of oppression is possible for other groups who are not strong enough to stand up to those in control.

In both works, the hopelessness and despair which permeate the people and their societies is mitigated with some sense of hope at the end. In Games, Katniss wins the Games and brings some home to her struggling home district; in the epilogue for Tale, we learn that Offred managed to escape and the historians who are meeting seem to indicate that change was not only possible but in fact happened.

The main characters in In Search of our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker are women who are oppressed, much like the women in Tale and all the citizens of District 12 in Games. Walker says of these women:

In the still heat of the post-Reconstruction South, this is how they [black women] seemed...: exquisite butterflies trapped in an evil honey, toiling away their lives in an era, a century, that did not acknowledge them, except at "the mule of the world."

These women are perceived as having no intelligence or creativity, yet they persevered and managed to hand down their creativity from generation to generation. This is similar to the experience of Katniss who, in the midst of poverty and despair, manages to help her family survive because of the skills her father passed on to her. Again there is hope in both Games and Gardens, as the best of these women does manage to continue through future generations.

Obviously all three of these works feature women protagonists, and all of them have a rather life-and-death conflict which the protagonists must face.

Of course these works are also quite different. They are set in different times and places, and the exact struggles they must face are not literally the same. The primary oppressor in each of these stories is distinctly different both in who they are and how they oppress their victims. The oppressor/antagonist in Games is the Capitol and it takes the form of economic oppression. In Tale the oppressor/antagonist is the government and it takes the form of religious oppression. In Gardens, the oppressor is a white-centered society and the oppression is both physical and social.

Another point of contrast is race, as only Gardens has protagonists who are black, and they are real women in history as opposed to the fictional characters in both of the other two works. 

It is obvious that each of these works recounts the stories of characters who are oppressed but manage to rise above their circumstances, even in the face of the worst kinds of adversity. The women in Tale fight for their independence; the women in Gardens fight to be remembered; and Katniss in Games fights for her own survival. 

These two works, A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, do not--at least on the surface--seem to have much of anything in common. A closer look does reveal several points of comparison as well as some significant points of contrast.

Obviously both works were written by females, and both works feature women protagonists. Games features Katniss, a young woman who sacrificially sets herself up as a potential savior of her sister as well as all the people of her district. Room features many women, most of whom succeed in some fashion despite significant oppression and even death, and depicts them as heroes, as well. Katniss is a skilled archer, hunter, and trapper; Woolf's heroines are skilled in significantly different ways. For example, Mary Beton leaves the narrator an inheritance so she is free to write, and Judith Shakespeare demonstrates an artistic genius equal to her "brother" William.

One theme that quickly becomes evident in Games is that a female is as capable as any male in terms of performance, intelligence, and skill; the same theme is evident in Room, though the range of skills in her essay is less physical and therefore less obvious. Both works make the case that when women are given the same opportunities as their male counterparts, they will demonstrate the same--or greater--level of achievement.

Another theme which can be found in both works is the contrast between the privileged class and the underprivileged class. In Games, that theme is demonstrated by money, as in the contrast between the Capitol and District 12. In Room, that theme is demonstrated by gender, as in the contrast between what men are given and what women must fight to get. (This is also a point of contrast, since one work deals with money and one with gender.) She compares the food men are served at male-only universities to the food women are served at female-only universities, and she says that men "feast" and women "sup." Her conclusion is that

[o]ne cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

Food is also a symbol in both works, a symbol of affluence in Games and a symbol of power in Room.

One other theme is survival. In Games it is overt; in Room it is implied, since women have overcome adversity to succeed--including Woolf herself.

In contrast, Games is a novel and Room is a collection of essays which can be read together but do not tell one cohesive story. Katniss's skills are appreciated and applauded by everyone who knows her or sees her in the Games; the skills Woolf's women have are not often appreciated by anyone other than Woolf and the readers to whom Woolf hopes to connect. Katniss wins her challenges and receives the accolades of her world for her victory; most of the women in Room die without ever having achieved the appropriate (or equivalent) recognition for their accomplishments. 

Of course the obvious elements such as setting and style are completely different, as well. Games is a dystopian novel set in a futuristic world (presumably America); Room is a mix of fact and fiction which is clearly focused on British authors and circumstances. Games expresses its themes more subtly as they are woven into the story; Room's themes are more overt because the narrator's commentary is more pointed and obvious.

While they are distinctly different works written in distinctly different genres, The Hunger Games and A Room of One's Own do share some similar elements.