The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

Dystopia Novel. She writing it in Connecticut, United States, in the mid- to late-2000s.

Primrose Everdeen

Prim is Katniss's twelve-year-old sister, of whom she is fiercely protective. Prim was originally chosen as District 12's tribute during the annual reapings, but Katniss made the ultimate sacrifice for her family and volunteered to take her sister's place. Prim serves as a contrast to her big sister. She is a more conventionally feminine character, for starters. Unlike the tough, no-nonsense Katniss, Prim is quite sweet, cooks, and loves animals (including Buttercup, the family cat). Prim is also a nurturing, skilled healer. For example, she owns a sweet little goat named Lady, a formerly wounded animal Katniss rescued from being butchered many years ago (Chapter 20).

stoicism

Stoicism is an ancient philosophy of withholding emotion for the sake of inner strength. In Roman times, stoicism meant, in a larger sense, the willingness to lose everything. One of Katniss's strengths is her stoicisim, which she describes as her "indifferent mask." Because of the pressure to provide for her family, she has learned to stay focused on survival at the expense of her emotions, so much so that she doesn't realize how deeply she feels for Gale. Through the novel, her stoic determination proves a great asset towards succeeding at the Games, but it also masks her deep empathetic feelings for other people. Part of her journey is learning to accept her emotional side in addition to her stoicism.

panem et circenses

Suzanne Collins has said that Panem is supposed to be like ancient Rome: "Panem itself comes from the Latin expression 'Panem et Circenses' which translates into 'Bread and Circuses'". This term refers to the techniques used by the Roman Empire to keep the masses happy and docile by keeping their bellies full and their minds entertained.

the Roman Coliseum

Suzanne Collins has said that Panem is supposed to be like ancient Rome: "Panem itself comes from the Latin expression 'Panem et Circenses' which translates into 'Bread and Circuses'". This term refers to the techniques used by the Roman Empire to keep the masses happy and docile. The Hunger Games and the Arena: With our Roman history glasses on, we can't help but see the Hunger Games arena as very similar to the Colosseum in Rome, where gladiators would fight to the death for the entertainment of the citizens of the Empire's capitol.

Rue

The 12 year old, female tribute from district 11, agricultural district. Her name, also, means "regret" or "sorrow", which is a bit of foreshadowing as to what her fate will be in the Hunger Games. She forms an alliance with Katniss. She has dark brown hair and golden brown eyes, also she is similar in appearance and size to Katniss's sister Prim. This is one of the main reasons Katniss decides to team up with her in the games. After Rue's death, Katniss honors Rue's body by covering her with flowers (Chapter 18). This act is that defies the Capitol and challenges the idea that Rue's death was just entertainment for a viewing audience at home. Rue was human and she made a great sacrifice in giving her life during the Games. Ultimately, Rue's death inspires Katniss to fight all the more against the Capitol - and win the Games any way she can.

community

The Capitol keeps its population in line partially by keeping them separated. It uses class and spectacle and District separation to keep anyone from growing close to anyone else. Katniss brings this sense of isolation with her into the arena, believing that success will come from staying apart from the others and considering everyone around her as an enemy. Part of her growth in the novel is the realization that people are stronger when they are together. First through her alliance with Rue and then with Peeta, Katniss finds she survives better when part of a team. Her empathy for others is connected to the recognition that people are connected by shared humanity. Some of the most emotional moments come from this sense of community, as when District 11 gifts Katniss bread for her affection towards Rue. Her growing sense of community helps Katniss identify the Capitol as her society's primary antagonist.

Reality TV

The Hunger Games are reality television squared. With rippling walls of fire and swarms of deadly mutant hornets, the trials in the arena are kind of like Panem's version of Survivor - but deadlier. Contestants are forced to fight each other to the death in front of the cameras while the events are televised all over the country of Panem as sport. The reality television angle is also significant in a broader sense. Because these deadly games are framed as a reality television spectacle, the novel asks us to think about the difference between televised entertainment and brutal human sacrifice. As we find out, those lines blur in The Hunger Games. For example, the citizens of the rich Capitol, along with the wealthier districts, view the Games either as a celebrated sporting event or a form of mass entertainment. Despite the fact that tributes are dying left and right, the Hunger Games are something that young men and women train for, like the Olympics.

classes

The Hunger Games is a novel about the "haves" and the "have nots" - that is, the people who have money and the people who don't. The Capitol has money. Gobs of it. While the Capitol is wealthier than all of the districts, some districts are more privileged than others, so they can train their tributes to do well in the Hunger Games - a competition they see as a way to gain glory and fame. District 12, Katniss's district, is an impoverished coal mining region that never stands a chance in the Games. They view the Games as a punishment that must be endured - something that robs them of their children.

suicide

The double suicide attempt is an act of rebellion, to be sure. Even after she's out of the arena, Katniss fears that the Capitol will somehow punish her subversive behavior. It is this reason that Katniss must continue her star-crossed lovers charade with Peeta - even though she finally realizes that he wasn't actually pretending.

spectacle

The expectation is that the Hunger Games be treated as a spectacle, a great source of entertainment that all citizens are obliged to follow as audience. The Games illustrate how thoroughly Panem citizens are at the mercy of the Capitol, since it keeps them subdued by making them complicit in the atrocities as audience.

Caesar Flickerman

The interview host for Games-related broadcasts. He maintains an image of perpetual youth through plastic surgery. An extremely affable fellow, Katniss notes how he makes his interview hosts feel at ease, a great irony since his job is to celebrate the brutish nature of the Games.

the Districts

the despotic government run by the Capitol keeps its citizens in line by separating them into Districts and reinforcing severe class separations.

Glimmer

the female tribute from District 1. She dies when Katniss drops a tracker jacker nest on her and some other tributes. A female Career tribute. She fetches the bow and arrow at the beginning of the Games, and Katniss takes it from her body after she is killed by the tracker jackers that Katniss unleashes on the Careers.

Cato

the male tribute from District 2. He is a career tribute, meaning he has trained for the Hunger Games his entire life, and he is large, short-tempered, and a fierce fighter. He is the strongest and most threatening male tribute in the Hunger Games. He is Katniss's main competition. Cato is a Career Tribute from one of the wealthiest districts in Panem, who has trained his whole life for the glory of the Games. For him, the Hunger Games are not so much a death sentence as a shot at eternal fame. As such, Cato is a character who is associated with power, strength, wealth, and brutality.

Suzanne Collins

(Aug 10, 1962) Collins was born on August 10, 1962 in Hartford, Connecticut, to Jane Brady Collins (b.1932) and Lt. Col. Michael John Collins (1931-2003),[2] a U.S. Air Force officer who served in the Korean War, Vietnam War, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star. She is the youngest of four children, who include Kathryn (b.1957), Andrew (b.1958), and Joan (b.1960). As the daughter of a military officer, she and her family were constantly moving. She spent her childhood in the eastern United States. In 1991, Suzanne Collins began her professional career writing for children's television. The Hunger Games is a thrilling mash-up of great dystopian novels like 1984 or Brave New World and the current reality television scene. Think George Orwell meets Survivor and hangs out with Gladiator. According to author Suzanne Collins, she "was channel surfing between reality TV programming and actual war coverage" when she got the idea for the story. We believe it. Bringing to the fore issues such as power, identity, celebrity, and politics, the novel manages to comment on both the dangers of totalitarian government and the perils of living in a celebrity-obsessed culture where reality shows make entertainment out of the grist of everyday lives.

Cornucopia

A symbol of plenty consisting of a goat's horn overflowing with sustenance. A harsh jumble of metal planes perched in a grassy field. The Cornucopia is a gold and described as looking like a horn (in the book) or silver (in the movie) horn-shaped cone with a curved tail. In each year's Hunger Games, the tributes launch into the arena and start off in the shape of semicircle, equidistant to the Cornucopia.

Atala

Atala is the head trainer for the Hunger Games. Her job is to explain the point of each station, the possible ways to die in the arena, and to get the tributes in shape to compete. It is said in the Tribute Guide that Atala can whip even the weakest tribute into shape.

Cinna

Cinna is Katniss's fabulous, and often brilliant, stylist during the Hunger Games. He's a new talent, and though he could have chosen another district, he went with the underdog District 12. Though Cinna comes up with Katniss's "girl on fire" ensemble, he is also able to coach Katniss with her public persona. While the dresses he designs are completely to die for, he also helps Katniss realize who she is within the context of the Hunger Games. Before her pre-Games interview, he encourages Katniss not to worry about putting on a front; rather, he tells her to "Just be yourself" (9.68).

Clove

Clove was the female representative from District 2 in the 74th Hunger Games, and an expert at knife throwing. Although she was smaller than most of the other tributes, she was highly feared because of her knife-throwing techniques, an area she was dominant in, and was known to rarely miss a target. She pursued the Games with a sadistic personality, never upset at the prospect of another death on her hands. Clove, along with her district partner, Cato, were suited up in gold Roman themed armor for the parade.

War Coverage

Collins was watching television, flipping back and forth between coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a reality-TV show. That's when Collins had the idea that would ultimately turn into The Hunger Games. A longtime fan of Greek and Roman mythology, Collins borrowed a great deal from those sources to give the story its shape. One notable contribution came from the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, in which the Cretan king Minos demanded that seven maidens and seven youths be sent as a tribute every nine years. He gave these tributes to the Minotaur, who would consume them. Collins also borrowed from Ancient Roman history.

District 12

District 12 is a very poor coal-mining district located in the region formerly known as Appalachia (3.50). Katniss and her family live in the poor section of District 12, the Seam, where the coal-miners live and work. There is also the Hob, the black market. The district is surrounded by a sometimes-electrified fence from woodlands.Stephen King calls District 12 "the Chicago Cubs of the postapocalypse world" (source), meaning that they almost never win the Hunger Games. The poverty of District 12 is often contrasted with the wealth of the Capitol. District 12, the district in which Katniss and her family live, is the poorest of Panem's districts. District 12 is primarliy a mining community.

Effie Trinket

Effie Trinket is the pink-haired prim and proper escort for the District 12 tributes. She's a Hunger Games administrator, and her character represents the wealth and power of the government. She's also, of course, a rather silly woman who places a good deal of emphasis on etiquette and propriety. In this sense, she is a comic, rather than a threatening, character. She is a token of the Capitol's frivolity and excesses. As Effie hails from the Capitol, she views the Hunger Games merely as a competition - and a source of career advancement - rather than as a brutal death sentence. As such, she's excited to have tributes who might actually win this year. While Katniss finds Effie rather irritating, she does have a kind of grudging respect for what she does, as Effie does do her part to round up sponsors and rein in Haymitch the best she can.

"The Girl on Fire"

Fire plays different roles throughout the story, but most often it represents Katniss. Notably, fire is the element that gives the various outfits Cinna designs for Katniss their character. Her first dress, for example, is covered in synthetic flames, while later outfits use fire more subtly but still maintain it as a motif. Katniss's fire dress earns her the epithet "the girl who was on fire," and this title comes to pertain to more than just her dress. After Katniss's surprisingly high training score is announced, Haymitch explains that they must have liked her "heat." Cinna calls her "the girl who was on fire" again, this time using "fire" to refer to Katniss's spirit and temperament. During the Games, the phrase takes on a literal meaning after Katniss is struck in the leg by a fireball and thinks the Gamemakers must be laughing at "the girl who was on fire."

Gale Hawthorne

Gale is Katniss's hunting partner and closest friend from District 12. As Katniss tells us, he's "good-looking, he's strong enough to handle the work in the mines, and he can hunt" (1.34). The two characters have a good deal in common, from their backgrounds, to their family situations, to their shared harsh opinions on Panem's government. There's also some romantic tension simmering beneath the surface, but for now it has yet to come to a full boil. Katniss's relationship with Gale is often contrasted with the friendly or romantic playacting she performs with Peeta. References to Gale's character remind the reader that Katniss isactually capable of authentic emotion: friendship, love, and all of that good stuff - and not only emotion, but actual genuine happiness.

Haymitch Abernathy

Haymitch is a former District 12 tribute and winner of the Hunger Games who is now a middle-aged drunk. His job is to come out of his alcoholic stupor long enough to coach Katniss and Peeta to victory in the Hunger Games. (Ha.) He tends to use condescending names like "sweetheart," which does nothing to endear him to the sometimes-haughty Katniss. Despite his shortcomings, Haymitch serves as a very human and intermittently likable mentor figure for Katniss and Peeta. He coaches the pair from a position of experience: he understands the rules of the Hunger Games and the celebrity culture surrounding it. Haymitch knows the importance of creating a persona, and encourages Katniss to go along with the romance plot introduced by Peeta.

mutated dogs

In the film, the mutts don't resemble the tributes at all. They look more like generic large, vicious, bulky dogs. They run on all fours, and resemble each other. In the book they could balance on their hind legs and jump high, but in the film they did not. The wolf muttations had brown, grey, black, or silver fur, and short muzzles. The Gamemakers designed these beasts in the Control Room, where they monitor everything that goes on in the games. The mutts are first seen when Lucia, a Gamemaker, shows a hologram of one to Seneca Crane for evaluation. He says that they're excellent, so she inserts it into the Games. In the film, the mutts are responsible for the deaths of Cato and Thresh. At the end of the scene, the muttations run off into the woods, instead of jumping into a tube which leads back to the Capitol like in the book. Also in the film, Katniss gives Cato a mercy shot a lot earlier.

first-persona narrative

Katniss Everdeen narrates The Hunger Games as the events of the novel occur. The first person and recounts the narrator's personal history and experiences. The narrator is mostly objective, but on occasion she will imagine what other characters must be feeling.

poisonous berries

Katniss' maneuver with the nightlock is her final and most significant act of defiance. The Games were all about controlling and manipulating the people of the districts, but by threatening to kill themselves with the poisonous berries, Katniss and Peeta force the Games to change, although the ultimate course of that change is left to the Capitol: Either Peeta and Katniss die and the 74th Hunger Games has no winner, or they reinstate the earlier rule and have two winners.

Katniss's father

Katniss's father is almost entirely absent from the book. He was a coal miner in the Seam of District 12 who died in a terrible explosion when Katniss was 11. He was a strong provider for his family. After his death, Katniss stepped into his place and filled his shoes by becoming the sole provider for the family. Katniss's father had quite a spirit: he loved music, for example, and taught his daughter to use a bow and arrow. Though he is gone now, it is clear that he played a very large part in shaping his daughter's personality.

Katniss's mother

Katniss's mother. After her husband died, she essentially stopped caring for Katniss and Prim, forcing Katniss to become the family's primary provider. Katniss's Mom is a skilled healer, though she suffered from severe depression after Katniss's father died. For this, Katniss greatly resents her. Katniss's mother is not the survivor that her daughter is. We also learn that Katniss's mother gave up a life with her well-off parents to marry Katniss's father, a poor coal miner. Peeta's father was also in love with Katniss's mother.

love

Katniss: the girl who cannot love. Katniss has spent her whole life just trying to survive and because of that she does not, repeat, does not get attached to people. There is this one boy, though, named Gale that she kinda sorta likes. Then there's Peeta who she's just pretending to be in love with. There's another problem too. Love is a battlefield, sure, but we also learn that in the Hunger Games romance can be a really great way to survive on the battlefield. By snogging on her co-tribute Peeta, Katniss is able to score support and gifts from her sponsors. Unfortunately, none of this helps Katniss figure out how she really feels.

"tracker jackers"

Like the mockingjay, the tracker jacker is another mutant animal that the Capitol has engineered to keep the districts in check. They are a symbol of the Capitol's willingness to do anything - and everything - to maintain their power over ever living creature in Panem. Katniss uses a tracker jacker nest to attack the Career Tributes in Chapter 14.

Katniss Everdeen

Main Character; She is the 16 year old tribute from District 12 who take her younger sister's place in the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games. Since her father died in a mining accident 5 years ago, she ventures into the woods outside District 12 (which is forbidden) to hunt for meat which she then trades for supplies for her family. She is described as poor, determined, stubborn, guarded, suspicious, and lovable.

rebellion

Much of Panem's totalitarian and controlling structure is intended to keep the districts from uniting into a second rebellion. The Capitol has orchestrated a system to keep its population distracted and separated from one another. Katniss's story is partially the story of her becoming a revolutionary. When first chosen as tribute, Katniss immediately begins to formulate a plan to win, considering her antagonists as the other tributes. This makes Peeta's kindness and Rue's similarities to Prim problematic, since they make it harder for her to consider them enemies. However, as the novel progresses, Katniss begins to realize her true enemy is not anyone in the arena but instead those who put them all there: the Capitol. This novel is the first of a trilogy, and by the end of the first book, Katniss is firmly convinced that the true evil is the system. It is the first step of revolutionary zeal that will drive her to confront the powers that be.

Panem

Panem is the country in which The Hunger Games takes place, and it symbolizes a dystopian United States. Panem is the name of the country where Katniss lives with her family, a country that - after a series of vague disasters - rose from the ashes of North America. Droughts, storms, fires, war: it's all pretty post-apocalyptic. We learn the history of Panem, and the Hunger Games, and the thirteen districts in the first chapter from the mayor. The uprising of the Districts is known as the "Dark Days" (1.74). After the destruction of District 13, the Treaty of Treason was signed to end the conflict, and the Hunger Games were instituted to remind the districts that the uprising must never be repeated.

Peeta's leg (in book)

Peeta's leg is almost completely healed after the medicine is supplied in the film, whereas he remained severely injured in the book as the medicine did not treat the wound itself. In the book, Peeta's leg is amputated and replaced by a prosthetic. In the movie, he doesn't lose his leg.

President Snow

Snow is a native of the Capitol and is the tyrannical President of Panem. Although carrying the title of President, it is unknown if he was elected to the position democratically. Snow possesses total power in Panem's government and has proven to be a cruel and manipulative dictator, ruling over the Capitol and its contained districts. He also works on the annual Hunger Games and heads the military responsible for oppressing the districts. He has no qualms about using intimidation in pursuit of his agenda, such as when he threatened to kill Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, Peeta Mellark, and their families. Two weeks after Haymitch Abernathy won the 50th Hunger Games, Snow murdered Haymitch's mother, younger brother and girlfriend as punishment for the force field stunt because it made the Capitol look foolish. It is revealed by Finnick Odair that he poisoned his allies, as he believes that they would become future foes, but he had to drink the poison as well so that he wouldn't attract suspicion. Even though he took antidotes, the poison caused permanent sores inside his mouth that never healed. This is the reason he always wears a genetically engineered rose, to cover the scent of blood on his breath.

the Capital

Speaking of which, the Capitol is a shining city of wealth and grandeur city located where the Rockies used to be (3.50). The people of the Capitol are shallow, speak in a funny, affected accent and value surface appearances, plastic surgery, and entertainment. Being one of the richer districts, they also view the Games as television entertainment. Katniss, of course, despises the place.

Mockingjay

The mockingjay represents defiance in the novel, with the bird's symbolism deriving initially from its origins. The mockingjay, we learn, came about as a result of a failed project by the Capitol to spy on the rebellious districts, and since then the bird has served as a reminder of this failure and the districts' recalcitrance—Katniss describes them as "something of a slap in the face to the Capitol." The mockingjay pin Madge gives to Katniss is at first an emblem of that resistance. Later in the novel, however, the birds come to symbolize a different sort of defiance. Mockingjays become a link between Katniss and Rue, with the two using the birds to communicate. When Rue dies, Katniss decorates her body with flowers as a means of memorializing Rue, but also to defy the Capitol. When Katniss later sees mockingjays, they remind her of Rue, and that memory inevitably stirs her hatred of the Capitol and her wish to rebel, and take revenge, against it. The mockingjay consequently takes on an additional layer of symbolism, representing not only a general rebellion against the Capitol, but also Katniss's specific desire to defy it.

the Peacekeepers

The police force of Panem. They illustrate the toughness of Capitol laws, though the reader never confronts them directly in this first volume of the trilogy. The Peacekeepers comprise a gendarmerie which is controlled by the Capitol, and tasked with maintaining order throughout the nation of Panem. They essentially act as the government's internal security force in the various districts. Led by a Head Peacekeeper who is the commander of the district's respective garrison, they ensure that the Capitol's laws are obeyed, and punish those who break them. Peacekeepers serve as the Capitol's main instrument of control and repression, by arresting political dissidents, outcasts, and rebels. Peacekeepers form the bulk of both law enforcement and the military of the Capitol as they serve as foot soldiers, guards and hovercraft pilots.

the Reaping

The reaping is one of the most pivotal moments in The Hunger Games. The moment Katniss volunteers as tribute in the place of her sister she sets off a change of events that will rock her world and change Panem as a whole. As such, Collins takes particular care as she crafts the scene, especially with regards to the emotions, feelings, and actions of the characters. For example, the instance when Effie Trinket calls Prim's name, we don't simply read about Katniss's horror. We feel it, as "every wisp of air" is knocked from Katniss's lungs and she struggles to inhale and exhale (Collins 40). Another example is the image we are given of Prim right after her name is called: her "blood drained from her face, hands clenched in fists at her sides" (Collins 41). Here, Prim's fear jumps off the page and hits the reader.

the Sponsors

The tributes that are most memorable tend to attract sponsors, who can provide gifts that may prove critical during the Games. Katniss hides her tears during the Games for a similar reason, as self-pitying tributes are unattractive to sponsors. A tribute's appearance and behavior can therefore serve as a significant part of their survival strategy.

Venia, Flavius, & Octavia

These three characters are Katniss's prep team from the Games and the Quell. They have always been in charge of costuming her and making her up for the cameras, and continue to prep and pretty-up Katniss in her role as the Mockingjay.

The Careers

Tributes from richer districts who have illegally trained in order to succeed in the Games. They willingly attend as competitors, and Katniss refers to them as "the Capitol's lapdogs." They include Clove, Glimmer, and Cato.

Peeta Mallark

When Peeta Mellark is selected as the tribute for District 12, all we really know about him is that he's a baker's son, a little bit emotional (3.47) - and that Katniss really wishes he hadn't been the one chosen as her co-tribute (2.23). Over the course of the novel, though, we learn that he played a large part in helping Katniss's family survive after her father's death. For this, Katniss feels deeply indebted to him. Peeta is also totally and completely in love with Katniss Everdeen. Peeta's character serves, at times, as a contrast to Katniss's. Whereas she is a provider and a survivor, Peeta is just the opposite: he's not much of an outdoorsman, is in touch with his soft side, and comes from a world very different from Katniss's. (His family, while they end up eating stale bread, never goes hungry: they are of the more privileged merchant class.) As such, Peeta's character helps develop many of the novel's major themes: love, hope, class, and identity.

"Foxface"

a female tribute in the Hunger Games characterized by her wiliness and intelligence. She dies by eating poisonous berries collected by Peeta. Foxface is the female tribute from District 5, and she's sly, clever, and smart as a whip. She survives by stealing food and supplies from the other tributes, rather than facing them head on. Foxface is killed when she steals and eats poisonous berries that the oblivious Peeta collected. Nicknames her Foxface both for her animalistic features and her ability to stay quiet.

"The Games"

a yearly event where two tributes from each district are pitted against each other for the country to watch on television.

Thresh

the male tribute from District 11. He shows mercy toward Katniss because of the way Katniss treated Rue. Thresh is the big, silent guy from District 11 - Rue's district. He spares Katniss's life at the Cornucopia in return for her defense of Rue. He is eventually killed by Cato.

tesserae

A small tablet of wood or bone used as a token in ancient Greece and Rome; in Panem a token for food in exchange for additional Hunger Game entries