The Spinning Wheel of Death: Chance and Power in the Hunger Games

You know it.

All sleek and vibrant. It should be such a happy symbol. A little pinwheel of energy that should bring a smile to your face even if you spilled your coffee in your lap and forgot to turn off the stove the night before, setting off the fire alarm at 4 AM and rousing the entire apartment complex to come remind you that your fire alarm is screaming. (Hmm, maybe I'm drawing a bit too much from personal experience.) Either way, the spinning wheel should be a happy thing.

But it's not. The promise of more loading has never once put a smile on a person's face. It's the promise that things are in a state of flux. That they are not where they will be on the glorious day when the wheel finally tires of spinning and wanders back off to whatever folder happens to hold it.

That's the Hunger Games. The world in a state of flux and no one ever seems quite sure of the power they hold or the role that is layed out for them. Obviously, there is the power of the lottery balls and the sway they hold on the young population of the different Districts. But these only serve as a tangible expression of the actual problem faced by the population of Panem.

No one person in the Hunger Games holds any sort of position of permanence. Their control over a situation seems wholly based on someone else's control and someone else's will until it reaches high enough that the control lies with the will of a nation which is even scarier as the will of a nation is an incredibly fickle thing.

Obviously, the people of the Capitol appear to be in the most comfortable position of anyone in the Hunger Games. They hold most of the citizens under the thumb and are able to use the police force to bend most of the nation to their will. This too, manifests itself physically in the Hunger Games via the lottery system and the Capitol's control of the maze on which the games are played. However, Katniss still manages to survive that power and even works out a way to completely turn it in her favor via her relationship with Peeta and subsequent faux-suicide attempt.

The fact that Katniss was able to garner any sort of control at all in the position that she was in represents the major state of flux in Panem and shows us that, despite the best efforts of the powers that be, as the 74^th annual Hunger Games come to a close, that damn rainbow wheel is still spinning.