In reply to FunkyPlaid.

That's kind of what I was thinking, but I was trying to come up with the best way to say it.

To be completely fair, it's not "every character," since Rue & Thresh turn out to be two pretty major characters. And I haven't read the sequels, but I get the impression that race is given more significance in the later books, when they go more into the details and history of the other districts.

(I do think it's kind of a clunky allegory to have your agricultural district be predominately black; in a sci-fi story about a dystopian fascist government, there's room for subtlety in a discussion about slavery. But again, I haven't read the books so I can't say. Maybe it's an un-subtle idea that's presented perfectly well).