How Are People in Power Portrayed in Books?

            In numerous books (many times science fiction books,) the people in power are portrayed in similar ways, in order to send messages to readers, and to of course, create an engaging story. After looking more deeply into how these people act towards others, in books including the Divergent series, and The Hunger Games series, it has become very clear that the power holders all want to have full control over others and their choices.

            By analyzing the plots of different stories, it is obvious that the people in power will not let anyone stand in their way, and will use whatever harsh, cruel, and ruthless tactics they need to accomplish the essential steps to gaining, and maintaining full power. For example, I am currently reading Allegiant, by Veronica Roth, the third book in the Divergent series, and a part of the government called the “Bureau” is planning on using a serum that erases people’s memory, so that it will be extremely easy for them to control everyone. Although using the serum will technically mean that whatever the victims have been through, the things that have made them who they are, (whether they be good or bad,) will be gone, which will effect the type of person they will become, just because the government wants all control and power over the citizens. Is it really fair to change someone by force without them knowing it? Of course not.

These selfish actions of the government in Allegiant also link to The Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins, which has a plot that is solely centered around the totalitarian government. A key aspect of The Hunger Games is the class system. The people in power are the ones with the money and wealth, while the people in the twelve districts are the ones with less money, (and of course, pretty much no power at all.) In The Hunger Games, a boy and a girl from each of the twelve districts is randomly chosen for the annual “Hunger Games”, in which these children fight to the death. The Hunger Games were made in order to scare the people in the districts, and to make sure they all knew, and always realized who the “boss” was- the government people. Although class system in this book may seem more extreme then class system in the real world, there are many different ways in which people with more money have many different, and better opportunities then those with much less money.

Lastly, I’m just going to say that when the people in power are an important part of the story, (like in the books mentioned above,) then it is actually important for them to be made out to be ruthless, selfish, heartless, and worse- or else the plot won’t be able to grow! And these books are meant to help reflect on issues in the real world that the authors think need to change, and impact readers in different ways.