The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion

by Lois H. Gresh

  The practice of throwing the corpses over city walls only grew worse after the plague enveloped Europe. The last time infected corpses were used as weapons of terror was at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

  During the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–45 and World War II, Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army conducted experiments on thousands of prisoners, mostly Chinese. In certain military campaigns, the Japanese used biological weapons on soldiers and civilians. The Japanese secretly fed their Chinese prisoners poisoned food. They also contaminated the water. Estimates suggest that over 500,000 people died, due to the bad food and also plague and cholera outbreaks.

  Suspicious of reported biological weapons development in Germany and Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada initiated a Biological Weapons development program in 1941 that resulted in the weaponization of anthrax, brucellosis, and botulinum toxin. The center for U.S. military Biological Weapon research was Fort Detrick, Maryland. Biological weapons research was also conducted at “Dugway Proving Grounds” in Utah. Research carried out in the United Kingdom during World War II left Gruinard Island in Scotland contaminated with anthrax for the next forty-eight years.

  Despite having signed the 1972 treaty, the Soviet Union continued research and production of offensive biological weapons in a program called Biopreparat. The United States was unaware of this program until Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov, the deputy director of biopreparat defected in 1992.

  During the Cold War era, considerable research was performed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and other major countries on biological warfare.

  In 1986, the U.S. government spent $42 million on developing defenses against infectious diseases and toxins, ten times more money than was spent in 1981. The money went to twenty-four U.S. universities in hopes of developing strains on anthrax, Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis, tularemia, shigella, botulin, and Q fever.

  At present, several countries are developing biological warfare programs. According to the defense department, these countries include Russia, Israel, China, Iran, Libya, Syria, and North Korea. The characteristics of effective biological weapons are that they are highly infective, have a high potency, can be delivered as an aerosol, and vaccines are unavailable for the victims.

  Diseases considered for use as weapons or known to have been used already as weapons include anthrax, Ebola, bubonic plague, cholera, tularemia, brucellosis, Q fever, Machupo, Coccidioides mycosis, glanders, melioidosis, shigella, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, typhus, psisticosis, yellow fever, Japanese B encephalitis, Rift Valley Fever, and smallpox. Naturally occurring poisons that can be used as weapons include Ricin, SEB, botulism toxin, saxitoxin, and many mycotoxins.

  While it’s quite possible that plague and biological warfare could wipe out the world’s populations, it’s unlikely they could destroy skyscrapers, suburbia, infrastructures, and entire cities across the globe. All of these manmade items would eventually weaken and collapse. So while an evil government could conceivably employ biological agents against its own people and somehow protect government leaders, such an empire would also have to use other means to destroy the actual cities and infrastructures.

  CHEMICAL WARFARE

  Unlike bombs, which of course explode, this form of warfare uses nonexploding chemicals. Like biological warfare, stockpiling of chemical weapons is forbidden, in this case by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

  As with biological warfare, it’s conceivable that an evil empire might use chemical warfare on its citizens; however, the use would have to be limited unless everyone in the Capitol, for example, wore gas masks during the Dark Days of the war in Panem. Unlikely scenario; biological agents would make more sense because government researchers could also create the antidotes for the leaders’ use.

  In more general terms, a worldwide apocalypse based on chemical agents is less likely than one caused by a plague, for example, which spreads rapidly from victim to victim.

  Chemical warfare comes in various forms:

  Pulmonary agents that attack the lungs and suffocate victims. Examples are chlorine and phosgene.

  Blood agents that attack how the body uses oxygen. An example is cyanide.

  Blister agents attack the skin, making flesh break out in massive bloody blisters. An example is mustard gas.

  Nerve agents, which are far more lethal than pulmonary, blood, and blister agents, attack and destroy acetylcholine neurotransmitters in the victim. An example is sarin.

  Hallucinatory agents, which may not kill victims but would certainly incapacitate their abilities to function normally. Probably not the weapon of choice for an apocalyptic scenario unless used in conjunction with something lethal.

  Tear gas, which may not kill victims, but again, incapacitates them. Again, probably not the weapon of choice for an apocalyptic scenario unless used in conjunction with something lethal.

  NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON

  Because the government and District 13 both possess nuclear weapons, there’s a truce of sorts between the two. The Capitol allows District 13 latitude but keeps its existence secret from the other twelve districts. The government fears nuclear missiles and radiation should officials attempt to nuke District 13 (Mockingjay, 138). Twill tips us off that there was indeed an apocalypse of some kind in District 13: “We think the people moved underground when everything on the surface was destroyed” (Catching Fire, 147). This may explain the devastation of District 13, but it doesn’t explain what happened to the rest of the world during the period of war.

  In terms of the possible destruction of the entire world by nuclear weapons, this horrific scenario has been feared since World War II. As with plagues and biological warfare, a nuclear holocaust could wipe out the world’s populations and in this case also destroy the cities and infrastructures. Possibly, as with plagues and biological agents, pockets of humanity somehow survive the apocalypse, such as the districts of Panem. And then, as mentioned earlier, an evil Capitol could step in and subdue the survivors using military force, starvation, and other measures.

  In general terms, a nuclear bomb uses the forces that hold the nucleus of an atom together. In particular, nuclear bombs deal with atoms that possess unstable nuclei.

  Atoms release nuclear energy in two ways. With nuclear fission, the nucleus is split into two fragments; isotopes of uranium or plutonium are typically used. With nuclear fusion, two atoms are brought together; hydrogen or hydrogen isotopes are typically used.

  There are many ways of devising and detonating bombs. Some of the most common nuclear bomb designs are:

  Fission bombs (the earliest type of bomb).

  Gun-triggered fission bombs.

  Implosion-triggered fission bombs.

  Fusion bombs.

  To understand how a fission bomb works, you need some basic knowledge about nuclear radiation. We’re sure you remember from chemistry class that everything consists of atoms and that groups of atoms form molecules. For example, two hydrogen atoms plus one oxygen atom equal one water molecule. The Periodic Table lists all the types of atoms, which are also called elements.

  Each atom consists of subatomic particles: protons and neutrons form the atom’s nucleus; electrons orbit the nucleus. Protons have positive charges, while electrons have negative charges. Usually, the number of protons and electrons in an atom are the same. The role of the neutrons is basically to keep the protons together in the nucleus. Because the protons all have the same charge, positive, they would repel one another. You might recall that opposites attract. The neutrons do not have a specific charge, such as positive or negative.

  Some elements have more than one stable form. By stable, we mean that you could leave the element alone for five hundred years, then return to find that it hasn’t changed at all. If you accidentally leave a chunk of stable copper in a garbage bin, then return in five hundred years to find your chunk of copper still sitting in the garbage, then this means two things: first, that the trash collectors have bee
n on strike for five hundred years; and second, that the copper is in a stable form.

  In fact, speaking of copper, 70 percent of all natural copper is called copper- 63, and the other 30 percent is called copper-65. Each type of copper has twenty-nine protons, but a copper-63 atom has thirty-four neutrons and a copper-65 has thirty-six neutrons: similar, but slightly different. Both copper- 63 and copper-65 are stable forms of the element.

  Both are called isotopes of copper.

  Now some isotopes happen to be radioactive. In the most simple terms, radioactivity means that an isotope is unstable. For example, one of the hydrogen isotopes, which is called tritium, is radioactive. It has one proton and two neutrons. Over time, it transforms—by means of radioactive decay—into the more stable isotope called helium-3, which has two protons and one neutron.

  There are three ways that a radioactive isotope will decay: alpha decay, beta decay, and what we’re interested in talking about here, spontaneous fission. This is, by the way, how alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron rays are formed.

  The actual word, fission, means “splitting.” So if an atom undergoes spontaneous fission, the atom splits. For example, a fermium-256 atom, which is really heavy, may split and turn into one xenon-140 atom and one palladium-112 atom, and in the process, shed four neutrons. These four neutrons may crash into other atoms and cause various nuclear reactions.

  Induced fission means that an element can be forced to split. Uranium-235 is a good example of such an element. It is often used in fission bombs. If a Uranium- 235 nucleus is hit by a free-floating neutron, then the nucleus instantly becomes unstable and splits. This kind of thing happens to cause a nuclear explosion.

  In a gun-triggered fission bomb, explosives ignite, thus propelling a bullet down a barrel. The bullet hits a generator, which launches the fission reaction. Detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, Little Boy was a gun-triggered fission bomb. It had a yield equal to 14,500 tons of TNT. If Lex Luthor dropped a Little Boy a mile outside of Smallville, Clark Kent’s hometown would not fare any better than Hiroshima.

  In an implosion-triggered fission bomb, explosives ignite and create a shock wave, which then compresses the core of the bomb. The fission reaction occurs, and the bomb explodes. In World War II, Fat Man was an implosion-triggered fission bomb. It wiped out Nagasaki, Japan. It would wipe out Smallville within seconds.

  Which brings us to fusion bombs, also known as thermonuclear bombs. Before we describe this type of device, it’s well worth noting that a fusion bomb is far more powerful than either Little Boy or Fat Boy. In fact, estimates place the deadly power of a fusion bomb at seven hundred times more than the deadly power of Little Boy.

  Basically, the fission part of the bomb implodes, and resulting X-rays heat the inside of the bomb. Pressure causes shock waves that initiate the fission in a plutonium rod, which in turn gives off radiation, heat, and neutrons. Combined with high pressure and temperature, these neutrons are used to create fusion reactions. The fusion reactions create yet more radiation, heat, and neutrons. In a horrific cycle, the neutrons from the fusion create yet more fission, and round and round we go until the bomb detonates.

  Irreversible damage is in the form of: (a) intense heat and fire, (b) intense pressure, (c) radiation, and (d) radioactive fallout. The fallout alone would enter the water, cling to the air, be carried to far distances by winds.

  Big Boy’s explosion was that of 12,500 tons of TNT. A 1-megaton hydrogen bomb possesses eighty times the deadly power of 1945’s Big Boy. Within a 1.7-mile radius of a hydrogen bomb, everything would be destroyed, including 98 percent of the people.1 Within a 2.7-mile radius, everything would be destroyed, including 50 percent of the people, with 40 percent of the remaining population seriously injured. Moving to a 4.7-mile radius, most buildings would be destroyed, with 5 percent of the people dead and an additional 45 percent of the population seriously injured.

  OTHER APOCALYPTIC SCENARIOS

  At the beginning of this appendix was a list of other possibilities:

  Artificial intelligence, nanobots, and cybernetic revolts.

  Genetic warfare.

  Killer comets and asteroids.

  Supermassive black holes.

  Earthquakes.

  Volcanoes.

  Global warming.

  Gamma rays.

  And that all-time favorite, alien invasion.

  Most are too farfetched in terms of The Hunger Games to explore here. For example, we have absolutely no reason to believe on any level that aliens invaded the Earth and killed everyone except the people of Panem. That’s just absurd.

  Similarly, we have no evidence of genetic warfare on Earth in The Hunger Games series. It’s true that scientists have already devised complex forms of genetically mutated creatures. However, it’s a big stretch to leap from the muttations to a worldwide apocalypse caused by mutated genetic lifeforms. Surely, in this case, we’d see some evidence of these killer lifeforms within the district’s human populations. But there are no human mutations in the districts, and nobody ever talks about how “Aunt Jane gave birth to a wolf-human that devoured the whole family.” Again, this scenario of apocalypse seems absurd in The Hunger Games context.

  When I considered all the possibilities, I determined that The Hunger Games apocalypse had to be caused be global warming, melting of the ice caps, and then war. But as pointed out in chapter 1, only Suzanne Collins knows for sure.

  The popularity of apocalyptic fiction, which concerns end-of- the- world scenarios and their aftermaths, and post-apocalyptic fiction—only the aftermaths of the collapse—have become extremely popular during the past few years. The post-apocalyptic form may feature a world in which former technology and science has been destroyed. It may feature a world in which most of the survivors live in hunter-gathering sorts of communities, yet futuristic technology is oddly juxtaposed among an elite subset of the survivors; The Hunger Games series is an example of this form of post-apocalyptic fiction.

  As explored fully in this book, The Hunger Games series is clearly dystopian in nature. The books contain classic dystopian features, such as: (1) warning us that we’re heading toward repression and suffering if we don’t change the way we function now, (2) putting a totalitarian and highly repressive government in charge of the surviving population, and (3) making it clear that the vast majority of people have no freedom, live in poverty, and are subjected to military brutalities.

  The popularity of this form of fiction rises and falls depending on what’s happening in the real world. As discussed earlier, the genre surged after World War II with images of nuclear annihilation, as well as plagues and alien invasions; plus a host of other doomsday scenarios.

  It’s possible that the current hopelessness that many readers feel about the world in which we live is now driving the current surge in sales of these types of novels; perhaps it helps people realize that “It could always be worse.” If people are mistreated now in their own lives, or if they perceive even falsely that they’re undervalued, misunderstood, manipulated by their governments, or outrightly abused, they may find solace in reading extreme forms of post-apocalyptic fiction. It underscores their feelings that “If we keep heading down this path, this is how bad it could get, so you’d better listen to me and my friends and stop this [war, government abuse, economic destruction, elimination of freedom and civil liberties, etc.]”

  Not a cheerful subject, but it’s been around for a long time. If you’re interested in reading more fiction about the world going to hell, this Appendix offers some suggestions organized by publication date.

  This list is by no means comprehensive. If you really want to find extensive booklists, I suggest you scour the Internet for resources. I’m listing only books that I’ve personally read and enjoyed; and in some cases, I’m including books that may not top my favorites list, but may be enjoyable to other Hunger Games fans. You’ll notice that half the books I suggest are classics in the genre, and the other ha
lf are recently published. If you read the classics, you’ll probably find the newer books far more interesting.

  For example, having read science fiction novels since I was a child, when I first read The Hunger Games, I was struck by: (1) how well written it is—the voice and style are superb, (2) the post-apocalyptic and general science fiction ideas it uses from the classics, and (3) the freshness it offers by twisting together reality television, the ancient Roman gladiatorial games, plastic surgery and fashion obsessions, hype over substance, etc.

  Anyway, without further ado, here’s a partial reading list to get you started:

  1898

  H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

  1943

  Fritz Leiber, Gather Darkness

  1949

  George R. Stewart, Earth Abides

  1949

  George Orwell, 1984

  1951

  John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids

  1953

  Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

  1952

  Andre Norton, Daybreak—2250 A.D. (Star Man’s Son)

  1954

  Richard Matheson, I Am Legend

  1955

  John Wyndham, The Chrysalids

  1957

  Nevil Shute, On the Beach