Critical Context: From the Boy Who Lived to the Girl Who Learned

The essay I picked to read was called “From the Boy Who Lived to the Girl Who Learned”.  This essay showed similarities and differences between Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen. Both of these series have to deal with a child/young teen going through life dealing with lots of interesting situations that come their way. One of the biggest differences that seem to be made clear was how in Harry Potter something good always happened after a bad situation, whereas in Katniss’s life nothing good ever seem to happen. Her sister was picked to go to the games and she did not want to see her sister die so she took her place and was quickly shipped off to the capital where they paraded her around just to send her into an area with 23 other boys and girls where only one person was suppose to come out alive. After her and Peeta are both allowed to be crowned victors her life continues to have negative effects. I will not go into those because some of the readers of this blog might not have read the second and third books. Katniss has to fight hard for everything she manages to keep. In Harry Potter most of the families live a middle class lifestyle, unlike in The Hunger Games most of the families besides the capital are poor and have to work very hard for the little bit they get. Katniss is from an extremely poor district and if it was not for her hunting and gathering skills most likely her family would of died before her sisters name was ever picked for the reeping.

Katniss Everdeen

Harry Potter 

The author of Harry Potter seems to touch a little bit on bad things like the way Harry’s aunt and uncle treat him or his meetings with Voldemort but never jumps into them giving the readers a feeling that it could really happen where as the author of The Hunger Games writing makes the reader wonder if this could happen in our lives since it is suppose to be based in the future. In Harry Potter he lies his way through a lot of things, Katniss on the other hand is a bad liar and does not use lying as a way to get her through life. She does hide some facts while she and Peeta are in the cave from the viewers, but she is not good and lying and making stories up.  

In the essay it talks about the definition of the cornucopia in Harry Potter compared to in The Hunger Games, the cornucopia in each book has a very different meaning and expectation.  In Harry Potter cornucopia is like a holiday  in the wizard culture that they enjoy a feast together without worrying about being harmed, were as the cornucopia in The Hunger Games is an area in the arena to get  supplies but retrieving theses supplies mean you could face death.   

In both Harry Potter and The Hunger Games; Harry and Katniss come out alive, but both of them have to overcome a lot of emotional and physical journeys. 

Citation

Pharr, Mary. “From the Boy Who Lived to the Girl Who Learned” Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy. Eds, Mary F. Pharr and Leisa A. Clark, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012 219-228. Print.