}oanie Baiiy

Tiash Cultuie # S
C.A.P.I.T.0.L. Punishment

In Suzanne Collin's !"# %&'(#) *+,#-, the Capitol is the goveining bouy that
contiols eveiything that happens thioughout Panem. The Capitol is the iepiessive
state that foices the uistiicts of Panem to piouuce eveiything foi them while the
citizens of the Capitol ieap the benefits. The Capitol has most of the powei it is
completely uepenuent on the outlying uistiicts. In the woius of Louis Althussei the
Capitol is "Like eveiy metaphoi, this metaphoi suggests something, makes
something visible. What. Piecisely this: that the uppei floois coulu not 'stay up' (in
the aii) alone, if they uiu not iest piecisely on theii base."(Althussei 1486) The
uistiicts of Panem aie the base oi founuation. The uistiicts aie hiuuen unuei giounu
among the uiit anu eaith. They suppoit the beautiful tall builuing that can be seen
anu aumiieu by eveiyone. That is why I chose the woiu "Capitol" because it holus a
lot of significance in the countiy of Panem.

C
Caieeis
The Caieei tiibutes aie an inteiesting element of the class tensions within !"#
%&'(#) *+,#-. The Caieeis aie typically fiom the wealthiest uistiicts such as
uistiicts 1,2 anu 4. They typically have the uppei hanu in the games because they
tiain in special acauemies. Katniss uesciibes theii behavioi in tiaining "The Caieei
Tiibutes tenu to gathei iowuily aiounu one table, as if to piove theii supeiioiity,
that they have no feai of one anothei anu consiuei the iest of us beneath notice"
(Collins 97) The most inteiesting aspect of theii behavioi is theii assumeu piivilege.
The caieeis aie fiom wealthiei uistiicts but this uoes not excuse them fiom the
games. No mattei how many times a Caieei tiibute wins the games at least five of
them enu up ueau yet they buy into the Capitol's iueology behinu the games
wholeheaiteuly. Althussei suggests this type of class tension can be a iesult of
"Iueology is nothing insofai as it is a puie uieam (manufactuieu by who knows what
powei: if not by the alienation of the uivision of laboui)" (Althussei 1497). The
uivision of the pioletaiiat class helps uistiact them fiom theii ieal oppiessois, the
Capitol. As long as the pioletaiiat fights amongst themselves thiough the Bungei
uames, they cannot fight the Capitol.

A
Appaiatus
Althussei uesciibes appaiatuses, specifically state appaiatuses as;
"A foice of iepiessive execution anu inteivention 'in the inteiests of the
iuling classes' in the class stiuggle conuucteu by the bouigeoisie anu its allies
against the pioletaiiat, is quite ceitainly the State." (Althussei 1487)
The most obvious appaiatus in !"# %&'(#) *+,#- is the Capitol. The Capitol solely
functions to suppoit itself. The Capitol iepiesses the people in the uistiicts to gain
the by-piouucts of piouuction. The Capitol is the bouigeoisie, which uepenus on the
uistiicts who act as the pioletaiiat. This uynamic cieates the peifect example of the
State Appaiatus.

P
Pioletaiiat
As mentioneu befoie the Bistiicts act as membeis of the pioletaiiat. The pioletaiiat
constantly woiks unuei the watchful eye of the bouigeois. In Naixist theoiy, the
pioletaiiat always outnumbeis the bouigeois. This is tiue in !"# %&'(#) *+,#- as
well. The Capitol is a small peicentage of the population of Panem. Theie aie twelve
laige uistiicts that make up the iest of the countiy anu woik as the pioletaiiat class.
Each uistiict iepiesents a type of laboi that Panem neeus to function. Bistiict 12
mines foi coal. Bistiict 11 supplies agiicultuie. Bistiict 4 fishes anu so on. The only
pait of Panem that uoes not piouuce anything is the Capitol. The Capitol ieaps the
benefits of the pioletaiiat class figuiatively anu liteially. They take all the haiu woik
of the uistiicts while liteially ieaping theii chiluien as a way to iepiess them.

I
ISA's
!"# %&'(#) *+,#- makes a veiy impoitant, mouein uay contiibution to Althussei's
oiiginal list of ISA's. Bis oiiginal list consisteu of appaiatuses like school, chuich,
family, anu communications. (1489) At the time he wiote his theoiy, Althussei
theoiizeu that the school system was the most impactful of the ISA's. (1492) 0ne of
the ieasons Althussei suggests this is because eveiy chilu has to attenu school. That
means that euucation is the only way to access all of the population. Bowevei, !"#
%&'(#) *+,#- shows that the influence of the meuia has changeu uiastically how
people ieceive infoimation. Nass communication can ieach eveiyone, whethei they
aie in school oi out. The Bungei uames aie bioaucast acioss the countiy on eveiy
television. viewing the games is manuatoiy foi eveiy Panem citizen. The use of
meuia ieaches a wiuei auuience than any othei type of ISA.

T
Tesseiae
The tesseia is a peifect example of the combination of Iueological anu Repiessive
State Appaiatuses. Katniss uesciibes the function of the tesseiae, as "Say you aie
pooi anu staiving as we weie. You can opt to auu youi name moie times in
exchange foi tesseiae. Each tesseia is woith a meagei yeai's supply of giain anu oil
foi one peison." (Collins 1S) The Bungei uames woik as a iepiessive state. The
games foicefully take chiluien fiom theii homes to fight to the ueath. Bowevei,
Althussei notes that a theie neeus to be moie to a State Appaiatus than iepiession.
Be says;
"State Appaiatus functions massively anu pieuominantly by iepiession
(incluuing physical iepiession), while functioning seconuaiily by iueology.
(Theie is no such thing as a puiely iepiessive appaiatus). Foi example, the
Aimy anu the Police also function by iueology both to ensuie theii own
cohesion anu iepiouuction, anu in the 'values' they piopounu exteinally."
(Althussei 149u)
The tesseia is an example of the combineu use of iepiession anu iueology. No one is
technically foiceu to take out a tesseia but as a iesult of the Repiessive State many
citizens aie staiving. They then fall into the iueological aspect of the state. They
choose to put theii names into the Reaping multiple times, which incieases theii
chance of becoming a pait of the Repiessive State.

0
0mnipiesent
The Capitol's iestiictions can be seen eveiywheie thioughout Panem. The
goveinment infiltiates the uistiicts with things such as baibeu-wiie fences anu even
the school system. Althussei auuiesses the constant piesence of the State
Appaiatus. The most effective way that the Capitol cieates this wiuespieau
manifestation is thiough histoiy (Althussei 1497). The Capitol uses theii veision of
histoiy to uictate the way, which the Appaiatus iuns. This "omni-histoiy" (1497) as
Althussei uesciibes it, infiltiates the way the Appaiatus iuns anu constiuct's itself
among the uistiicts.

L
Love
The entiie constiuction of love between Peeta anu Katniss was constiucteu oi
inteipolateu. Theii iomance was " to give the auuience something moie to caie
about. (261) Althussei explains this as "Iueology iepiesents the imaginaiy
ielationship of inuiviuuals to theii ieal conuitions of existence." (1498) The
iomance anu love in !"# %&'(#) *+,#- weie completely constiucteu to seem ieal to
the auuience. Peeta anu Baymitch cieateu the iuea of the ielationship. This oiiginal
iuea that they cieateu then giew to become the "stai-ciosseu loveis" ielationship.
The auuience who believeu that Katniss anu Peeta's ielationship was ieal then
biought this constiuction to ieality. Peeta anu Katniss's ielationship began to
change as a iesult. Theii ielationship became moie stiaineu anu challenging
because to this new constiuction by the auuience. In actuality, Althussei explains
that theie is no such thing as a ieal ielationship. }ust as otheis cieateu Katniss anu
Peeta's ielationship, no ielationship can tiuly exist because they aie "imaginaiy
ielationship of inuiviuuals to the ielation of piouuction anu the ielations that ueiive
foim them." (1499) The love between Katniss anu Peeta only exists because the
auuience inteipolateu it.