I finished up Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy today. It was some of the most addictive storytelling I’ve read in a while. The series’ final book, Mockingjay, is a dark, violent statement against the nature of war. Its conclusion leaves us with a set of characters who are deeply broken, slowly trying (with limited success) to piece themselves back together.
The book reminds me of a short essay by C.S. Lewis entitled “Talking About Bicycles”. In it Lewis explains that when it comes to most things there are four ages or perceptions, Unenchanted, Enchanted, Disenchanted, and Re-enchanted. War is used as one of his examples:
“Most of our juniors were brought up Unenchanted about war. The Unenchanted man sees (quite correctly) the waste and cruelty and sees nothing else. The Enchanted man is…thinking of glory and battle-poetry and forlorn hops and last stands and chivalry. Then comes the Disenchanted age…but there is also a fourth stage, though very few people in modern England dare to talk about it. You know quite well what I mean. One is not in the least deceived: we remember the trenches too well. We know how much of the reality the romantic view left out. But we also know that heroism is a real thing, that all the plumes and flags and trumpet of the tradition were not there for nothing. They were an attempt to honour what is truly honourable….”
He goes on to say:
“You read an author in whom love is treated as lust and all war as murder – and so forth. But are you reading a Disenchanted man or only an Unenchanted man? Has the writer been through the Enchantment and come out to the bleak highlands, or is he simply a subman who is free from the love mirage as a dog is free, and free from the heroic mirage as a coward is free? If Disenchanted, he may have something worth hearing to say, though less than a Re-enchanted man. If Unenchanted, into the fire with his book. He is talking of what he doesn’t understand.”
I’m not qualified to determine whether or not Collins is Unenchanted or Disenchanted, but I think it’s a question worth consideration.
I also can’t help but contrast Collins story to Rowling’s Harry Potter. While Hunger Games is far more violent, the basic setup, that of teenagers having been thrown into a war against an evil regime, is quite similar. But Rowling takes more of an Enchanted view. Harry’s victory is celebrated, and, despite heavy losses, “all was well”. While the victory in the Hunger Games is pretty much obscured by the emotional and spiritual damage done to the survivors.
The Lord of the Rings would be a good example of a Re-Enchanted viewpoint. Tolkien was a soldier. He understood the cost of war and that’s reflected in his story. Frodo, for example, is wrecked by his experiences. Yet Tolkien finds an element of honor in war. His Christian hope finds joy in the promise of restoration and in the destruction of evil. Out of the three stories talked about here, it’s clearly the most rounded depiction of war.
