Dear Mr. President Snow

Comparison of "The Hunger Games" and the song "Dear Mr. President" by Pink

"Let's pretend we're just two people and 

You're not better than me. 

I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly"

This is what the song starts with. And just at the beginning it starts with actually the main problem that isn't just an issue in the situation America was at the time the song was written. This also concerns with "The Hunger Games". The book describes how some people are in contrast to the others as well. Like the Capitol and the people who are living there are treated different and better than the people from the districts. And even in the districts are big difference between the people. The one's from the lower districts are richer and have better living conditions than the one's in the higher districts. There they don't even have enough of the essential things like food.

The chorus is also something very great to compare with the "The Hunger Games":

"How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?

How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?

How do you walk with your head held high?

Can you even look me in the eye

And tell me why?"

If you would ask President Snow how he does sleep while the rest of Panem cries or just some innocent children have to kill each other and die at the end, I think he wouldn't answer. It is a really good question to someone who allows things like the Games and I would be very interested in what he would answer. But why should someone who has the full power of everything answers such a tricky question and maybe cast a shadow on him, if he is just able to let you killed? No one in Panem would say these things out loud just because they are frightened of President Snow and the Capitol.

Furthermore Pink sings a mother has no chance to say goodbye. In the real meaning she means the war and the lots of kids dying there. To transfer this to "The Hunger Games" it means the moment after the Reaping. After the 24 tributes are elected they have just five minutes to say goodbye to their family - maybe forever. 

How must a mother feel when she has to say goodbye to her own son or daughter who are forced to go in an arena and kill other kids? 

How must a mother feel when she sees her own child dying on a big screen in front of everyone? 

How must a mother feel when she knows that to her younger kids could happen the same?

To go on Pink asks the president how he can walk with his head held high and if he can even look her in the eye and tell her why. Even this you can transfer to the "The Hunger Games". The whole people in the Capitol are strange and different. They are very plastic and fake with bright hair colors and unlikely clothes. Maybe they even thing they are something better than the people from the districts. What other explication is there for their enthusiasm seeing real people kill themselves? I would really like to know what's going on in their heads. Also President Snow doesn't keep his head down, what he besides really should! How can you allow as a president - as a person who should care about his people - such horrible things?

To sum up my comparison I would say even if the issues are kind of different there are many things you can transfer to the book. I guess the author wants also to criticize the society. In the first world are as well gradations in the society and many people are disadvantaged. This is one reason why authors write stories about dystopian society. They want to show what the world could become if nothing will be changed.

My last word and what I would say to President Snow: 

"You'd never take a walk with me."