Summary

In "What We Hunger For," Roxane Gay writes about the popular book series The Hunger Games as a model for female strength. The main character is a "tough young woman who is forced to become even stronger in circumstances that might otherwise break her" (137). Gay then shifts the narrative to the story of her sexual assault in middle-school by her then-boyfriend and his friends at a cabin in the woods. After that story, she shifts back to The Hunger Games as a source of hope and strength for young people who suffer unendurable circumstances.

The next essay explores the complicated subject of trigger warnings and whether or not they are useful to survivors of trauma. Gay argues both sides but ultimately isn't in favor of trigger warnings because she doesn't believe they are effective. She feels it is impossible to...