Teaching Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games from an Ethical Perspective

Abstract

Ethics is something that is difficult to work with in school in an approachable manner. The claim of this study is that the novel The Hunger Games can serve as help when teaching ethics. There are no guidelines in the National Curriculum as of how to approach ethics yet it states the importance of the subject for students. Reading literature is something that can help make any matter approachable. It allows students to reflect over everyday dilemmas and to challenge their thoughts. The essay discusses reading literature in school and its pedagogical reasons. Further the essay discusses ethics from different points of view and how the ethical dilemmas in The Hunger Games can make ethics relatable for students. The final part of the essay consists of a classroom project where students through different tasks and exercises get a chance to discuss everyday ethics and the ethical dilemmas of The Hunger Games. This Dystopian novel shows a world where teenagers are forced to participate in a reality TV-show where the only goal is to stay alive by killing all other contestants. Readers get to follow the heroine Katniss in the ethical choices she makes throughout the book and they get an opportunity to reflect on ethics in their most extreme form.