So. I have recently finished the book Delirium by Lauren
Oliver. Unsatisfied is an understatement to how I feel. I have also read The
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins a few
years back and seeing as they are both dystopias, I may have gone into this new
book with too high of expectations. Of course, it was only the first
installment of the trilogy so I assume the story will grow more dramatic
towards the end.
Let's compare Lena (female protagonist from Delirium) and
Katniss (female protagonist from The Hunger Games). Their stories are set up in
a very similar way. They both live in an oppressive world where the government
keeps many secrets from its citizens and both Lena and Katniss are in the more impoverished
area of their country. There are resisters who preside in the world outside of
the main lands. They also are missing parts of their families and have little
sisters that they care immensely about. It seems that a lot of their set up is
the same. They have similar backgrounds and living environments but they go
about their rebellion completely different from one another.
Where Katniss is a strong independent protagonist, Lena is a
loving but timid one. They both are suspicious about their predicaments but Katniss
catches on slightly faster (although that could have to do with being forced to
kill other kids . . . maybe). The interesting thing is that they go through
parallel internal conflicts. Katniss starts to become slightly more caring and
loving to those around her where Lena becomes slightly stronger and more
independent. This is an interesting and alternating way for the characters to develop.
I would imagine that going through the emotions they have (extreme shock at
learning that your whole life was a lie) would do that to a person. One would,
perhaps, gravitate towards attributes that they didn’t have previously have in
an attempt to adapt to their new environment. I look forward to continuing Lena’s
journey in the next books and comparing them to Katniss’ own journey.
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