The Hunger Games

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. List the top 10 things people need to survive and be happy. Then, add a rationale for each idea on your list.

Teaching Suggestion: Prompting students to think through, write about, and discuss this big question before accessing the following texts or similar resources allows them to categorize their ideas and compare them to those of their peers. If you opt to share the information in the following video and podcast, you may be able to bring an element of psychological studies into the discussion. This hierarchy of needs connects to the theme of Survival and Sacrifice in The Hunger Games.

• This 6-minute video from Wichita State University explains Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and its implications for our lives.
• This episode of “Ted Radio Hour” offers a 48-minute podcast, with clips from various TED Talks, and explores Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in depth. Dissecting this hierarchy that continues to shape psychology provides ways to look at society in the novel and beyond.