suzanne (2009). Catching Fire. London: Scholastic.
Collins, Suzanne (2010). Mockingjay. London: Scholastic.
References
Bartosch, R. & Garrard, G. (2014). The Function of Criticism. In R. Bartosch & S. Grimm
(Eds.), Teaching Environments. Ecocritical Encounters. Frankfurt/Main: Lang, pp. 219-
226.
Bland, J. (2013). Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment: Children and
Teenagers in English Language Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Bradford, C., Mallan, K., Stephens, J. & McCallum, R. (2007). New World Orders in
Contemporary Children's Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bredella, L. (2004). Literary texts. In M. Byram (Ed.), Language Teaching and Learning.
London: Routledge, pp. 375-382.
Buell, L. (1995). The Environmental Imagination. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press.
Clark, T. (2011). The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Curry, A. (2013). Environmental Crisis in Young Adult Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Garrard, G. (2012). Ecocriticism. London: Routledge.
Garrard, G. (2014). Forward. In R. Bartosch & S. Grimm (Eds.), Teaching Environments.
Ecocritical Encounters. Frankfurt/Main: Lang, pp. 7-9.
Goodbody, A. (2007). The hunter as nature-lover: Idyll, aggression and ecology in the
German animal stories of Otto Alscher. In F. Becket & T. Gifford (Eds.), Culture,
Creativity and Environment: New Environmentalist Criticism. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp.
135-159.
Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games
Hesse, M. (2009). Teenage Fiction in the Active English Classroom. Stuttgart: Klett.
Kramsch, C. (1996). The cultural component of language teaching. Zeitschrift für
Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht, 1(2), 1-13.
Layfield, A. (2013). Identity construction and gaze in The Hunger Games. The Looking
Glass 17(1) www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/389/382
Muller, V. (2012). Virtually Real: Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games Trilogy.
International Research in Children’s Literature, 5(1), 51-63.
Murphy, P. D. (2000). Further Afield in the Study of Nature-Oriented Literature.
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
Newkirk, T. (2002). Foreword. In M.W. Smith & J.D. Wilhelm, Reading Don’t Fix No
Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men. Portsmouth: Heinemann, pp. ix-xi.
Plumwood, V. (2006). The concept of a cultural landscape. Nature, culture and agency in
the land. Ethics and the Environment, 11(2), 115-150.
O’Leary, S.D. (1994). Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Oxfam (2006). Education for Global Citizenship. A Guide for Schools.
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Global%20Citizenship/education_for_g
lobal_citizenship_a_guide_for_schools.ashx
Smith, M.W. & Wilhelm J.D. (2002). Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives
of Young Men. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Stephens, J. (2005). Analysing texts. Linguistics and stylistics. In P. Hunt (Ed.),
Understanding Children’s Literature (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, pp. 73-85.
Stephens, J. (2010). Ecocriticism. In D. Rudd (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to
Children's Literature. London: Routledge, pp. 168-169.
Steward, C. (2013). The Unofficial Hunger Games Wilderness Survival Guide. Wisconsin:
Living Ready Books.
Thacker, P. (2007). Growing beyond circumstance: Have we overemphasized hopelessness
in young adult literature? English Journal, 96(3), 17-18.
The Vigilant Citizen (2012). The Hunger Games: A Glimpse at the Future? Retrieved from
http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-hunger-games-a-glimpse-at-the-new-world-
order/
Thompson, D. (1993). Villains, victims, and veterans: Buchheim’s Das Boot and the
problem of the hybrid novel-memoir as history. Twentieth Century Literature. 39(1) 59-78.
by Janice Bland and Anne Strotmann
ABSTRACT: This paper examines how a popular series like Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games
trilogy can motivate students to improve their language and literacy proficiency by
extensive reading. Moving on from there, we argue a thoughtful and collaborative deep
reading of The Hunger Games can broaden as well as change perspectives; for without
being openly didactic, the series is sufficiently multilayered to provide meaningful
booktalk in the classroom and to trigger engaged debate. Recognising that the degradation
of non-human nature through human action has become a major theme in education, we
argue that the intentionally interdisciplinary approach of ecocriticism towards a literary
text can be a contribution to global issues education in the English as a Second Language
(ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. We offer an ecocritical
examination of The Hunger Games, not as an ideal or model reading, but rather aiming to
promote ecopedagogy and further critical discussion and creative language activities in the
secondary ESL/EFL classroom and student teacher seminar. To illustrate an ecocritical
reading, we trace the classical literary tropes of apocalypse, pastoral and wilderness and
reflect on the trilogy’s multilayered approach towards the relationship between the human
and the non-human. Finally, we suggest how critical issues such as consumer
manipulation, media and celebrity culture can well be discussed with reference to The
Hunger Games trilogy.
CITATION: Bland, Janice and Anne Strotmann (2014) "The Hunger Games: An Ecocritical Reading", CLELE Journal. 2(1), pp. 22-43
Bibliography
Collins, Suzanne (2008). The Hunger Games. London: Scholastic.
Collins, Suzanne (2009). Catching Fire. London: Scholastic.
Collins, Suzanne (2010). Mockingjay. London: Scholastic.
References
Bartosch, R. & Garrard, G. (2014). The Function of Criticism. In R. Bartosch & S. Grimm
(Eds.), Teaching Environments. Ecocritical Encounters. Frankfurt/Main: Lang, pp. 219-
226.
Bland, J. (2013). Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment: Children and
Teenagers in English Language Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Bradford, C., Mallan, K., Stephens, J. & McCallum, R. (2007). New World Orders in
Contemporary Children's Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bredella, L. (2004). Literary texts. In M. Byram (Ed.), Language Teaching and Learning.
London: Routledge, pp. 375-382.
Buell, L. (1995). The Environmental Imagination. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press.
Clark, T. (2011). The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Curry, A. (2013). Environmental Crisis in Young Adult Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Garrard, G. (2012). Ecocriticism. London: Routledge.
Garrard, G. (2014). Forward. In R. Bartosch & S. Grimm (Eds.), Teaching Environments.
Ecocritical Encounters. Frankfurt/Main: Lang, pp. 7-9.
Goodbody, A. (2007). The hunter as nature-lover: Idyll, aggression and ecology in the
German animal stories of Otto Alscher. In F. Becket & T. Gifford (Eds.), Culture,
Creativity and Environment: New Environmentalist Criticism. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp.
135-159.
Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games
Hesse, M. (2009). Teenage Fiction in the Active English Classroom. Stuttgart: Klett.
Kramsch, C. (1996). The cultural component of language teaching. Zeitschrift für
Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht, 1(2), 1-13.
Layfield, A. (2013). Identity construction and gaze in The Hunger Games. The Looking
Glass 17(1) www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/389/382
Muller, V. (2012). Virtually Real: Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games Trilogy.
International Research in Children’s Literature, 5(1), 51-63.
Murphy, P. D. (2000). Further Afield in the Study of Nature-Oriented Literature.
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
Newkirk, T. (2002). Foreword. In M.W. Smith & J.D. Wilhelm, Reading Don’t Fix No
Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men. Portsmouth: Heinemann, pp. ix-xi.
Plumwood, V. (2006). The concept of a cultural landscape. Nature, culture and agency in
the land. Ethics and the Environment, 11(2), 115-150.
O’Leary, S.D. (1994). Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Oxfam (2006). Education for Global Citizenship. A Guide for Schools.
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Global%20Citizenship/education_for_g
lobal_citizenship_a_guide_for_schools.ashx
Smith, M.W. & Wilhelm J.D. (2002). Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives
of Young Men. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Stephens, J. (2005). Analysing texts. Linguistics and stylistics. In P. Hunt (Ed.),
Understanding Children’s Literature (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, pp. 73-85.
Stephens, J. (2010). Ecocriticism. In D. Rudd (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to
Children's Literature. London: Routledge, pp. 168-169.
Steward, C. (2013). The Unofficial Hunger Games Wilderness Survival Guide. Wisconsin:
Living Ready Books.
Thacker, P. (2007). Growing beyond circumstance: Have we overemphasized hopelessness
in young adult literature? English Journal, 96(3), 17-18.
The Vigilant Citizen (2012). The Hunger Games: A Glimpse at the Future? Retrieved from
http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-hunger-games-a-glimpse-at-the-new-world-
order/
Thompson, D. (1993). Villains, victims, and veterans: Buchheim’s Das Boot and the
problem of the hybrid novel-memoir as history. Twentieth Century Literature. 39(1) 59-78.
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