Courage, Connections, Sacrifice, and Power in Suzanne Collins’s Catching Fire
I would like to share with you my takeaways from the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy.
Out of the three books of Hunger Games, I love the second one, Catching Fire, the most. For me, it serves as the transition of the main characters’ hearts and the beginning of an entire revolution among the people in the story. Its storyline overall expands significantly from the first book yet remains clear. Its pace gets much more intense and most of the time kept me sitting at the edge of my chair while reading it. Yeah, it was so good!
Allow me to share with you what I’ve learned from Catching Fire with you. It’s 60% of theme analysis and 30% of my self interpretations. Hopefully, I can successfully convince you to read or re-evaluate this second book of the entire Hunger Games series. Spoiler ahead!
In the second book of Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Katniss is inevitably gripped by a direct death threat from the Capitol. Her fears and weaknesses are evidently captured in the story, but at the same time, under the full-scale oppression from the unethical authority, her resolution reveals her as a woman who possesses outstanding bravery.
Courage is a defining characteristic for Katniss, but her bravery is not born inherently.
Katniss is crossing the bridge of self-doubt into courage in Catching Fire. In the most recent Games, the scene of her holding out the poisonous berries, trying to commit suicide with her fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta, has been regarded as an act of rebellion. This act has fueled uprisings among Districts where discontents have been growing for a long time. She knows that she has become the catalyst for the rebellion, but she doesn’t believe she has the unflinching courage needed to direct and to assure the people. However, in many cases throughout the story, Katniss is pushed beyond her limits and her beliefs are expanded beyond what she thought she was capable of.
Family is an important issue during the course of the story.
Katniss learns to appreciate what it means to have a family to back her up. Unlike her indifferent attitude to her mother in the last Games, since she came back from the arena, Katniss has been trying hard to mend her relationship with her mother. Accept any offer of help instead of brushing her mother away as she did out of anger for years. The value of family becomes even more important for her after the Capitol announced her return to the Games. It is her family that stays with her and helps her release her pressure. She begins to see her weaknesses in front of her beloved ones. Near the end of the story, when the horror of death starts to rise up inside her, her family becomes her very reason to continue her fighting.
Having someone to side with and share with is arguably the best thing that friendship offers.
Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, and Cinna serve as support to help reveal Katniss’s strong inner side throughout the Games. Gale inspires her to be more proactive rather than just escape; Peeta gives her a feeling of steadiness as she’s plagued by haunting images of death and loss from the last Games; Haymitch leads her to understand both the advantages and disadvantages of her decisions; with his ravishing gown, Cinna turns her into a rebellion symbol, the Mockingjay, that will resonate well throughout Districts to win support. These people help Katniss understand there is something unique about her and they are willing to risk their lives to support her, but she will need to take much courage to prove that to herself throughout the story.
Sacrifice is a connotation woven into the story.
Katniss, herself, lets her decisions change the direction of her life. She takes her little sister’s place to be a Tribute and resolves to keep Peeta alive in the Hunger Games. Furthermore, she refuses to play the Games by the Capitol's rule even though doing so makes her face unavoidable death. She avoids hurting other Tribute unless she has to. Although the possibility of all her choices involves risk, they present Katniss with a chance to save her family and all the other people. Only if she sticks to her defiance against the Capitol will more people by rallied and her risks be worth the benefits in the end.
Power serves as another distinguishing trait between Katniss and the Capitol.
The Capitol tries to achieve absolute control over Districts to exploit all resources they need, Under the tyrannous regime, people in Districts starve, work like slaves, and are forced to send their children to the Reaping as Tributes to serve as an amusement for the Capitol. By the time Katniss appears, years of torment lets riot among Districts erupt. Katniss unwillingly becomes the face of the hoped-for rebellion. Her compassionate nature evokes the slightest hope of people to stand out and fight for their liberty. Her resolution represents a newfound power that, unlike the Capitol power, will never be compromised.
At the end of the second book, Catching Fire, the future of Katniss seems unclear. We would not be able to know from this book if she will be forever stuck in the loss of her loved ones or eventually becomes a dedicated, strong woman who will lead people to reach their final goal. However, there is one thing we can be sure about is that she will be the only one who determines what kind of person she is and what she is going to be.
This book plays an important role to build a bridge from a courageous act of an individual to the full revolution of the united force of people. It gives more context to the first book’s background and eventually sets up a perfect stage for the final peak of the story to come.
If you get a chance to read this book and enjoy it as much as I did. Feel free to leave a comment to let me know.
Thank you for reading. Have a blessed day ahead :)
