The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and The Hunger Games : Implementing critical literacy in the EFL classroom when reading Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel

Abstract

The primary aim of this master’s thesis has been to examine how the dystopian, young adult novel, The Hunger Games (2008) by Suzanne Collins could entail depictions of violations against the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). The analysis has been conducted based on a theme-based close reading of the novel using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a contextualization device. In addition, the literary analysis has been divided into three sections, namely global, group and the individual perspectives of how incidents in the novel hypothetically violate the Universal Declaration of Human rights. The division was made in order to delineate the social perspective of how literature can amplify the understanding of human rights and societal issues. Furthermore, the secondary aim of this master’s thesis has been to discuss how upper secondary students, when using a critical literacy lens in the English as a Foreign Language classroom, may establish an awareness about other people’s living conditions and fundamental rights that are present in their immediate social vicinity and in this novel.