The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome correlation

[Pistachio mom]

Hello,

I want to share an activity that was super productive in my home-school this last spring. My 8th grader had just finished reading The Hunger Games in May. She started this back during spring break and was reading as she had time with the other demands of life and just getting 8th grade done. For a final paper in her year, I had her write a comparison between concepts, settings, characters, etc from Hunger Games to Ancient Rome. She had just finished up Memoria Press' Book of the Ancient Romans, read Julius Caesar and Midsummer Night's Dream, and lots of other historical literature appropriate for an integrated study of history and literature for Ancient Times.

This project became the first 5 paragraph literary essay that she actually understood what she was doing and was excited about putting the ideas together. Her main points included the setting of a big empire feeding one advanced city while many people in the empire live in poverty, the government control through fear using the arena in the Hunger Games or being sent to an arena in Roman times - going to the Games as punishment to display power, and a brief discussion of the names that are similar. Some of the names include Caesar, Octavia, Plutarch, Coriolanus Snow, Cinna, etc to name just a few. We came up with a large list of names that are straight out of Roman history.

Anyway, the correlation between Ancient Rome and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series added some unexpected unity to the end of our school year. It was a great way for my student to practice her literary analysis skills on a more mature level. I think a paper like this or even a discussion can add a lot to a historical study. So, I am just sharing with you all something that worked for my family. This was a good bridge into high school level work.