'Hunger Games' author Suzanne Collins, in rare interview, muses on war and the cycle of violence
Suzanne Collins says she 'sort of completed' a goal of hers this fall by releasing her children's book 'Year of the Jungle,' which examines war from a child's point of view. Collins wants to write a book about war for every child age group, she says.
Suzanne Collins says she 'sort of completed' a goal of hers this fall by releasing her children's book 'Year of the Jungle,' which examines war from a child's point of view. Collins wants to write a book about war for every child age group, she says.
In an interview with Time Magazine, 鈥淗unger Games鈥� author Suzanne Collins discussed the upcoming film adaptation of the second book in her series, her favorite characters, and her children鈥檚 book 鈥淵ear of the Jungle.鈥�
鈥淐atching Fire,鈥� the second book of the 鈥淗unger Games鈥� series, focuses on protagonist Katniss and her friend and fellow Games victor Peeta as they deal with the aftermath of their win and are forced to go back into the arena as unrest in the country grows.
Collins agreed with Time critic Lev Grossman when Grossman told her that two of Katniss and Peeta鈥檚 fellow victors, Johanna and Finnick, are his favorite characters.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e sort of onion characters,鈥� Collins said of the two. 鈥淎nd as you peel back the layers you find more and more about what they鈥檝e experienced.鈥�
She also commented on the seeming difference between her writing 鈥淗unger Games鈥� and penning scripts for the comforting children鈥檚 TV series 鈥淟ittle Bear.鈥�
鈥淎ll the writing elements are the same,鈥� Collins said of writing the two. 鈥淵ou need to tell a good story鈥�. You鈥檝e got good characters鈥�. People think there鈥檚 some a dramatic difference between writing Little Bear and the Hunger Games, and as a writer, for me, there isn鈥檛.鈥澛�
The author said she recently "sort of completed" a personal goal by writing her children鈥檚 book 鈥淵ear of the Jungle,鈥� which was released this fall and focuses on a young girl whose father is fighting in Vietnam. Collins says she was looking to write a story about war for every child age group. Her 2003 book 鈥淭he Underland Chronicles: Gregor the Overlander鈥� is her war story for middle-grade children, she said. Collins鈥� father was in the military and 鈥渉e, I think, felt it was his responsibility to make sure that all his children had an understanding about war, about its cost, its consequences,鈥� she said.聽
鈥淚f I took the 40 years of my dad talking to me about war and battles and taking me to battlefields and distilled it down into one question, it would probably be the idea of the necessary or unnecessary war. That鈥檚 very much at the heart of it,鈥� Collins said. 鈥淭he picture book is really just an introduction to the idea of war鈥�. The Underland Chronicles, sort of moving along in sophistication, is about the unnecessary war. The Underland Chronicles is an unnecessary war for a very long time until it becomes a necessary war鈥�. In The Hunger Games, in most people鈥檚 idea, in terms of rebellion or a civil-war situation, that would meet the criteria for a necessary war鈥�. And then what happens is that it turns back around on itself. If you look at the arenas as individual wars or battles, you start out in the first one and you have a very classic gladiator game. By the second one it has evolved into what is the stage for the rebellion, because the arena is the one place that all the districts that cannot communicate with each other, it鈥檚 the one place they can all watch together. So it鈥檚 where the rebellion blows up. And then the third arena is the Capitol, which has now become an actual war. But in the process of becoming an actual war, in the process of becoming a rebellion, they have now replicated the original arena. So it鈥檚 cyclical, and it鈥檚 that cycle of violence that seems impossible for us to break out of.鈥�