#l4a blogs

[looking4answers25]

Listen, logically, I know that Finnick dies in MJ. But spiritually? No thanks. Apparently I simply erased it from my memory?

I just reached the part where Boggs dies (?? didn't remember him before re-reading but I love him) and I suddenly remembered.

Finnick Odair? Who was traumatized since age 14, sold to the Capitol upper crust by his president, found true love, made it out of the Hunger Games for a second time, re-traumatized himself to air the Capitol and Snow's dirty laundry and aid in rescuing Peeta, Annie, and Johanna, got the love of his life back and married her? Only to be killed by horrifying mutts in the sewers of the Capitol?!? (if i remember correctly).

No. I refuse. When I get to that part, I will simply not vibe with it - he was magically teleported back to 13 to reunite with Annie and live happily ever after. I simply do not see or hear differently.

[looking4answers25]

Cinna in HG

I was surprised by how much I adored Cinna while re-reading HG. I want to know his story. Why did he request to work with the District 12 tribute for his first year as a stylist?

I loved how much he cared about Katniss. How much effort he put into comforting her and how aware he was of the horror of the hunger games system, unlike the rest of the prep team.

In his first conversation with her, he sees the way she looks at the food - mentally calculating how replicating it (poorly) would cost at least a week's worth of work if not more.

"How despicable we must seem to you," he says.

He's the reason Katniss (and Peeta) made such a splash during the opening ceremony. He made them memorable before the country knew anything about them but their names and Katniss taking her sister's place.

Katniss, the girl who was on fire.

Cinna is also the one who suggested they hold hands when they ride in the chariots - it's the most obvious difference between them and the other tributes and sets them apart, besides their costumes - they're a team, not enemies.

"Whose idea was the hand holding?" asks Haymitch.

"Cinna's," says Portia.

"Just the perfect touch of rebellion," says Haymitch. "Very nice."

At the end of the book, Cinna (like Haymitch) is very aware of the danger Katniss and Peeta are in, and does his best to help them. Through out the book, you can see how appearances are deceiving but they can also be used to benefit the oppressed. After the games, it's for survival. Cinna dressed Katniss so she looks innocent, harmless, and younger than she is. It doesn't matter that the country watched her kill others and fight fiercely for survival. Though Cinna brushes off the clothing choice as accommodating Peeta's preferences, Katniss hears the warning underneath and Haymitch clarifies it for her - the Capitol is furious she circumvented the rules.

It's like she says when she's about to reunite with Peeta for the victory ceremony - the most dangerous part of the Hunger Games is about to begin.

[looking4answers25]

Gale and Katniss - Friends to Strangers

I'm just doing some reading and research on different humanities approaches to studying fictional characters and had a sudden and unexplained bout of rage about Gale? I still have to finish re-reading/watching mockingjay but it just popped into my head.

That scene of Katniss being kind and worried about her prep team after finding them starving and hurt in District 13? I understand that Gale is angry and traumatized - he watched his home being fire bombed and lost most of his town - people he saw everyday. He needs to direct it somewhere and the Capitol is his true target, I understand and empathize. But the prep team - people who are actually fond of Katniss - who were indoctrined all their life and probably until being captured and tortured by 13 didn't really understand the reality of the world they lived in do not deserve his attitude. Nor does Katniss for being kind to people who have been unjustly hurt. That pissed me off. Being angry at her for being kind? Being empathetic?

I don't remember what teenage me thought about Gale exactly, I remember not really liking him much. Thinking back, it was most likely because of his entitlement about Katniss - as if all that time hunting with Katniss means she somehow belonged to him. That idea of ownership, the times he kissed her - always making it about how he needed to do it at least once or he knew she'd kiss him because he was hurt. Not once about love - not implied or otherwise. I've reblogged a post or two of other people talking about Gale having issues with Katniss choosing to spend time with people other than him (unless it's Prim), specifically Finnick. Katniss has grown since her times in the Games and has empathy for people who appear to 'have it all' like those from the wealthier districts and Finnick. She talks to Prim and Finnick about Peeta because they understand that he is important to her, beyond their 'star-crossed lovers' act/reality. But Gale hasn't - in his head, Peeta is a part of the Games still - something that 'took' Katniss away from him. In HG and CF for the games, the quell, and their engagement, and in MJ when she worries about him both before and after Peeta is rescued. That part where Gale offers to kill him for Katniss made me so angry. The idea of 'putting down' someone who can't help their condition, the lack of empathy.

Katniss and Gale were both parentified after their fathers died, Katniss more so because her mom checked out, but it seems like while Katniss grew to be more protective and defensiveness of those she loves, Gale became more aggressive and offensive. Kill or be killed. It's not that I don't understand. I don't like him but he is an interesting character. And SC absolutely fleshed out her characters so well. Readers mostly show the differences between Peeta and Gale, and Katniss and Peeta, but I think it is so so important to also contrast Gale and Katniss. These friends who depended on each other to feed their families who were so deeply twisted by their traumas they became strangers with little in common and no trust between them.

As an adult, reading the books, even from Katniss' perspective - Gale and Katniss don't fit together, slowly growing apart even as they apparently get closer. Not as friends by the time they're in District 13, let alone anything more intimate. The little moments lack the emotional intimacy of those cave scenes and train moments between Katniss and Peeta in HG and CF respectively. Gale and Katniss are both traumatized and twisted by their experiences and their new selves don't fit, not even as hunting partners. Even when they go above ground to hunt in MJ, they have an argument - it's completely different from how they interact in HG.

Gale became more utilitarian and ruthless, less empathetic, from "How different could it be?" (killing humans after hunting animals) in HG to not caring if the workers in District 2 are killed by being trapped in the Nut (mines) in MJ. Katniss in that scene is one of my favourite scenes of her.

Katniss remained kind and empathetic even with her defensiveness - think of the people she cared about and how much she gives people without expecting anything back. Her alliance with Rue - she didn't really care about what she could get back, it was more about protecting this clever little girl who reminded her of her sister. In CF, Katniss wanted Beetee, Wiress, and Mags as allies - she wanted to protect them. These clever, older, people no longer in peak physical condition - who should have been left in peace. Katniss is aware her prep team are silly and vapid but she doesn't really blame them for their ignorance.

Everyone talks about Peeta being kind, and he absolutely is, but Katniss is kind too. Her self-esteem and image of herself is flawed and as an unreliable narrator - her inner monologue doesn't let her see it.

[looking4answers25]

Katniss shoving Buttercup in her bag (Mockingjay Part 1) is so funny.

[looking4answers25]

Where is it?!

I don't know much about North American geography but man I wanna know where all the districts in The Hunger Games are - I want to be able to look up these places and get it. Not that SC doesn't do a fantastic job describing places, I'm sure at least people from the places she's describing recognize it, but i want to knowwww too. Don't keep it a secret! I know from HG that District 12 is a part of Appalachian mountains - but like where? Which states? And how big is it? I know the mountain range crosses multiple states.

What about the other districts? Where is D13 if it's a little beyond the woods of 12?

Anyone got any ideas?

[looking4answers25]

Prettying up The Hunger Games - a la the Capitol

One important thing that happens in the book is that Rue is the first real source Katniss has for information from another district (11) that is not censored by the Capitol. It's where she learns that the kids are pulled out of school to work the fields during the harvest, that they're whipped for even slight infractions as enforced by the Mayor, where a boy was executed for taking a pair of night vision goggles. She's aware that their conversation will be blocked by the Capitol so that the districts remain ignorant of the conditions in other districts. It makes Katniss reflect on how, in comparison, District 12 doesn't seem too bad - where the Mayor and Head Peacekeeper buy from known poachers (Katniss and Gale), and peacekeepers are some of their best customers, and the electrified fence on the edge of the district is rarely active.

I feel like the movie not showing that conversation is reflective of how the Capitol hides the 'ugly' parts of history and the games. The same way that any oppressive regime controls the media narrative - not showing the truth of the conditions of their people.

It also erases the disability representation - specifically Katniss and Peeta. The movie doesn't show how Katniss loses her hearing and has difficulty navigating because it takes away one of the senses she needs most while hunting. She only regains it because of the Capitol healing her. It doesn't show how Peeta's leg was so far gone he had to get a prosthetic. He was close to the death and dying of sepsis (blood poisoning) due to infection and Katniss did a lot to try and heal him but was failing until they received the medication needed. He only survived because Katniss was determined and wanted him to live.

The movie did so many good things with the sound - voices being muffled when Effie is blathering on while driving to the train in District 12 to indicate Katniss is not listening, the muffled audio when Katniss gets on stage for her interview showing her out-of-body experience, the ringing noise as soon as the Game begins showing the utter confusion and disorientation of the beginning, the ringing in the ears after Katniss explodes the Careers' food storage. I think it was a missed opportunity to imply how developed Capitol technology was and how they fixed absolutely everything they thought made her 'not pretty' via full body polish. Katniss loses the callouses she had from years of hard work, all the evidence and physical reminders of the Games and her years in District 12 and the woods beyond it but is left with the Trauma.

One of the things that confused me was the immediate rioting in District 11 after Rue's death in the movie. There was also another young boy (not sure from which district) and Cato kills him right at the start - which is horrifying but there's no reaction to that. Why? There must have been other young tributes like Rue that didn't have someone volunteer to take their place so why? It would have been more hard hitting if Katniss had gotten the bread from District 11 as she did in the book because I cried when I read that. I feel like the movie showing the violence of the rioting but not the gifting of the bread falls in line with Capitol ideals - showing the audience the violent reaction as part of the entertainment. After all, global news is often inundated with the violent, horrible, incidents and events rather than the good and hopeful ones because the former gets more engagement.

The movie takes away how unorthodox it was for a district to send something to a tribute other than their own. How District 11 decided to go against the rules of the Games by sending Katniss the bread. It speaks far louder than the overt rioting while still being an act of dissent by the people of District 11 - thanking Katniss for her kindness toward one of their own.

"My thanks to the people of District 11"

[looking4answers25]

Rue and Katniss - Book vs Movie

So one of the things I'm interested in character agency and characterization in THG. Here's where Rue comes in.

In the book, she says in her interview with Caesar Flickerman that she's quick. Her whole strategy is evasion - they can't kill her if they can't catch her, flitting between the trees like a bird. But in the movie, she's an instigator and the initiator of her alliance with Katniss: - she steals a knife and hides up in the ceiling sparking an argument between two tributes - she indicates the tracker jacker nest to Katniss and tells her to cut it down to hurt the Careers waiting below

She also starts healing Katniss while she's knocked out - which is sweet but doesn't really make sense to do in the Games.

In the book, Katniss tells her "they're not the only ones who can have an alliance". Once informed about the hive, she warns Rue away and Katniss decides to cut it down to hurt them. They exchange resources and information. They have more time to develop a friendship and they talk about more than just Peeta (Rue teasing Katniss about him in the movie is a bit - out of place? It makes Rue look cute and little sister like but it replaces some important information about District 11).

We don't learn that Rue is the oldest of a bunch of children, that she's so good in the trees because that's what she does for a living, that she's good at gathering plants and that's how she knows how to heal Katniss from the tracker jacker stingers.

Though Rue's death in both book and movie is devastating, Katniss reaction is so different. Her loud sobbing in the movie would have made her an easy target - not something she would have done. In the book, it made her more determined and willing to pick a fight with Cato and to win for Rue almost as much, if not more than, for Prim. We don't see that adorning Rue with flowers was another form of rebellion - it was Katniss honoring Rue the only way she could (other than her salute) in the Arena while flipping off the Game Makers and the Capitol for their actions leading to the death of this little girl who loved flowers and music.

The way the movie portrays them both and their alliance, takes away Katniss' active decisions and agency when she sees this resourceful little girl and decides - "this one? I want to be allied with her. Fuck if Haymitch disapproves." It's her deciding to play the game - her sawing down the branch knowing that her actions will most likely lead to at least one of the Career's deaths. Also her acting as if she's in on Peeta's plans, whatever they may be, when she sees him with the Careers.

[looking4answers25]

A Reflection on Katniss and Words in The Hunger Games

Before re-reading HG, I had it in my head that Katniss's issues with authority is something that grew in the 74th Games from a spark that existed by virtue of growing up in District 12.

But after reading, this girl was a mouthy little thing.

When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol.

Katniss doesn't really talk much. To her actions speak louder than words and I think that explains the difference in her relationship between Haymitch and Peeta. It's like in this post which I added to - Haymitch and Katniss think similarly so when he withholds or sends her something in the Arena - she knows what he's trying to tell her. But in her eyes, Peeta's words don't align with her expectations from a competitor in the Games and so she looks for hidden meaning behind everything he says. He's a smooth talker, good at making friends and relationships unlike her. So if he can lie (or so she thinks) so easily in front of the Capitol on stage, then he must be lying in the Arena where they're also being watched.