The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, all of the characters are portrayed in such a vivid and detailed manner. However one character, Rue, particularly stood out to me. Rue is a twelve-year-old girl from district eleven who was chosen for the hunger games. The main character Katniss takes a liking to Rue and they become allies during the games. In this book, Rue is depicted as a small little girl who is caring, and naïve but whose skill and talent is much underestimated. On page 131, Rue points out a tracker jackers nest to Katniss. Tracker jackers are a mutation that the Capitol had created and they were very deadly so the fact that Rue didn't just let them kill her opponent, Katniss, shows that she's caring and naïve. Rues talents are also very underestimated by her fellow tributes based on her appearance. Collins uses imagery very effectively throughout the book. Rue is described as having "bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin"(page 72). Katniss says she looks very small and no more than 70 pounds. This description would lead you to believe that she would be one of the first ones killed in the arena during the games, that she would be one of the weaker contenders. However, when each of the tributes has a moment alone with the Gamemakers to show of their talents, Rue gets a score of 7 out of 12, which is considerably good (page 79). This shows that Rue probably has much more to her than you think. This is confirmed when her and Katniss form an alliance. When Katniss starts getting to know Rue more and more, she realizes that Rue has strategy while the others have more strength and intimidation. Rue is playing it safe by being on the defense instead of trying to kill the rest of the tributes, which keeps her alive for longer.

I think Rue is a character that is quite easy to relate to believe it or not. I identify with Rue in the sense that often my abilities are also underestimated. I happen to be a dancer and most people would never guess that by simply looking at me, which is similar to Rue because no one would have guessed that she would have survived that long in the game. I also am similar to Rue because we are both defensive people rather than offensive. I don't like to have arguments with people but if someone were to instigate an argument I would be able to defend myself just as Rue is able to stay alive but isn't a major threat during the games. One character that I quickly thought of as similar to Rue is Lily Owens from The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Lily Owens loves to read and is very smart but no one would ever guess it because she works on her fathers peach farm and is very quiet and understated in school. She too is more defensive than offensive against her abusive father and also uses her quick thinking to escape altercation with her dad T-Ray.