Catching Fire

(Author's Note: This piece is a report on the book Catching Fire)

How would you feel if you had no say in your life? Would you just live with it, or would you fight back? That is the main conflict Katniss Everdeen faces in this book. This book takes place in the future, where the United States is Separated into 12 districts with one Capitol to rule them all. There is no democracy, and to show that the Capitol is in power, they hold a Hunger games every year. The Hunger Games is a cruel game where each district sends two kids to fight in. It is a free-for-all bloodbath, where there can only be one victor. Except in Peeta and Katniss case, they both won last year, so they both go onto the victory tour around the districts.

Before they depart, Katniss is visited by the President of the Capitol. He tells Katniss that the act of defiance she and Peeta did at the end of last years games sparked a uprising in some districts. Katniss and Peeta were the last two contestents in the arena, and were about to commit suicide to escape killing eachother. He tells her to make sure that she sets things straight. Her only excuse was that she was madly in love with him.

On the tour, Katniss and Peeta stop at district 11, former home of a girl named Rue, who had died in the arena, and Katniss' only ally. After the pre-made speach, Katniss felt like she needed to say something more to Rue's family. She went on and on on how grateful she was for her and couldn't contain herself. She got the crowd going, and after her speech, she left. Upon, leaving, she heard three gunshots that silenced the crazy crowd. This was the exact thing she was trying to prevent. She decided that the only chance of saving her was to marry Peeta, but after he proposed on live television, President Snow told her that it wasn't enough.

After the tour, she felt grateful to be home, but some changes had been made since she was gone. The security around the district has increased substantially, and Katniss witnessed her best friend Gale be whipped nearly to death. Also, the black market was burned down. This place is where most people in the district get their food. The entire district wasn't big enough to rebel, so they had to cope with the law for a while. Katniss' life was filled with misery, until the she watched the mandatory televised event of president snow picking the theme of this years hunger games. She was horrified when he described that the victors of the past hunger games would have to fight each other. Katniss was going back into the arena. After all the prefight ceremonies were completed, she was ready to go back into the games. She made some alliances during the training, so it wasn't just her and Peeta. This year was the fastest games yet. Three fourths of the victors were dead after just a few days. It was just her, Peeta, and three other allies vs. two other people. Katniss and her alliance tried to set up a trap by harnessing the power of lightning to a saltwater lake in the center of the arena. While she was setting up the wire, she was jumped my one of her allies, right when the two enemies came. They deemed that she was finished, so they left her alone. With the lightning about to strike, she tied the wire to an arrow and shot it at the arena wall. The energy was too much, and sent the arena crumbling down.

At the end of the book, she and her allies were rescued by a hovercraft from district 13, a supposedly extinct district. Everybody except for Peeta, who was captured by the capitol. It turns out that there was a plan all along to get her and Peeta out safely. She and Peeta are the most important part of the uprising in the districts. The plan was set up by the head gamemaker of the games. He design the arena so they could figure out how to escape. I feel like the next book will be all about the revolution. It will be on how Katniss and Peeta shape the new world, and to begin a life of freedom. I think this is because in the book, it tells you how the capitol can't get the commodities that the districts usually supply them with, therefore most are rebelling. I also predict that the rebels are going to defeat the capitol because district 13 was known for it's nuclear weapons production, so they will have access to powerful tools of destruction. I will now start to read the third book in the series 'Mocking Jay'.