Children Faced With Adult Situations

       My book club is reading The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. It is about a boy, Matt, and his two little sisters. Their mom is unstable and I think a little bit crazy. She has her own fantasies about how to be a mother, and her children are afraid of her. She's not much of a mother to Matt, Callie, and Emmy. Because of this, Matt has to take the role of being the parent to his siblings. This book has gotten me to think a lot about children. Matt has to be the responsible, caring one in his family to make up for his mother. But is that fair? Shouldn't Matt get to live his life and just be a child since he is one? Or is it really his job to take over for his mother? I think children should be children, and not have to grow up so fast.

       This book has gotten me to think about The Hunger Games, which I read awhile ago. Children are a big theme in the book. Teenagers are put into a rink to kill each other, and to be watched as they do so. I think that what surprised me so much about The Hunger Games was how kids were forced to go in a lottery and the ones chosen would have to fight to their death. It comes down to children killing children, and everybody was forced to watch. For instance, Rue, the youngest tribute, was killed. Rue was just a sweet, innocent little girl, yet she got her life cut so short because of the Hunger Games.

        I think that Rue should have not been killed. She was so young, and she had her whole life ahead of her. All the tributes had their whole lives ahead of them. I don't think that anyone should have been killed in the Hunger Games. I don't think it would be better if adults were in the Hunger Games, either. I think that the Hunger Games are wrong. But when it's just children fighting, I think it makes it worse. At the end of each Hunger Games, more than 20 children are dead. Their lives are ended just like that, all for the enjoyment of the government. When children see that for real, in person or on television, I think they lose some of their innocence. I can't imagine having to watch others killing others, especially people my own age, my peers. It would be too frightening and sad. I also think that it's very disturbing and unsettling.

        Children can't defend themselves like adults can. They're not as wise and physically able as older people. So, in some ways, I think that one reason I was surprised when I read The Hunger Games was that children had to kill other children just to survive. Also, in The Rules of Survival,  I feel myself feeling sad for Matt, because he has had to grow up so fast to be a parent-like figure to his sisters. I don't think that these two books are a lot alike, but in both books, the issue of children taking on adult responsibilities is a big theme.