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Ptsd In The Hunger Games Essay

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Ptsd In The Hunger Games Essay
Imagine being a teenager that has been forced to have the responsibility of protecting their whole family, but one day, their entire life gets altered into having to murder other children for survival; this is the fate of tributes of the Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins illustrates a desolate world where survivors of the post-apocalyptic continent of Panem segregate into twelve separate districts and tasked with specific responsibilities of harvesting the Earth’s remaining natural resources. These unfortunate districts are now subjecte to the cruel oppression and exploitation by Panem’s governing body, the Capitol, which exerts its sphere of influence over them through the employment of a tyrannical dictatorial regime, the …show more content…
Additionally, several other symptoms of PTSD can impact the minds of those overcome by this disorder. While addressing the misconceptions of modern literature, Paul Chappell emphasizes, “…Children reading [The Hunger Games] are given the unrealistic impression that our minds are virtually immune to trauma during combat. …The most common features of serious war trauma are a chronic sense of meaningless, losing the will to live, mental breakdowns, an inability to trust the leads to self-destructive behavior, and going berserk.”(113). As if the financial and physical burdens that come along with war aren’t enough, those who participate in violence normally end up suffering from emotional alterations as well. Other symptoms of PTSD include “Sleep disturbances, depression, feeling jittery or on guard, irritability, more aggressive than before, or even violent, avoiding certain places or situations that bring back memories, flashbacks or intrusive images, losing touch with reality; difficulty concentrating, and other physical symptoms” (Roux). These are all psychological results of violence in both children and adults. Most people experience some symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder during and after witnessing war and violence because the human brain can only handle so much disaster and trauma at

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