The Hunger Games was a revolutionary series.  It was an idea that nobody had heard of before, something that nobody had ever thought of.  But was it?  The truth of the matter is that The Hunger Games is both a retelling of previous short stories and other choice print, while also being a revolutionary idea.  It's as if the novel was a turning point in which people realized the significance of such downright despicable deeds.  The main character, Katniss, is forced into circumstances that are beyond her control, and therefore has decisions made for her by her society and government.  She is driven by her familial bonds and relations back in District 12, and idea completely different than in Divergent, a novel thought to be closely related to The Hunger Games.  The society in Divergent establishes a clear sense of personal and psychological based decisions, in which personal preference takes precedent above government interference.  When we look at the contrast in societal circumstance between The Hunger Games and Divergent, we can see the variance in how decisions are made; Katniss's decisions in Panem are driven by uncontrollable circumstance while Tris's decisions are based purely on her personal preference.
	
The first point of contrast that the reader can see between Katniss's and Tris's societal differences is during both The Reaping and The Choosing Ceremony.  First addressing The Reaping, we can see the governmental interference in terms of how structured and rule-regulated the ceremony is.  There is no choice but for the citizens of the districts, whether being in the pool of names or not, to attend the ceremony.  While there lies a similarity to The Choosing Ceremony on this point, that is where the similarities end.  The Reaping is entirely focused on the unfortunate, and sadly, inescapable choosing of a tribute to compete in the games.  This is where the government interference that rules The Hunger Games comes into play.  The government makes all of the decisions in this case, and not one choice is left to the citizens of Panem.  In Diveregent, The Choosing Ceremony is primarily based on the choices of individuals.  Personal preference takes precedent in Divergent, no matter the repercussions of such decisions. 
	
When considering if Divergent is a retelling of The Hunger Games, we should take into consideration the differences between each sub-sector of the larger community.  In The Hunger Games, Districts are split up and grouped according to how the government sees fit.  This means grouping districts by items of production, for example textiles, coal, luxury, and so on.  Each district is oppressed due to the level of government interference that takes place throughout Panem.  What is produced, as well as how the members of the districts live, is entirely dictated by the government.  In Divergent, the government does not dictate every aspect of everyday life to the extent that Panem does.  Though there is uniformity to how the factions act, dress, or live, there is still a level of personal choice that takes place every day.  The factions are not split up by production either; so much as they are split up according to personalities.  The common theme in Divergent is how personalities affect a person's choices, and it therefore makes sense that the factions would be dominated by personality types instead of production.
	
Another contrast is that of the familial bonds in both novels.  The Reaping, though unfortunate, strengthens Katniss's sense of familial bond to her mother, sister, and Gale.  What else does she have to hang on to but the strong relationships that she has back home?  She is going to, what she thinks, is her imminent demise and the strongest semblance of reality that she can retain is that of her family back home.  Tris, on the other hand, holds no ties to her family as she deliberately severs the bonds that existed when she chooses Dauntless.  It is tradition for Abnegation to stay with their community.  They have a strong sense of selflessness and big hearts, and it is highly unusual for someone to leave Dauntless and successfully transfer into a different faction.  When Tris does this, she instills a sense of betrayal among her parents.  Adding salt to an already deep wound, her brother did the same in choosing to transfer factions.  The repercussions of decisions based on personal preference in Divergent takes the form of a clear destruction in familial bonds, while the bonds formed in The Hunger Games are strong and existent throughout a majority of the novel.
	
If we analyze the revolutions in both The Hunger Games and Divergent, we see a clear contrast between control.  The revolution in The Hunger Games is a clear statement of revolt by the rebels who are attempting to overthrow the government.  It's a classic case of overthrowing the government and gaining back control of their lives.  But in Divergent, the revolution starts out with the government attempting to overthrow itself.  How is that possible?  Well, the government has leaders in Abnigation who they believe are not satisfactory and who they believe only listen to the selfless aspect of their personalities instead of the personalities of everyone in the society.  This, in turn, sparks a revolution by the government to overthrow the leaders in Abnigation.  So the revolutions are two completely different situations; the oppressed attempting to control the government versus the government taking back control from its leaders.  
	
Psychological torture also takes a different form in the two novels.  One is government inflicted, the other is inflicted by choice.  The Hunger Games is a clear case of the government using psychological torture as blackmail in order to get what they want or need.  It's used in more cases than one in the novel, and is purely a means of torture.  Divergent uses psychological torture as a form of training, preparing the prospective initiates to face their fears in any situation.  As the initiates chose the faction, it is their choice to participate in all of the activities and training exercises.  They also have the choice to become factionless, and though it's not a favorable alternative, it is still an option given to them by Dauntless.  So when we speak of how psychological torture is used, we can see the variance between government inflicted torture and self chosen torture.
	
We can see the varied levels of government interference and control between The Hunger Games and Divergent when we look at how decisions are made; this is important because it shows how Divergent contrasts The Hunger Games on the exact points that The Hunger Games makes so prominent.  Divergent, though considered to be a form of retelling of The Hunger Games, is indeed very different from The Hunger Games.  The idea of a dystopian oppression came about long before The Hunger Games, and was just made more applicable to modern day life by Suzanne Collins.  Divergent is a novel based more on personal choices and preferences than it is based on a government-overthrow.  The novel prefers personal choice over familial bonds and, though that may seem heartless, it is different than what takes precedent in The Hunger Games, which are those familial bonds.  It's as if the government oppression forces those familial bonds to become stronger, while personal choice weakens them.  These two novels prove this in their varied view on relationships versus personal choice.  Katniss has a very small span of personal choice, and this in turn allows her to strengthen her relationships back home.  Tris, on the other hand, chooses something completely out of the normal, and loses what bonds she had with her family.  On top of that, her brother added to the sense of severed bonds.  It is imperative to realize that Tris and Katniss differ in terms of government interference when it comes to decisions.

