Sixty seconds. These sixty seconds could be my last. I spot Peeta who was as scared as I was of dying. Looking around, I see a giant gold cornucopia in front of me and a wilderness behind me. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was meant to entertain the Capitol. Just like the Ancient Romans, the gladiators were like the tributes and the Hunger Games like the shows. Since this book is placed in the future of North America, our world should not be placing people in arenas and forcing them to fight for their lives.
The Ancient Roman gladiators would kill others until there was only one victor. Their winning prize would be to live. They chose these gladiators if they were a slave, criminal, or prisoner of war. If someone had won, they would be well-known or famous. First, they would have to train, like the 24 tributes did, to prep for The Hunger Games. The training school near the Colosseum would go there and practice, while others just practiced at their training school. In the beginning of these shows, a musical performance would perform and sometimes featured trained animals. There were some times when the animals in the beginning of the show would fight and kill each other. In the afternoon, the show would finally start. Usually, the person that you fought had a different source of armor than their opponent. They would fight until death, like the Hunger Games.
In the Hunger Games, you would have to kill the rest of your 23 different rivals and fight for your life. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are both from district 12 and know that neither of them will be the victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games. There has only been one victor, Haymitch Abernathy, who has trained and prepped all of the tributes in District 12. When training and interviews come along, Peeta and Katniss are enjoying their last few days may being alive, but only without family and friends. In their last interview, Peeta mentions something that changes everything. In other words, Peeta and Katniss are now the “Star-Crossed Lovers of District 12”. As the games start, all of the tributes are independent, but a group of tributes decide to hunt the others or the “weak” ones first and then fight at the end to have a victor. As the games go by and the rules start to twist around, Peeta and Katniss start learning more about each other. In the end, something different changes and will blow your mind.
The Hunger Games and the gladiator shows were similar. They both would kill others until there would only be one champion left. Also, the show and the games were meant to entertain the fellow people. In Panem, the people who lived in the Capitol were entertained and excited about this event because it was held only once a year: Ancient Rome, this show was also used for entertainment, but theirs happened on different days. One goal for slaves, criminals, murderers, or tributes was to stay alive.
As you can see, the audience who was being entertained thought that this was enjoyable to watch, seeing other people die to their satisfaction. They never thought about how they gladiators or the tributes were feeling. Although, this could not happen to the U.S.A because we do not have a dictatorship whether in The Hunger Games; President Snow is the dictator or the president. Also, the Ancient Romans also had a dictator. America is a democracy country and wouldn’t be able to change that. If that were to be chosen to fight, I would be very frightened because you may never know if the day that you fight, will be your last. Would you enjoy being in the games or the gladiator show?