pounds during the fast.
ANOREXIA AND BULIMIA:
STARVATION ON PURPOSE
While everyone else is starving, the people in the Capitol are gorging and throwing up. They want to be thin, they want to starve down to anorexic “appeal,” but they also want to eat like gluttons.
The starvation is so horrific in the districts that children often put their names in the lottery more than the required number of times so they can obtain tesserae and feed their families. Katniss tells us early in The Hunger Games that a tessera equals a “meager year’s supply of grain and oil for one person” ( The Hunger Games , 13).
This grain allotment is similar to the grain doles in ancient Rome except a lottery wasn’t held in Rome. Instead, officials doled out grain to people from the Temple of Ceres. As in the world of The Hunger Games, starvation and extreme hunger were common in the ancient world. Everyone relied on grain to survive.
People outside of the cities depended almost solely on the grain they grew in fields; and if a crop failed, everyone starved. But in the cities, things were even worse because the impoverished depended on imported grain and doles, and they couldn’t hunt or gather wild plants in lean times. By 100 BC , Rome’s population was approximately 1 million, and famine was so extreme that during grain shortages, officials would drive lowly people—slaves and criminal gladiators—out of the city.
For political reasons, the dole allotted grain to every Roman citizen once a month. Each person was sold thirty pounds of grain at a fixed price. Eventually, by 90 BC , Lucius Cornelius Sulla abolished the dole because for political reasons, he didn’t care about the votes of all the poor citizens. After he died, again for political reasons, the dole was established once again. By 44 BC , hundreds of thousands of people were receiving free grain rations every month. But in 44 BC , Julius Caesar cracked down on the free supplies, allowing only 150,000 people to collect their monthly rations.
The phrase “Bread and Circuses,” which we discuss in chapter 4, “Tributes: Gladiators in the Arena,” referred to the free grain dole (the bread) along with the gladiatorial games (the circuses). While the people who live in the Capitol in The Hunger Games have empty lives with little meaning—acting as consumers of food and products and creating little value—this was also the case in developing Rome.
At sixteen, Katniss puts her name in the lottery—the reaping—twenty times, and poor eighteen-year-old Gale puts his name in forty-two times ( The Hunger Games , 13). They put themselves at serious risk of death to get grain and oil, which barely qualifies as a fully balanced diet. As noted earlier, you have to wonder how anyone lives past a very young age with this sparse and inadequate diet. If your family is lucky to have someone like Katniss or Gale who can hunt and fish for you, maybe then you have a chance of surviving—assuming you’re in a district with animals and fish. If you’re in a district where you can gather fruits, berries, and vegetables, you’re also lucky. But keep in mind that even in the agricultural district where Rue grows up, the very people who farm the food aren’t allowed to indulge. So it’s a no-win situation, and how people survive on basically grain and oil has to be a serious problem.
Anorexia is the opposite of the unwanted starvation that Katniss and her community face. People can die from anorexia, just as with starvation for any other reason. Most people with anorexia are female.
Anorexia has actually been around for longer than most people think. For example, Saint Catherine of Siena (1347–80), ritually starved herself while receiving Holy Communion almost daily. In her case, the starvation may have been a case of extreme asceticism, as she professed no interest in earthly matters such as food. She separated her body from her spirit by taking Holy Communion but nothing else.
ANOREXIA AND BULIMIA:
STARVATION ON PURPOSE
While everyone else is starving, the people in the Capitol are gorging and throwing up. They want to be thin, they want to starve down to anorexic “appeal,” but they also want to eat like gluttons.
The starvation is so horrific in the districts that children often put their names in the lottery more than the required number of times so they can obtain tesserae and feed their families. Katniss tells us early in The Hunger Games that a tessera equals a “meager year’s supply of grain and oil for one person” ( The Hunger Games , 13).
This grain allotment is similar to the grain doles in ancient Rome except a lottery wasn’t held in Rome. Instead, officials doled out grain to people from the Temple of Ceres. As in the world of The Hunger Games, starvation and extreme hunger were common in the ancient world. Everyone relied on grain to survive.
People outside of the cities depended almost solely on the grain they grew in fields; and if a crop failed, everyone starved. But in the cities, things were even worse because the impoverished depended on imported grain and doles, and they couldn’t hunt or gather wild plants in lean times. By 100 BC , Rome’s population was approximately 1 million, and famine was so extreme that during grain shortages, officials would drive lowly people—slaves and criminal gladiators—out of the city.
For political reasons, the dole allotted grain to every Roman citizen once a month. Each person was sold thirty pounds of grain at a fixed price. Eventually, by 90 BC , Lucius Cornelius Sulla abolished the dole because for political reasons, he didn’t care about the votes of all the poor citizens. After he died, again for political reasons, the dole was established once again. By 44 BC , hundreds of thousands of people were receiving free grain rations every month. But in 44 BC , Julius Caesar cracked down on the free supplies, allowing only 150,000 people to collect their monthly rations.
The phrase “Bread and Circuses,” which we discuss in chapter 4, “Tributes: Gladiators in the Arena,” referred to the free grain dole (the bread) along with the gladiatorial games (the circuses). While the people who live in the Capitol in The Hunger Games have empty lives with little meaning—acting as consumers of food and products and creating little value—this was also the case in developing Rome.
At sixteen, Katniss puts her name in the lottery—the reaping—twenty times, and poor eighteen-year-old Gale puts his name in forty-two times ( The Hunger Games , 13). They put themselves at serious risk of death to get grain and oil, which barely qualifies as a fully balanced diet. As noted earlier, you have to wonder how anyone lives past a very young age with this sparse and inadequate diet. If your family is lucky to have someone like Katniss or Gale who can hunt and fish for you, maybe then you have a chance of surviving—assuming you’re in a district with animals and fish. If you’re in a district where you can gather fruits, berries, and vegetables, you’re also lucky. But keep in mind that even in the agricultural district where Rue grows up, the very people who farm the food aren’t allowed to indulge. So it’s a no-win situation, and how people survive on basically grain and oil has to be a serious problem.
Anorexia is the opposite of the unwanted starvation that Katniss and her community face. People can die from anorexia, just as with starvation for any other reason. Most people with anorexia are female.
Anorexia has actually been around for longer than most people think. For example, Saint Catherine of Siena (1347–80), ritually starved herself while receiving Holy Communion almost daily. In her case, the starvation may have been a case of extreme asceticism, as she professed no interest in earthly matters such as food. She separated her body from her spirit by taking Holy Communion but nothing else.
Similar Books
