Reply
Wed 2 Nov, 2011 04:36 pm
I've you've read "The Hunger Games" trilogy you've probably tried to map out Panem in your head. If you haven't read it, maybe your knowledge of North American geography can be of help!
Mo and I have been trying to figure out where all the districts are based on the small bits of information given in the books but we're stumped on a couple of districts. We've looked up maps but haven't always agreed with them so I thought I'd see if anyone here has any ideas.
Here's what we've guessed at, keeping in mind that the coastline has changed dramatically:
Capitol - somewhere in the Rocky Mountains = Colorado?
1 - makes luxury goods =?
2 - close to the capitol, nuclear technology = Los Alamos, NM?
3 - electronics, factories = ?
4 - fishing = what's left of the Gulf coast
5 - redheads? = ??
6 - few days walking distance to 12
7 - lumber, paper = Pacific Northwest?
8 - textiles, garment factories = ?
9 - generates electricity, has factories = ?
10 - cattle = Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, etc?
11 - agriculture, mean Peacekeepers, dark skinned people = Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisianna
12 - coal mining, Appalachian mountains = West Virginia
13 - nuclear technology, graphite mining, system of underground bunkers = Washington D.C and Virginia?
@boomerang,
Just saw this, looking for anything re: the Hunger Games.
Sozlet and I just finished the series (well, I've finished it, she hasn't read the third one yet), and we also were trying to figure this out.
Good call on Los Alamos.
I don't think anything's past the Capitol, though, re: District 7 -- all of the districts are east of the Rockies, and have to get through mountains to get through to the Capitol.
What did you think of the series? Will you be going to the movie?
@sozobe,
i quite enjoyed the series, however, the third book was not as good as the first two in my opinion
i'll probably dvd the movies at some point
@sozobe,
This map makes a good point -- general environmental cataclysms are referred to, which could include a lot of flooding, so the boundaries of America that we think of now might not be the same at that point. (As in, the west coast -- California, Pacific Northwest etc -- might be gone.)
http://io9.com/5882371/perhaps-the-most-well+researched-map-ever-of-the-hunger-games-panem
http://aimmyarrowshigh.livejournal.com/32461.html
@sozobe,
We all really liked the books and we will definitely be going to the movies after the initial hub-bub wears off.
I didn't get the impression that everything was east of the Rockies. You have to cross them to get to Colorado from pretty much everywhere.
Mo made up a map for a school project. This is where he determined where things were:
I think he left a few out though.
@djjd62,
I agree. Part of it is just that it's so DARK of course, which I'm willing to forgive because I think it's necessary within the arc of the story.
But the pacing and action were weird for the last bit -- the "katnissssss" mutts were weirdly truncated, important plot points were glossed over, etc.
@boomerang,
The revolutionaries had to get through the mountains to get to the Capitol. If there were any districts west of the Capitol, they could've approached from there.
Nice map!! Especially appreciated that he included Canada and Mexico, not just America.
@boomerang,
I haven't read "The Hunger Games" and Jane is "too old" (her words) to read them....I just want to say how great that map is. You should frame that and hang it in Mo's room. I love it!
@sozobe,
But a lot of places are nestled
IN the mountains so you do have to cross into the range, even if your traveling from west to east.
@boomerang,
Still, all of the revolutionaries, from all of the districts, approached from the same direction.
There wasn't any talk of other districts approaching from the west.
@sozobe,
Huh.
It's been quite a while since we read it so I probably just forgot that.
Were districts 1 and 2 involved in the rebellion? If I recall, they were pretty cozy with the capital.
@boomerang,
They stayed pretty loyal, some went over to the rebels I think but most had to be fought. (So they were on east side of the Rockies too, had to be overcome by the rest of the rebels to get on the train and get through the mountains to the Capitol.)
@sozobe,
Are you guys trying to map it out?
There are a million maps on the internet -- all of them different. Mo raked book 1 for clues when he had to make a fiction map. I think some of his guesses were just because things "fit" there.
I remember thinking that District 2 was around Yucca Mountain, where all of the nuclear waste is stored. (Mo was convinced it was Los Alamos). If 2 was Yucca Mountain, you could move the capital to upper Nevada, wash out the coast up to there, and have everyone cross the Rockies to get to it.
@boomerang,
We've talked about it but haven't tried to make a map.
The swirly one I linked to doesn't seem right to me.
I'm definitely curious if Suzanne Collins had a map in mind -- if a map exists, somewhere -- or if not all of the clues in the novels actually hang together.
Encroaching sea levels definitely seem to have a place, both in terms of what lies west of the rockies and where the southern seashore is (and what can be found there).
I always thought District 13 was Washington DC too. (Talk of bunkers, nukes, etc.)
@sozobe,
ACK! I wish you hadn't started me thinking of this again..... I'm remembering all the things I thought back when we read it.
Like "Area 51" would have been a good place for the capital since all the mountains are supposed to be carved out and inhabited.
I remember reading that she didn't have a particular geography in mind and she was surprised that so many people were trying to figure it out. I can't remember where I read it though.
@boomerang,
Sorry! I finished the book only about a week ago and details are fading already.
That makes sense that she didn't have particular geography in mind.
I actually just wanted to talk about the Hunger Games in general, searched to see if there was something about it and turned up just this -- and found the question interesting so answered!
I can start a separate, more general thread though. (Have some non-map questions, will wait to ask them.)
@sozobe,
Mo and Mr. B are in a Hunger Games flurry with the movie coming out.
You're certainly welcome to ask away on this thread but before you showed up it wasn't too popular so I don't know if there is a big Hunger Games following here but you might get a better response by starting a new thread.
I know that the story led to a lot of good discussions about war, media, politics, etc., around our house.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace