Katniss ~killin it~ during the Victory Tour (Madame X by John Singer Sargent housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
So here we are with the second part of our story, Catching Fire. When we left Katniss and Peeta, they had just left the arena as WINNERS but it’s, of course, a shallow victory because they have to go back to essentially the same life. Well, except they’re stinking rich now and live in way nicer houses. OH and evil President Snow is *pissed* at Katniss because her act of defiance in the Games has sparked rebellion throughout the districts. So he shows up in District 12 and is like “1) don’t do that, and 2) let’s make a deal where we always tell each other the truth and if you don’t agree to this deal I’ll kill everyone you love.” So Katniss is like “uh… okay I guess?” because she doesn’t actually have a choice. I hate when adults do that >:(
Okay so Kat and Peet get all gussied up and go on this country-wide Victory Tour and for whatever reason they decide to pretend that Katniss is pregnant? Or maybe that comes later I don’t really remember, but at some point in this book before the Games start up again they pretend she’s pregnant and they’re engaged. Aside from that, the tour is fine and peachy until they get to District 11 and some old guy whistles Katniss’s and Rue’s special tune and then gets killed. When they get back from the Victory Tour they find out there have been more rebellions and Katniss is all “whoops” but it’s too late because the Peace Keepers are doing everything but keeping peace if you catch my drift.
Rebellions in the districts (The Abduction of the Sabine Woman by Nicolas Poussin housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
So this year’s Hunger Games are special because every 25 years they decide to shake it up and call it the Quarter Quell. This is the third Quarter Quell and the fun, quirky thing they’re doing is that all of the tributes have to be previous winners. Katniss and Haymitch think Peeta is too frail and don’t want him to be in the games, but Peeta is like “uh, rude” and volunteers before anyone can do a damn thing about it. So, surprise, surprise, Kat and Peet are back in business.
They go to the Capitol, schmooze with the other victors-turned-tributes, train again and do more interviews! Y’all… Cinna really pulled out all the stops with this one. So you know how Kitty Kat is supposedly pregnant and engaged? He gets her in this gorgeous white dress, and then has her spin onstage which makes the dress get engulfed by flames (yasss Girl on Fire!) and then it turns into a black dress that looks like a mockingjay which is a total slap in the face to the Capitol because those birds really fucked them up during the civil war or whatever 75 years ago. Unfortunately, this kickass dress gets Cinna Killed :/
Alright so the games start and they quickly-ish figure out that the arena is a clock. Every hour, a different section has something horrible going on that will probz kill someone, so they gotta vamoose outta there on time. Kinda like in Battle Royale (not that I’m implying anything). This thing works perfectly, like… clockwork (•_•) / ( •_•)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■) yeeeeaaahhhhh!!
A map of the arena (Nahalal by Gal Weinstein housed in the Israel Museum)
So this time there’s a lot less killing and overall violence than in the last book, and since these tributes are a bunch of nerds they do a lot of work to figure out how to manipulate the different components of the arena to benefit them. Honestly, most of this part didn’t stick with me. Lot’s of fast-paced action and whatever. But they decide to manipulate the lightning, originally to kill someone, but then Katniss makes it break the forcefield around the arena, which disables it. But surprise!! That was the plan all along and a hijacked Capitol aircraft comes and picks up Katniss and friends. She wakes up and Gale is there and he’s like “Hey Catnip [whaddup cutest nickname] we’re going to District 13. Remember earlier in the book there were rumors that it turned into an underground resistance? Also District 12 was destroyed but your fambam is safe ur welcome.” Aw but sad news they couldn’t get Peeta which is kinda messed up right? The end.
Until Mockingjay.
By: Maya
Check out Part 1: The Hunger Games to remember why you read this book in the first place and here’s Part 3: Mockingjay
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