The Hunger Games Literature Analysis

Course Overview

Students will study the popular 2008 novel, 'The Hunger Games.' Reading will take place both during lessons and as home learning activities to ensure lesson time can be focused on analysis as well as reading. Students will begin by learning about the novel's genre, Dystopian Fiction. They will explore conventional themes of the genre and explore how they may come into play over the course of the novel. Students will be guided through the plot in its entirety and construct a personal response to the text after analysing its dramatic ending. The course is delivered through extract analysis, teaching students how to conduct close language analysis and critical reading. We will analyse key themes and characters, as well as exploring writer intention/reader effect. We will examine the importance of essential themes, engaging in sophisticated debate and discussions (social injustice, power, family, poverty, conflict, etc.). We will focus predominantly on character analysis, eventually building towards an analysis of Katniss, her development over the course of the text and her relationships throughout. Students will learn to annotate, interpret, infer and analyse extracts in preparation for an assessment question such as 'How is the character of X presented in the text?' They will learn how to conduct character analysis while practising reading, writing and oracy skills in the process.