Starving for Another Taste of "The Hunger Games"

        Reading The Hunger Games for a second time around has been quite a different experience from what I expected it to be. In all honesty, I regarded the rereading as mildly interesting, an easy and mindless read, and not much else. However, Suzanne Collins has managed to recapture my interest even more strikingly than the first time I read it as a mere seventh grader. The story now holds so much more depth and meaning now that I myself am a sixteen year old girl, not all that much different from Katniss Everdeen in that I am simply trying to stay true to myself and my beliefs, while also trying to survive and prosper under the weight of an all-too-common societal oppression. Where Katniss is rough around the edges, and uses her harsh personality to mask any vulnerabilities, I, much like many other teenage girls, hide my true self under layers of makeup, attitudes of not caring, and an abundance of teen angst. The parallels between Katniss and many of adolescent female America are remarkable, making her even more of an inspiration idol, especially the second time around.