Estes 1 Just Another Piece in Their Game: Harsh Tactics of Torture In 1975, the United Nations (UN) defined

torture as an act by which severe pain is inflicted by on a person- with the knowledge of a public official- to gain information or a confession (Card 211). Those for the use of torture argue that these harsh tactics are necessary for enforcing punishment, setting an example for others who might threaten national security, along with sending a message of power to other countries. However; that need for power doesnt justify the mental, physical, and emotional effects that come with the use of torture like the harm to the individual and to those uninvolved in acts of terrorism. There are many methods that could be used for interrogation and punishment, but torture is still used even though it isnt strictly regulated. Although the government may find it to be effective, even with newer, more advanced options, these inhumane techniques make leading countries, like the United States, appear to be unnecessarily cruel when punishment is needed. The practice of torture harms the victims, perpetrators, and citizens by needlessly enforcing fear by violent means, grossly ignoring human rights and operating in secrecy. Not only is this practice occurring, both in The Hunger Games trilogy and currently today in wartime between countries like the United States and Iraq, but it happens behind closed doors hidden from the public. If you can harm someone, or even kill them, with no one caring or noticing, do you become a country to look to for guidance or a country to fear? In Suzanne Collins book, Mockingjay, Katniss publicizes the true horrors of torture in a time of war when she is first aired on TV, standing in District 8 after an unarmed hospital full of innocent people has been bombed. She looks into the eyes of the camera and into the eyes of the citizens of Panem and states you know who they are and what they do (Collins 105). By they she refers to the Capitol, the government, and the fact that now is not the time to turn a blind eye

Estes 2 on the issues at hand, namely, relentless, merciless torture. She illustrates the unnecessary use of torture techniques placed by the government, techniques that they cant explain or justify the loss of innocent lives, due to terrorism caused by a few. Terrorism could be defined as Katniss finding the chink in the Capitols force field, revealing that there is weakness within the Capitol and those who hold control. Another example would be planes hijacked by terrorist and then crashing into the Twin Towers on 9/11, revealing weakness within the security of the United States. The Capitol refers to the Dark Days as to why they must continue with the Hunger Games, an act that was meant to underline who held power and control. The United States faced the same issue following 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves came off Shannon Bosch states meaning the citizens of the United States became engulfed in the war against terrorism and that some of the torture techniques used for interrogation simply seemed necessary and just as a result of the attacks on the United States (Bosch 185). Just as Bosch explains the necessity for this technique, Louis Melancon discusses justice within war, and mentions the term jus in bello, which means right conduct within war (225). Melancons idea of the conduct used within war helps ask the question of whether or not torture is the right conduct to be used by the United States on its enemies, challenging Boschs statement. Whether it is right or wrong, when it comes to torture it is as if any reason will validate the use of it, as long as those in higher power seek it to be necessary. Out of the eyes of the public, the known amount of torture reported is just a sliver to the mass amounts happening world-wide with little regulation, just as the Capitol inflicted across Panem. Christopher Einolf, a professor at the University of Virginia who has analyzed the rise of torture, states than an increase in torture is due to an increase in intensity of current wars and recently during the Iraqi war, there have been increased reports of torture. Torture has always

Estes 3 been used, just hidden from the general public. Einolf highlights this in his article on the rise and fall of torture by bringing up the issue in 2004 when the photos of torture conducted by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was released, bringing the true horrors of hidden torture into the light of the world (Einolf 102) . These images appalled the public, and finally exposed the hidden truth, just as the videos shown throughout Panem from District 13 exposed the true horrors caused by those in power at the Capitol. Continuing with the Abu Ghraib case, Jennifer Harbury explains that newly captured prisoners of the U.S. forces were being beaten, confined to tiny rooms, blindfolded, thrown against walls, bound in painful positions (Harbury 9). These graphic images opened shrouded eyes of the public to the real horrors that happen in the world, let alone caused by their own country. Torture was no longer a tactic used on a possible threat that could cause another 9/11, but was more of a routine happening over the seas away from the American people. Harburys description closely resembles that of Katnisss when she finds her prep team half-naked, bruised, and shackled to the wall hidden in one of the many rooms of District 13 (Collins 46). These conditions appall Katniss and slowly changes her view on who is running District 13 and how it is being run behind closed doors and out of the eyes of the public. Although the Eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that the United States must refrain from the use of cruel and unusual punishment and limits the severity of that punishment, but the death penalty is still used today, so is there truly any protection against torture? Einoff continues to explain torture happening in the world today is due to an increase in the number and severity of international conflicts These conflicts may include issues like the treatment of prisoners of war in places like the United States with Japan, or Vietnam with the United States. Even though these imprisoned soldiers contained little information that may be of

Estes 4 use to the opposing side, (Einoff 114) just as Peeta contained barely any knowledge on the rebels attack. Although this doesnt stop him from being tortured. After Katniss first message from District 8 airs on television, the image of Peeta a person badly damaged is displayed on T.V. across Panem (Collins 112). Peeta is damaged or tortured due to the actions of others just as many imprisoned soldiers have been tortured with very little means to do so. The Capitol sought out Peeta for information but when that did not suffice, they used him as a tool to torture Katniss, by harming her close friend, someone she loves. Peeta isnt even the Mockingjay for the rebels but he is still left in the clutches of the Capitol just to torture Katniss mentally. The Capitol has no regulation for their interrogation so Peeta is merely a disposable pawn. This idea of hurting someone mentally by inflicting pain on a loved one is seen again in Mockingjay, on Finnick and Annie. Annie is Finnicks true love, who he eventually marries in District 13, and after the force field is broken in the second book, Annie is also taken prisoner by the Capitol. Finnick even knows she had no information to offer the Capitol on the rebels and he would never put her in risk that way. Instead, she is taken merely to hurt Finnick with the idea of torturing the innocent girl he loves. This thought almost drives Finnick to the point that he almost goes mad. The Capitol has no regard for these pawns as long as their targets, like Katniss and Finnick, are hurt by these actions. Sometimes there seems to be no logic with cruelty like this, and when someone is a foreigner in an unknown area like Peeta, a victory from District 12 in the Capitol, punishment and interrogation arent regulated to the degree that would be placed on citizen within that country. When Katniss prep team is in District 13 this limited regulation is also seen. When Katniss asks the guard the reason for this torture the response from the guard is for stealing food. We had to restrain them after an altercation over some bread (Collins 48). Something so

Estes 5 meager, in the eyes of citizens of the Capitol, end up having such strict punishment in District 13. Notice how the guard refers the prep team as being restrained whereas Katniss describes them being bounded to the wall or shackled. The punishment on the prep team is the same, just viewed differently, just as some view torture to be a necessary enforcement for rules. Yet to Katniss stolen bread doesnt justify for medieval-like torture of being shackled to a wall. Katnisss prep team arent true citizens of District 13, so in that sense the punishment doesnt seem as harsh as Katniss sees it. Even Gale questions why she cares so much about them. To him they are foreigners and are worthy of their punishment for prettying Katniss up for slaughter (Collins 53). Thats where many people question the definition of torture. Think of 9/11 today and the result it has had on many civilians, not just enemies of the United States. Is it justifiable to harm or kill so many, for what a few has done to us? The definition of torture changes in the eyes of the beholder. Some agree with Gale in the sense that even though many of the civilians are not even smart or blind of reality, this is not an excuse and is their fault. In the end, the ignorance of the truth with the civilians in the Capitol, doesnt justify for the actions of their country as a whole and isnt an excuse to avoid any penalty. (Collins 53). Although in Katnisss eyes District 13 should be above these tactics of punishment but instead uses this torture to send a message to Katniss, just as countries today try to highlight both who is in charge, and who is in power (Collins 50). The debate over the reasons for torture continues but no reasons can validate the cause of it. These reasons for torture are meager in comparison to the life it effects. These ideas show that not only the enemies, like the Capitol, use gruesome torture to exemplify power but also those who seem above such medieval tactics, like District 13, revert to these actions all in the name of power.

Estes 6 New technology offers a new way a thinking, and possibly a new form of interrogation. Even the FBI has pointed out that suspects are more likely to confess, when investigated by an official who interrogates them with respect, rather than tortured, a practice that degrades the person to that of an animal (Harbury 166). Rather than using these new tactics, they still rely on the old techniques for interrogation, which many would define as torture. Eyewitnesses report current interrogation techniques, which include entering interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water as one FBI agent described a technique examined against Guantanamo detainees (Harbury 18). An interrogation technique like that seen in Guantanamo Bay, are below the standards of a superpower, like the United States, and goes in reverse acts at the level of the possible threat rather than above it. This again resembles the conditions places on the prep team in District 13, an interrogation or punishment technique that doesnt seem to match the high tech standards of a whole community that has managed to survive underground and defy the forces of the Capitol. Even in the United States, police uses brutality that isnt as harsh as water boarding, but still can be damaging. Police brutality is where officials force confessions on those in custody. In Chicago prisoners would come into the prosecutor's offices bleeding, lumpy, and injured, signed their false confessions and faced the consequences that would follow (Guarino). Forced interrogations and brutality caused by officials happens not only in the United States but worldwide. In India a trio suspected of murder were beaten up and tortured during the custodial interrogation by police (Times 2). This is definitely not the first account of the brutality of interrogation, but it helps exemplify the fact that torture is still a worldwide problem, both on a small-scale, like the police brutality in Chicago or large-scale, like the practices used in

Estes 7 Guantanamo Bay. There are other methods for interrogation yet law enforcement defies the law, at times, which in the end only hurts the victim and the accountability of the law. According to Brian Duignans definition of water-boarding, it is a method of torture in which water is poured into the nose and mouth of a victim who lies on his back on an inclined platform, with his [or her] feet above his head causing the sense of drowning (1). It has been found that Guantanamo Bay used the tactics of water boarding, a form of torture that is suspected to have been used on Johanna. Katniss muses, I think of the way Johanna never showers. How she forced herself into the rain like acid that day (Collins 253). Katniss uses the simile of the rain to acid to help emphasize the mental pain Johanna faces at the thought of something as simple and harmless as rain. It is assumed that when Johanna was captured in the Quarter Quell and taken to the Capitol, that she was interrogated in a method that closely related to water boarding. This was a personal attack used against Johanna, as Haymitch points out her fear is caused by the torture the Capitol inflicted on her when she was capture. He stated that they soaked her and then used electric shocks (Collins 253). This technique shows that its method has harmed her long-term mentally. When Katniss goes to see Johanna, after she was sent to the hospital having faced her worst fear of water when on the block, Katniss notices the attitude of Johanna who is normally abrasive has been stripped away leaving a girl too frightened to stay awake against the power of drugs. Terrified of what sleep will bring (Collins 255). Johanna is no longer seen the same way at this point. She has been altered by the Capitol and as a result is scarred for life. Katniss strong use of language help emphasizes the effect of torture used and the drastic ways it can change someone. The effects of torture are seen throughout many of the characters in the Mockingjay, and help illustrate the social injustice that violates human rights when torture is used. Peeta was

Estes 8 hijacked mentally by the Capitol, leaving a shell of what he used to be. The old Peeta takes much effort to bring him back, even though he continues to be haunted by the past at times. Katniss even points out that there are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashback are over (Collins 390). This statement proves the lasting effect torture has had on Peeta. Sure it is easy to feel sympathy for Peeta, as throughout the novels many readers have grown to love him, but what about the real victims of torture? Due to historical events like 9/11, people dont derive a sympathy for someone who is portrayed as a bad guy. Its like killing the children of the Capitol in another Hunger Games, due to the actions of a few, like President Snow. While people who do commit crimes deserve punishment, is it justified to harm so many people, in hopes of catching a few? The methods of interrogation not only leave physical scars, but also mental scars that alter the victims life, if they even survive the torture, just as Peetas life is forever changed. Some of these effects include remembering the other prisoners scream or the rapes, the sexual assaults, and the methodical, excruciating electrical shocks (Harbury 102). It is as if human rights are erased, when someone is a foreigner or a potential threat to the United States, and the regard for their life and how it will be effected by the use of torture is ignored. In the mist of the debate of a final Hunger Games with the Capitols children, it is Beetee who explains that now is not the time to repeat the past, but to lead with new methods, being both powerful yet humane. His few words speak wisdom and finds the light amongst the fog that surrounds the post-war Panem. Beetee refers to the fact that we need to view the people of the Capitol as more than enemies. A simple ideal that could be applied to any race, ethnicity, gender, etc. It is time for the United States to lead as a superpower rather than degrade itself to these medieval concepts. Torture is a tactic that is still used today. Government officials inflict pain on

Estes 9 suspects, at the idea of them being a possible threat to the United States Government. There are other options than torture to be used for interrogation in the United States but it continues to be used multiple times, stripping away morality and placing a mask over the ugly truth that lies behind closed doors. A country that seeks social justice for its citizens and abandons it towards other. The practice of torture must end for the sake of all of those involved and their human rights.

Estes 10 Works Cited Bosch, Shannon. Torture-lite in the Wild Zone of Power. The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa July 2005: 184-209. Print. Card, Claudia. Confronting evils: terrorism, torture, and genocide. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Print. Duignan, Brian. Waterboarding. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2013. Web. Einolf, Christopher. The Fall and Rise of Torture: A Comparative and Historical Analysis. Sociological Theory June 2007: 101-21. Guarino, Mark. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologizes for two decades of police torture. Christian Science Monitor. Boston 12 Sep. 2013, USA: Newsbank. Web. 13 Sep. 2013. Print. Harbury, Jennifer. Truth, Torture, and the American way: the history and consequences of U.S. Involvement in torture. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005. Print. Melancon, Louis. Starting Fires Can Get You Burned: The Just-War Tradition and the Rebellion against the Capitol. The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure Treason. Ed. William Irwin. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. 222-34. Print. The Times of India: Trio accused of murder allege torture in police custody. Times of India [Mumbai, India] 19 June 2013: NewsBank. 13 Sep. 2013. Web.