Overcoming Gender Barriers in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Gender barriers are societal norms that are dictate the types of behaviors that people do based on their actual or perceived gender or sexuality. Gender barriers limit people throughout their lives. Gender barriers and stereotypes can cause some women to never try woodworking, construction or auto shop. This can happen because women are perceived as clean and sometimes not strong enough to do those jobs, but it is the same for men. Some men could want to bake or not play rough sports like hockey or football. But they would be ridiculed because those things are not “manly” enough. Therefore in the novel The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins challenges gender barriers and shows kids that these barriers do not need to exist. In the novel, many characters such as Katniss and Peeta overcome gender barriers by doing things like hunting and baking, that their gender would not normally do. This shows that we need to challenge gender barriers and stereotypes every day to be able to learn and evolve as people to survive evolution and natural disasters.
In The Hunger Games Katniss is one of the main characters that challenges many female gender barriers about strength and being the main provider of the family. In the book Katniss shows that she hunts and provides money and food for her family which normally the man of the house would do. In the text it says “My father knew and he taught me some time before he was blown to bits in a mine explosion” (Collins, 6). It also says “Most peacekeepers turn a blind eye to those of us who hunt” (Collins, 6). These quotations are showing that Katniss has to take over as father figure after her father died which means that she has to provide food and money for the family. This shows Katniss breaking the gender barriers that women aren’t strong enough to hunt or even have enough determination and mental strength to run a household. Therefore Katniss is able to be the main provider of the family even though she is a girl who would be breaking the gender barriers of strength and that women cannot be a father figure. This will help our society today by showing that women can take on jobs that require a lot more strength and that some mothers can take on parenthood and be a father figure for their children.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins also includes a character by the name of Peeta Mellark. Peeta is another character that challenges gender barriers and stereotypes. The stereotypes that he challenges are that men cannot cook and bake very well and that men do not have a lot of feelings. On page 49 Katniss states “Peeta Mellark, on the other hand, has obviously been crying” (Collins, 49). In the text Katniss also states “The trainer who runs the camouflage station is full of enthusiasm at his work. “I do the cakes,” he admits to me. “The cakes?” I ask, I’ve been preoccupied with watching the boy from district 2 send a spear through a dumm...
