The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins: Literary Analysis

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The Hunger Games Biology ISU The study of biology is not just within the classroom but also outside. It also connects to the world around you, especially in other literature besides the biology textbooks, which you never thought of. One such literature is the novel, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. A variety of situations were encountered by the main characters, Katniss and Peeta, that relate to the biological components we learned in class. In the novel, Katniss and Peeta are both introduced to a different environment as they have to leave their home to participate in the annual Hunger Games, an event in which the participants have to fight till death and the one individual remaining in the end is claimed the winner. (Collins, 2008) Throughout…show more content…
Katniss is dehydrated in the beginning of the game, which causes her water balance to decrease and she needs to quench her thirst. She feels that she’ll start to “deteriorate into helplessness and be dead in week.” (Collins, 154) When the body’s water level decreases, the bloods osmotic pressure increases. The increase in the bloods osmotic pressure is detected by the osmo-receptors in the hypothalamic cells and because of osmosis, these cells shrink. (The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 2015) The initiates a sensation of thirst which is what happened to Katniss. She says, “I become aware of the dryness in my throat and mouth, the cracks in my lips. I’ve been moving all day long. It’s been hot and I’ve sweat a lot.” (Collins, 154) After many days, Katniss finally finds a pond and starts drinking the water with one swallow at a time. The hypothalamus cells in her body shrunk so much that, “over the next couple of hours,” she drank “the entire half gallon.” (Collins, 179) In those couple of hours, the bloods osmotic pressure decreased and water moved from the blood into the hypothalamus. The sensation of thirst then went away (STCC Foundation Press, 2011) once Katniss consumed enough water. Molecular genetics is the…show more content…
(TutorVista.com, 2015) As the hunger game starts, Katniss doesn’t know what to do but all of sudden, “adrenaline shoots through” (Collins, 151) her and she runs in “full speed.” (Collins, 151) As Katniss and Peeta are running for their lives during the hunger games, either from their enemies or the wolf mutts, their bodies require a lot of energy (ATP). Energy is essential in their muscle cells because they’re using more ATP than their body is manufacturing. In other words, they’re using more glucose faster than oxygen is supplied. This causes lactic acid fermentation to occur, where oxygen is unnecessary and ATP is produced faster, (Johnson County Community College, 2006) which also helps Katniss and Peeta to run faster and “without hesitation,” (Collins, 283) they sprint for the table,” (Collins, 283) and then “run away,” (Collins, 288) from the table. The lactate is accumulated in the muscle cells and causes stiffness, soreness and fatigue, so the lactate is transferred to the liver after. (Johnson County Community College, 2006) Once the running stops, the process of lactic acid fermentation stops and aerobic respiration continues. (TutorVista.com,
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