Gender Games/Trauma Games: Gender and Victimology in the Hunger Games Trilogy

Abstract

In this thesis, I claim that victimhood and vulnerability can be used as a form of agency. I argue that many of the problems associated with the concept of vulnerability come from an outdated and binary way of thinking about gender. A brief review of media and literature reveals that this way of thinking has a history of plaguing the YA novel, thus limiting the ways in which YA readers think about women and vulnerability. Using elements of queer, feminist and trauma critical theory, I prove Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy creates the opportunity for the trauma of victimhood and vulnerability to be used for individual agency.