What Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2) Taught Me About Bible Study

In honor of the second “Hunger Games” movie opening this weekend, I’m updating and reposting this article (originally published June 4, 2012) about the novel Catching Fire.

I just finished reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, part 2 of the Hunger Games series (see here for my thoughts on the first book).  The plot pacing and literary devices were similar to the first book, but a few new things struck me in this volume that help with Bible study.

1.  Structure is Your Friend

The Hunger Games is divided into three parts; each part had nine chapters.  Not bad.  It helped me to remember the flow of the story: the Tributes, the Games, the Victor.

Catching Fire has the same structure: three parts with nine chapters each.  A nice, memorable flow: the Spark, the Quell, the Enemy.

I must admit, I looked ahead to the third book.  Guess what?  Three parts, nine chapters each.  Fantastic. That means the entire series is made up of nine parts with nine chapters in each part.  Beautiful symmetry!

It can’t be an accident.  In fact, most chapters (and some of the parts) don’t really end with a scene change the way most books do.  Collins clearly set things up to have the right number of chapter and part divisions.

How does this help with Bible study?  Biblical authors employ the same tactic.  They consciously structure their books so readers can easily remember and assimilate the material.  Here are some examples.

• The Plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7:14-10:29), organized as three sets of three plagues each.  Notice how the first plague of each set begins with something like “Go to Pharaoh in the morning…” (Ex 7:14, 8:20, 9:13).  The tight organization contrasts with the utter chaos resulting from the plagues, and it helps us appreciate the power and majesty of the Lord.
• Jesus’ Sermons in Matthew (Matthew 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-25), dividing the Gospel into five sections.  Each section highlights a particular aspect of what it means to be Jesus’ disciple.  The book climaxes with the Great Commission to go out and make disciples (Matt 28:16-20).

Pay attention to structure, as authors use it to couch their main points in a memorable way.  For more help, I highly recommend The Literary Structure of the Old Testament by David Dorsey.

2.  Plot Twists Have Always been in Style

Catching Fire has lots of plot twists.  Some are clearly foreshadowed; others caught me by surprise.  Modern stories seem boring if they’re too predictable, but Collins delivers engagingly.

Plot twists are not a modern invention; the Bible showed us how to do it long ago.

Readers of the Old Testament expected the Messiah to deliver Israel (Acts 1:6), but who would have guessed that God himself would become a man, be born of a virgin, live in poverty, and die in great shame?  If the rulers of this age had known it, they would not have crucified Jesus (1 Cor 2:7-8).  Many today still read the Bible but miss Jesus, the main point (2 Cor 3:12-16).

Now that we know the end of the story, however, we can go back and get the point.

P.S.  For a fantastic review of the content and ethics of The Hunger Games, see N.D. Wilson’s article posted by Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition. And for a keen but scathing review of the popular response to the Hunger Games franchise, see Scott Mendelson’s review at Forbes.

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