How Twilight sheds light on The Hunger Games

[Spoiler ahead!] 

My favorite modern book series has been The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The series is an interesting twist on the romantic and fantasy genre. In particular, the series’ effectiveness comes from its contrast with another recent and popular series in the romantic and fantasy genre – Twilight. 

In Twilight, the protagonist Bella falls in love with Edward in the first book, and struggles throughout the series to find domestic bliss with him. During her journey, Bella ponders over whether to fight for her true love Edward, or to give up and settle down with a friend - Jacob. Both Edward and Jacob are good, idealistic characters, which makes her choice difficult. She takes her time over four books to assess her emotions, and finally chooses to fight for her true love Edward. 

At the end of the series, she succeeds in having a healthy baby with Edward and they live as a happy family. The readers’ faith in romance and a just world is affirmed. 

In contrast, The Hunger Games is filled with chaos. The series’ protagonist Katniss is very similar to Bella in that she finds her true love in Gale in the first book. However, Katniss’ society separates her from Gale. To save her sister, Katniss volunteers to fight to survive on a reality TV show. In her fight for survival, she finds that she gets medicines and other critical supplies when she pretends to have a romantic relationship with a friend on the show - Peta. As such, Katniss pursues a romantic relationship with Peta solely for survival. 
This series also gives Katniss no time to ponder over her feelings or her decisions. Constant war stresses force her to focus on survival rather than love. Although Peta is shown to be an idealistic character, during the series he is tortured and eventually forced into madness. Gale, who began as an idealistic character, quickly puts his ideals aside when it comes to treating his enemies. Gale in fact designs a battle strategy that gets implemented and kills several children including Katniss’ sister (an ironic tragedy because the reluctant hero Katniss was forced to begin her journey just to save her sister in the first place). 

At the end of the series, Katniss is unable to love Gale because he caused her sister’s death, and instead settles down with her recovering friend Peta. Although she finds domestic “bliss” in that she has a husband in Peta at the end of the series, Katniss’ unhappiness is evident in her prominent battle scars and dried-up eyes. The same young adult readers, who had recently read Twilight, find their faith in romance and a just world cruelly destroyed by The Hunger Games.