"In the arena, you only get one wish. And it's very costly." "It costs your life." "Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people? It costs everything you are." ―Peeta Mellark and Caesar Flickerman on the Hunger Games
Welcome to Panem!
Written by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Gameswas originally published on September 14, 2008 and is the first in The Hunger Games trilogy; it is followed by the second and third novels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. In a post-apocalyptic world, Panem lies in the remains of what used to be North America. There isn’t a whole lot known about the exact geography of Panem. What we do know is that the Capitol is located in what used to be the Rocky Mountains, and District 12 is in the ruins of Appalachia. While the country itself spans across North America, there are parts of Panem that are uninhabited or less populated on account of large areas of land (across the world) being flooded by a rising sea level, but it is still a sizeable area (map).
Before we get into the plot of the novel, I’m going to give a brief introduction to each of the major characters and a few minor ones that recur throughout the novels.
Katniss Everdeen. Ah, our unfortunate leading lady. The things this poor girl goes through; she's stronger than I ever could be. Katniss is a sarcastic, determined and strong-willed 16 year old girl, and even at that age she has already been through a lot more in her life than most endure in a lifetime. She lives in a town in Panem’s coal-mining district. District 12 is one of the poorer districts in Panem, and Katniss lives in the part of the town nicknamed the Seam; the Seam is considered to be one of the poorest areas within the town itself. Often times, she hunts outside of the District's walls (which is highly illegal) in order to feed her family. Her father was killed in a tragic mining accident. When her sister is chosen for the reaping, Katniss bravely and instinctively volunteers to take her place.
Primrose Everdeen. Prim. Sweet Prim. Primrose Everdeen, called Prim by those who know her, is the younger sister and only sibling of our leading lady, Katniss Everdeen. At the time of the first novel, Prim is only 12 years old. Her name has only been entered into the Reaping once (we'll go into detail with this soon), as opposed to her sister's 20 entries, and yet she is the one chosen as the Tribute for District 12 in very her first Reaping . She owns a goat named Lady and a cat named Buttercup; Lady helps to provide dairy for the Everdeen family. Prim is very different from Katniss in her personality. Prim has a heart full of compassion and an affinity for healing whereas Katniss has a grim outlook on the world (though some could argue it's a realistic outlook) and an affinity for hunting. When Prim was chosen as tribute, Katniss volunteered to take her place.
Peeta Mellark. Our leading man. As the novels progress, though, he often finds himself sharing the spotlight with (and vying for Katniss' affection) Gale Hawthorne. Peeta is the male tribute from District 12. He is the son of the town baker, and as such he works at the bakery in the Seam where he decorates the cakes. He's been in love with Katniss since the two of them were five years old; he had a huge crush on her from a young age, but he realized he was in love with her when he saw that the birds were listening to her singing like they did for her father. He once saved her and her family from starving despite knowing he would be punished by his mother for doing so. Unlike Katniss, Peeta grew up in a wealthier part of District 12 (still poorer than those in the Capital, but his family never went hungry like the Everdeens). Despite growing up in the merchant area of the district, Peeta's life was far from desirable; his father was a kind man, but his mother would beat him and his brothers if they made a mistake. He is characterized by a likable personality, strategy, and selflessness.
Gale Hawthorne. Gale is...well, honestly, I feel for Gale. He goes through a lot in the series; much like Katniss, he's been through a lot in his life before the series even begins; he's dealt a tough hand throughout the series, and despite his actions later on in the series, I can't quite help but feel pity for him. He's two years older than our leading lady, but he is also Katniss' best friend; she notes at one point before the Games that the only time she really smiles is when she's with Gale. They met when she was twelve and he was fourteen, after both of their fathers were killed in the same mining explosion. Gale comes from a large family for such a poor district - the oldest of four - and after his father dies, it falls to him to provide for them. He is fiercely devoted to his family, and to Katniss, and he is a true rebel and visionary at heart. He is in love with Katniss, but she sees their relationship purely on a platonic level (in the beginning at least).
Haymitch Abernathy. Haymitch serves as a sort of comic relief in the series at times, being that he is the town drunk, but he's also a symbol of the harsh reality after surviving the Games. District 12 has had two victors in the 73 Hunger Games that had been held at the beginning of the novel, and Haymitch is the only living victor; he lives by himself in Victor's Village. He played in the Second Quarter Quell (the 50th Games), and nearly died in the process. He is an intelligent, witty man, though he is also incredibly bitter. He is often drunk (though functional), surly, and harsh, but he does have a softer side as well (it is just not seen often). Haymitch uses alcohol to dull the painful memories of his past, but his alcoholism was also prompted by the murder of his entire family at the hand of President Snow shortly after he won the Games due to his rebellious victory. Being the only Victor living in District 12, Haymitch serves as the mentor for both Katniss and Peeta during their Games. Despite his severe drinking, Haymitch makes an agreement with Peeta and Katniss that if they let him drink as much as he wants he will remain sober enough to help them.
The Careers This is more of a 'title' than a specific character as it applies to more than one character; these tributes are referred to throughout the novels multiple times, but especially within the first novel.
There are, of course, more characters that I could go into detail about, but those are the main ones. The lesson is already quite lengthy, so we're going to go ahead and move on from here. In this next section, there will be various spoilers, but I will try to keep them to a minimum.
The Novelization
Each year, for 74 years, the Hunger Games have taken place, forcing 24 children from 12 districts (one boy and girl from each district, chosen at the annual Reaping ceremonies) between the ages of 12-18 to kill each other as punishment for the rebellion initiated by District 13. This year seems no different for sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen, until her younger sister, Prim, is chosen to participate in her first Reaping. She takes her sister's place as tribute to save her sister from certain death.
Part One, The Tributes This part of the novel introduces the world of Panem and builds up to the Games themselves.
The book opens with Gale Hawthorne and Katniss slipping away into the woods on the day of the reaping, which is the only place where they feel safe enough to discuss the Capitol and other problems. After they sell the game they've caught and various produce they've gathered in the forest, Katniss heads home for a brief while before the Reaping. There’s a brief, yet slightly tense, interaction between Katniss and her mother; it is explained that Katniss has been cross with her mother for years because the older woman shut down after her husband was killed in a mining accident. Katniss had to drop out of school so that she could provide for her family, and at one point - before Katniss started risking hunting in the forest - Katniss and her sister had nearly starved to death. Katniss’ mother gives her a dress from her past, which Katniss notes as an important action as her mother’s clothes from her past were very important to her. Things seem to relax between Katniss and her mother for a short while after this. Because the day of the reaping is a solemn one for their District, which has only won the Games twice in all 73 previous years, Katniss tries to cheer Prim up by commenting on her dress, which had once been Katniss’ reaping day outfit. Prim is worried that she’ll be chosen, but Katniss notes that it’s not likely since Prim only has one ‘entry’ into the choosing ceremony.
Every year from the age of 12, a potential tribute’s name is entered into the reaping one time. The entries are cumulative, so when a possible tribute is thirteen their name is added one more time. This continues until age 18, when a potential-tribute's name is entered 7 times, or more if they apply for tesserae. Any child between the ages of 12 through 18 can apply for tesserae. This supplies them with a year's supply of grain and oil, which can be the difference between life and death for some families. They can choose to do this for each of their family members as well. However, each tesserae they sign up for puts another slip with their name into the reaping ball, and it is also cumulative. Because Katniss would not allow Prim to apply for tesserae, her name was only entered into the Reaping once. Katniss, on the other hand, had her name put in the reaping twenty times by the age of 16. Additionally, Gale had his name put in the glass ball forty-two times by the age of 18. The amount of tesserae taken is larger in Panem's poorer districts, probably the largest in District 12 as it is the poorest in Panem.
At the reaping ceremony, much to Katniss’ horror and devastation, Prim is chosen as the female tribute for District 12. Katniss immediately volunteers to take the place of her twelve year old sister. Unlike in the higher districts volunteering is an almost unheard of occurrence in the lower ones, especially the poorer ones like 10, 11, and 12. The poorer districts usually do not fair well in the Games; District 12’s last winner was almost 24 years ago. As the rest of the district stares in shocked silence, Katniss becomes the female tribute for her district. The district’s male tribute, Peeta Mellark, is chosen next. Katniss' mind reels as she remembers the one real interaction she had with him years ago when he saved her and her family’s lives by tossing her some bread from his family’s bakery. Katniss and Peeta are then taken into custody, being guarded, so they cannot escape. They are both permitted visitors and are allotted an hour to say their goodbyes. Katniss has five people come to see her. When her mother and Prim arrive, Katniss makes her mother promise not to "leave" Prim before; she is confident she will not be returning home. She also promises Prim that she will try her hardest to win the Games for her. The district’s baker, who is also Peeta's father and often the person Katniss and Gale trade squirrels with, is the next to say goodbye to Katniss. He promises to look out for Prim and "make sure she's eating." Her second to last visitor, Madge Undersee (the Mayor’s daughter), is full of urgency and passion as she begs Katniss to take her mockingjay pin as her tribute token, a tradition Katniss hadn't even thought about until that point, and she hesitantly agrees. Finally, Gale is sent into the room as her final visitor. He gives her quick but sound advice about how to get through the games.
"Katniss, it's just hunting. You're the best hunter I know," says Gale.
"It's not just hunting. They're armed. They think," I say.
"So do you. And you've had more practice. Real practice," he says. "You know how to kill."
"Not people," I say.
"How different can it be, really?" says Gale grimly.
The awful thing is that if I can forget they're people, it will be no different at all. (Ch. 3, pg. 40)
Their conversation is cut short when the Peacekeepers (guards from the Capitol) come to take Gale away; Katniss begins to panic seeing him being taken away, the reality of her situation starting to really hit her, and she begs him not to let her family starve. As he’s being pulled away from her, Gale assures Katniss that he won’t let her family starve; he also begins to say “Remember, I—“ but he is cut off as the Peacekeeper slams the door closed. Personally, I believe the only person who doesn’t know how Gale feels about Katniss is Katniss.
After the visits from friends and family, they are rushed to the Tribute Train that will take them to the Capitol; it travels at over 250 miles per hour, and the ride to the Capitol takes less than a day. When they arrive at the Capitol, they are immediately taken to the remake center to be readied for the Opening Ceremonies where all the tributes ride through the City Circle in chariots that reflect their respective districts. When Katniss' prep team – Venia, Flavius, and Octavia – are finished with the basic alterations, Cinna (Katniss' stylist, and easily one of my favorite characters) comes to show Katniss her costume for the Ceremonies. He dresses her in a black unitard complimented by a headdress and cape. Katniss makes her way to the stables to find Peeta in the same outfit. They board their chariot and Cinna and Peeta's stylist – Portia – light their capes and headdresses using synthetic fire. Just as the chariot is about to take its turn, Cinna tells Katniss and Peeta to hold hands as they ride their way through the streets dazzling the people of the Capitol. District 12 supplies the Capitol with coal, so Cinna’s design creatively reflects back on that.
The chariots take them to the Training Center where they will stay and train until the day of the Games, usually three or four days. The tributes use the underground gym to train for the upcoming Games until the day of the Gamemaker's assessment. This is when each of the tribute's best skills are shown to get a training score that will ultimately decide whether a tribute receives sponsors (people who pay to send them things they might need while in the arena). Katniss is last as tributes are called according to their district number and gender; males are the first to undertake their private sessions. As she enters, she can already tell that the Gamemakers are drunk and are not going to pay attention to her. Her first shooting attempt with the bow and arrow is unsuccessful as she is not used to the rigidness of the bowstring. However, she shoots several times in order to gain a feel of the new weapons and ends up hitting all her targets in a round of fantastic shooting. A few of the Gamemakers look impressed, but the majority of them are still caught up in their own conversations. In an act of defiance and anger, something that often gets her into trouble, she shoots an apple out of the roasted pig's mouth on the Gamemakers' dining table, greatly shocking them; one of them even falls back into a punch bowl. Later that night when the scores are displayed, Katniss gets 11 out of 12, the highest score of all the tributes.
The next day, the interviews take place. The dress that Cinna designs for Katniss is absolutely breathtaking; it is described as being “entirely covered in reflective precious gems, red and yellow and white with bits of blue that accent the tips of the flame design. The slightest movement gives the impression [she is] engulfed in tongues of fire” (Ch. 9, pg. 120). This dress – as well as the initial outfits that Katniss and Peeta wore in the Tribute parade where they were literally on fire – perpetuates a moniker for her that sticks with Katniss throughout the entire series: “the girl on fire”. Katniss’ interview goes well; she shows off her dress and wows the crowd; she also gains sympathy from both the crowd (possible sponsors) and the host, Caeser Flickerman, when talking about her sister and volunteering. Being the real charmer between the two of them, though, Peeta’s interview is an even bigger hit, especially after his shocking confession. He professes his love for Katniss to the entire nation of Panem which immediately causes a vast sympathetic reaction to arise from the Capitol audience. In an opposite reaction, though, Katniss is livid back stage, and once Peeta leaves the stage she actually attacks him. She believes this was just a ploy to help him gain sponsors and get her to let her guard down around him; in actuality, Peeta has been in love with Katniss since they were five years old, though she had always been entirely unaware of his feelings (and anyone else’s). To make matters worse, in Katniss’ opinion, Haymitch Abernathy supports and promotes the image of the two tributes as “star-crossed lovers”.
Part Two, The Games This part of The Hunger Games chronicles most of the actual Games. The death, destruction, and chaos that surrounds the ghastly event is described within these chapters. I’ve skipped over a few fairly significant events at the end of this section for the purpose of not wanting to spoil anything too badly.
The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying on the first day at the highly anticipated bloodbath at the Cornucopia, a central part of the arena where the Games officially start. When the Games begin, Katniss considers braving the bloodbath at the Cornucopia in order to retrieve the bow that’s already been strung, but decides against it after she loses her momentum at a slight distraction from Peeta. She does run to the supplies that are positioned around outside of the Cornucopia and grabs as much as she can; she gets into a minor tussle with a boy over a backpack, though it quickly ends when the boy is knifed in the back by another tribute named Clove. Katniss is almost killed at the Cornucopia when Clove throws a knife at her; she blocks it by using her backpack and gains a sturdy knife with a serrated edge. She quickly flees from the bloodbath and into the forest surrounding the clearing. Over the next few days, Katniss makes her way further and further towards the edge of the arena, away from the Cornucopia; she uses her hunting skills to her advantage and sleeps at high points of trees, though she is later slowed down by a lack of water. At one point, she nearly dies of thirst, but finds a small pond to drink from and stumbles into it while she drinks, trying to camouflage her bright orange backpack so it won't draw too much attention to her.
The next morning a wall of fire wakes Katniss up from her shelter in the tree; the Gamemakers, who believe that she’s getting too close to the edge of the arena, started using fire as a means to drive her back to the center of the arena. She survives the attacks, but suffers minor burns on her hands and a severe burn on her right calf that she struggles with for a good majority of the Games. Shortly into the Games, she goes to sleep one night and is woken by the sound of footsteps. A group of Career tributes (those who have trained for the Games their whole lives) and Peeta had found her. She flees from the group and finds shelter in a tree. This is the second time the character of Rue, who reminds Katniss of her younger sister, appears. The young girl from District 11 points out a nest of tracker jackers, wasp-like creatures whose venom can cause hallucinations and death, a few branches above Katniss’ head. The Careers had decided to simply wait Katniss up – she couldn’t stay in the tree the whole time – but while they were sleeping, Katniss climbed up to the nest and cut it down; tracker jackers are genetically engineered to attack whoever poses a threat to their nest, so when Katniss cut it down and sent it crashing down onto the Career tributes sleeping below, the creatures attacked all of them. Glimmer, a Career from District 1, and a girl from District 4 are killed by the multitude of tracker jacker stings, while everyone else (including Peeta and Katniss) suffer hallucinations from the stings. Katniss fights through the pain and stings long enough to steal the bow and arrow that Glimmer had taken from the Cornucopia; Peeta sees her, but lets her go which eventually gets him in trouble with the other tributes he’d been with. The only reason he’d even teamed up with them was to make sure he could keep Katniss safe. Katniss gets away from the Careers and the destroyed nest before she collapses, and she is unconscious for a few days. During this time, Rue helps heal her by chewing a special type of leaves and applying them to the stings. In their short time together in the arena, Katniss and Rue bond over several things, feeling comfortable with each other; Katniss makes Rue feel safer, and Rue reminds Katniss of Prim (both in her demeanor and appearance). Katniss and Rue make plan to destroy the Careers' food supply to even the playing ground a bit; Rue provides a distraction for Katniss by setting off fires that she and Katniss had prepared while Katniss checks out the Career pack's camp. While at the Camp, Katniss figures out that the food is protected by landmines (the same ones which had been built around each tribute’s starting point in the game to make sure they didn’t get a head start) which were reactivated by the tribute from District 3 (the technology district). She watches on as another tribute darts into the area, skips around the mines, and takes some of the supplies while the others are distracted. Katniss shoots a bag of apples off of the top of the large pile of food and supplies, sending them tumbling down onto the landmines, and destroying the entire lot; because of this, Katniss' is left deafened in her left ear for the remainder of the Games.
Part Three, The Victor This section contains the conclusion of The Hunger Games. It involves the end of The 74th Hunger Games and the aftermath leading up to the events in Catching Fire.
Near the end of the second part, Claudius Templesmith, one of the “announcers” for the Hunger Games, makes an announcement that two tributes from the same district can win. At this point, only Katniss and Peeta (district 12), Cato and Clove (district 2), Thresh (district 11), and Foxface (district 5) remain alive. This announcement gives Katniss hope that both herself and Peeta can return home, but she also notes that if she were to kill the other tribute from her district when both could win she would make herself a pariah back home. Knowing that they could win together, she is determined to find him, but she knew she had to do so soon. Before Rue had set off the fires as a distraction, she overheard the Careers talking about Peeta. Cato, the male tribute from District 2, remarks that there’s no way he could survive the wounds that he gave the other man for much longer. Knowing that Peeta was in hiding, severely wounded, somewhere in the arena, Katniss sets out the following morning to find him. A little while later, Katniss finds Peeta camouflaged along the stream (nearly steps on him, to be precise) and is shocked by the condition he is in; she knew he was hurt, but she hadn’t known the real nature of it. In the act of saving Katniss, Peeta took a fierce sword slash to the leg from Cato which cut through the fabric of his pants all the way down to the bone of his left leg. Katniss does what she can in an attempt to heal Peeta, but instead he develops blood poisoning from the sword cut. In an attempt to move the action along in the Games (I imagine someone saying “let’s get to the killing already”), Claudius Templesmith announces that there will be a feast at the Cornucopia. It won’t be a regular feast, though; each district needs something desperately in order to win, and it will be provided for them at the feast. For District 12, what they need is something to treat Peeta's leg injury. Peeta tries to convince Katniss not to go, especially not alone, but Katniss instead uses some sleeping medicine sent to her by Haymitch (as a sponsor gift) to knock Peeta out for the day – giving her the chance to go to the feast.
Katniss gets the medicine from the Cornucopia fairly easily, but as as she runs from the scene, clutching the medicine she needs to save Peeta, Clove throws a knife at her; luckily, Katniss is able to deflect it with her bow. However, the second knife Clove throws opens a large cut above her eye, giving Clove the opportunity to tackle Katniss to the ground. Just as Clove is about to cut kill Katniss, Thresh, throws Clove away from her; he interrogates the girl from District 1 about a previous event (spoilers), and while Clove denies her involvement, Thresh doesn't believe her; he crushes her skull with a large rock. Katniss begs Thresh to make her death quick, but he spares her life instead. Cato later runs to Clove's body, so Thresh lets Katniss run as he takes his backpack, and Cato's, from the table. Katniss makes her way back to the cave she’s taken shelter in with Peeta and injects the medicine into Peeta before she blacks out herself.
Things happen after that with them either staying in their cave, resting and recovering, or hunting and foraging nearby; more tributes die in the events following the "feast" at the Cornucopia. Eventually, the only ones remaining are Katniss, Peeta, and Cato.
On the final day of the games, which lasted for 18 days, the river that runs near Katniss and Peeta’s cave runs dry. They agree that this is another sign that the Gamemakers are gathering the three remaining tributes to the lake near the Cornucopia, wanting to finally put an end to the event. At the lake, they find a frantic Cato running from creatures called muttations, giant human-like wolves created by the Gamemakers; these mutations are particularly horrifying because they look like the fallen tributes (particularly in their eyes). The final showdown on top of the Cornicopia finds Cato trying to use Peeta as a human shield to stop Katniss from killing him. In turn, Katniss pierces his hand, and Cato falls down to the muttations below the Cornucopia. Sadly, he doesn’t die immediately like one would think, largely on account of his armor which most likely came from his district pack. Instead, he is merely tortured continuously by the muttations. The beasts severely wound Cato, and Katniss takes pity on him when he begs her to kill him. After his cannon fires, signaling his death, Katniss and Peeta expect to be crowned the victors. Expect the Games to be over. At the last moment, Claudius Templesmith chimes in with another announcement. There had been a mistake in the previous rules, and there can only be one victor.
(Yes. I’m going to spoil this part. Stop reading if you don’t want to know.)
Katniss is furious, but also understands they never intended to allow the both of them to return home. Having one “star-crossed lover” kill the other makes for much better entertainment. The two argue for a short while about who is going to survive the Games, about who should kill who. Neither agrees to kill the other. As a way to defy the Gamemakers and the Capitol, Katniss suggests they ingest nightlock berries, which are deadly; she hopes that the Capitol would rather have two victors than none. Peeta agrees with Katniss’ thinking, and it turns out she was right. Just as they are about to eat the berries, Claudius Templesmith stops them in a panicked tone – announcing them both as the victors of the 74th Hunger Games. After the Games, however, the Capitol (namely President Snow) becomes very angry with Katniss; they blame her actions in the Games for sparking a rebellion in the other districts in defiance of the Capitol. When Haymitch tells Katniss this, she sees it as her job to reverse this rebellion to save the ones she loves, so she layers the madly-in love act very thick in order to convince them that she did this for her future with Peeta; matters are only made worse when Peeta realizes that most of Katniss’ affections in the Games were for the cameras. While they’re on the train back to District 12, Peeta and Katniss begin drifting apart. By the end of the novel, Katniss’ thoughts are in turmoil; she is conflicted about her feelings for Peeta and is incapable of sorting out what felt real and what didn't. Peeta offers his hand to Katniss, conveying his hurt with the words “One more time? For the audience?” She obliges, and the book ends with her dread of finally letting go of the boy who she feels is slowly slipping away from her.
The Films
In March of 2012, Lions Gate Entertainment released a film adaptation of the novel; Catching Fire followed in 2013, Mockingjay Pt. 1 in 2014, and Mockingjay Pt. 2 in 2015. The initial Hunger Games film was produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company, and Suzanne Collins adapted the novel for film herself, with screen writer Billy Ray revising it, and Gary Ross directing the film. Jennifer Lawrence portrays the main character, Katniss Everdeen, while Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth play her love interests Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne, respectively. The film's opening weekend was the largest opening for a non-sequel film, $152.5 million.
I was going to include a long list of differences between the novel and the film, but given how long this lesson already is, I've decided to make that information additional. You can find that list here.