The Great Gatsby: The OG Hunger Games

In The Hunger Games, the continent of Panem consists of 12 districts that are all ruled by the Capitol. The Capitol represents the upper class that Jay Gatsby strives to be a part of in The Great Gatsby. The denizens of Panem who occupy the Capitol are the wealthiest in the continent, and are very ostentatious when showing their wealth.

The most common acts that Capitol citizens do are dye their skin different colors, and wear things such as whiskers, talons, and wigs. People who do not live in the capitol don’t do anything to their bodies, so it is easy to distinguish between district citizens and Capitol citizens.

“He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily” (Fitzgerald 92).

While giving Daisy a tour of his house, Gatsby shows her every single one of his shirts. Gatsby has every kind of shirt that an upper class man at the time should have and more. The fact that Daisy, a member of the “old money” class, begins to cry at the sight of the shirts because she has “never seen such beautiful shirts” proves that Gatsby has immense wealth. Just like how the people of Panem change their appearance to prove that they live a rich, carefree life, Gatsby owns dozens of different types of shirts to prove that he has succeeded in reaching the upper class. Capitol citizens also stay awake for most of the night, eat a plethora of food despite all the districts that are starving, and even drink a liquid that causes them to vomit so they can eat more. The first thing that Nick Carraway notices about Gatsby is that he throws parties very often. These parties tend to last all night, and Nick observes that crates of fruits are brought to Gatsby’s house every Friday, and caterers come every two weeks with fine food for the parties. Conspicuous consumption of food is present in Gatsby’s life and the Capitol lifestyle. Finally, the upper class people of Panem speak with their own unique accent. Gatsby adopts the phrase “old sport” and uses it frequently when he speaks to further prove that he is a member of the elite.

Members of the 12 districts of Panem, however, represent the working class. Each district produces it’s own product that is sent to the Capitol. Despite producing the goods, the districts only receive a small portion of what is created and as a result are in much worse health.

"This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight” (Fitzgerald 23).

In The Great Gatsby, the description of the valley of the ashes represents the area as a dark, lifeless, industrial region. The description contrasts sharply with Daisy and Jordan when Nick first meets them, who while laying on a couch look as though they are floating in the air. The valley of the ashes is similar to the 12 districts because people in the valley obviously have to work (“fantastic farm”), and the use of the words “ashes”, “powdery”, and “impenetrable cloud” suggests a sort of suffering or hard place to survive. The people in the valley of the ashes are the working class. There are no bright colors like Gatsby’s shirts, and instead of a description of color there is simply a description of the dimness and haziness of the valley. This is synonymous to the how the citizens of the districts they do not dye their hair or skin like the Capitol inhabitants do.

The annual Hunger Games that occurs in Panem represents the struggle of social mobility. Jay Gatsby leaves home, changes his name, and starts a new life in order to move up in the social hierarchy. Gatsby becomes fascinated by Daisy due to the fact that “many men had already loved Daisy” (Fitzgerald 149). The fact that people had tried and failed to hold on to Daisy, a girl who epitomizes the upper class, challenged and excited Gatsby. The Hunger Games makes the battle to move up in society literal. People from each district are chosen to fight each other to the death, and the last person standing is rewarded with immense, Capitol-level wealth. Gatsby dies while trying to obtain Daisy, the last piece to his aristocratic puzzle, much like how many people die in the Hunger Games while trying to reach the upper class.