Two Great Blog Post

     I read two great blog posts. Theses post were made by Rebecca and Alexandria. I liked Rebecca’s post because it was an original idea. Her main idea is different and unique. She compares the character in the book she is reading to other characters that the author wrote about. I found this main idea interesting. She used details from the book to support her main idea, and she did a good job.

     Alexandria’s post was good to. She wrote a poem that was great and summed up the book she read. The poem was well written and explained her main idea. Her explanation on the themes of the book was good to. She was very deep and explained her thoughts well. I recommend going to both of their blogs.

Oppressive Governments in Literature

     The book that I am currently reading is Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book I the Hunger Games. This book reminds me of the book 1984 by George Orwell. The main connection between these two books is that they both have a form of oppressive government. The governments in both of theses books have to do with a government that tries to restrict the protagonist.

     In Catching Fire, the government is oppressive and tries to make the protagonist, Katniss, fail. They force Katniss to do things that she doesn’t want to do. If she doesn’t do theses things, the government threatened to kill her friends and family. They had her do these things because of what she did during the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a yearly event in which 12 districts must give 2 kids from ages12-18 to fight to the death. The government during the Games set up ways to torture the competitors. Katniss and her teammate Peeta threatened to commit suicide unless they both won. In the book, people have been trying to start a rebellion against the government. They want to rebel because of the events of the Hunger Games. Once the rebellion starts, the government starts to apply strict rules to stop rebellion, and in some District, the residents are being tortured with starvation and cruel punishments. The government is cruel and abusive in this book.  

     In 1984, the government is also oppressive against the protagonist, Wilson. The government is controlling and tries to keep everybody under there leadership. One method they use to control everyone is by using secret cameras and secret microphones. They have anyone who even talks about a rebellion or an uprising killed. This would affect Wilson. He starts to think about the government and how they are oppressive. He starts to act in a rebellious way and he winds up being imprisoned. The government tries to keep everyone from rebelling.

     The main similarities between these two governments are that they both try to stop the protagonist from succeeding. In 1984, they stop Wilson from trying to rebel and try to live a good life. In Catching Fire, the government forces Katniss to make decisions that force her to do things she wants to do. These governments also try to stop any form of rebellion and try to stop any form of rebellion. These governments have a lot in common.

     For both of theses governments, they are corrupted by power. The two governments are alike and try to stop the protagonist. They were written during completely different time periods, yet they share the idea that power corrupts governments.