The Spectre of Fear in the Dystopia of The Hunger Games: An Analysis of the Linguistic Indicators of Point of View

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, Egypt.

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a spike in the sales of dystopian fiction, especially in the category of post-apocalyptic literature. Moreover, dystopian fiction is no longer directed to adults only, for many post-apocalyptic works fall now under the category of young adult (YA) literature. The massive production and consumption of such works, which present a pessimistic and catastrophic vision of the world, reflect the fear that has invaded the world since the 1960s due to the effects of the Cold War. One major post-apocalyptic work that was produced in the last few years is Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy (published in 2008, 2009 and 2010) which presents a sinister view of the future, hence warning against the consequences that are to be expected should authoritarianism remain unchecked. The linguistic choices made by an author contribute to the construction of the message he/she is trying to convey. Hence, this paper aims to analyze the linguistic indicators of point of view, proposed by Short (2013) and Black (2006), in Collins’ first book of the trilogy in an attempt to investigate how such indicators contribute to creating an atmosphere of gloominess and uneasiness. Such atmosphere serves as a warning against a catastrophic future to be expected should dictatorships and totalitarian regimes be allowed to last.

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