I argue that Rand created an archetype of the female rebel that we now see emerging in the identified texts, the coming-of-age Randian heroine i.e., a young female protagonist with an ethical system that is congruous with Objectivism.
I focus on Ayn Rand, her influence on politics and literature, and the similarities between her work, Atlas Shrugged, and these contemporary YA critical dystopias. In examining these works through an Objectivist lens, I make an original contribution to the field of literary criticism by addressing the legacy of Rand’s political and ethical philosophy in these contemporary YA critical dystopias. Interwoven with my study on Rand, I focus on four trilogies: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau, Matched by Ally Condie, and Divergent by Veronica Roth. In this thesis, I examine Ayn Rand’s magnum opus Atlas Shrugged and her philosophy of Objectivism, in order to explain how contemporary American young adult critical dystopias are the literary heirs to Rand’s Americanist sociopolitical female-driven novels of rebellion in the face of totalitarian governments. And, this study explains how the Capitol uses their symbol of power which is the Hunger Games as a reminder to prevent any revelation, and how the citizens revolted against that symbol and taking the mockingjay as a symbol for their own uprising and freedom. This study points out that the symbol of power is the Hunger Games, and the symbol of resistance is the mockingjay bird. The study reveals how the symbol of oppressive power contributed to the emergence of the resistance and taking a symbol for their own. Two methods were adopted in this study the descriptive and qualitative method, through analyzing how the symbols of the novel represent the concepts of power and resistance. Panem consists of 13 districts, each provide resources for the Capitol and the citizens. It takes place in the future of North America and has a new name which is Panem. The sample is Catching Fire (2009), a science fiction dystopian novel, and the second book in The Hunger Games (2008) trilogy. This study, aims to investigate how the concepts of power and resistance are manifested in Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire (2009) through symbols.
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