Chapter 1.
So the first chapter starts out the morning of the reaping. Katniss lives with her Mother, sister Prim, and Prim's cat Butter Cup. After Katniss's father died in a Mining accident Katniss has been hunting -which is ilegal- to feed her family. Usually in the Morning she sees Men and Women walking to the Coal mines on the streets of the Seam. Which is where she lives. But this morning she sees no one. She assumes they are sleeping in. If they can. Since the reaping doesnt start until 2:00 PM. Katniss goes to the chain link fence with barbedwire on the top as she does everyday. Since District 12 is one of the poorests districts theyre lucky if they get 2-3 hours of electricity at night. But she still listens for the soft hum of the current if it is there. To get under she slides under on her stomach. Weapons are a rarity because even though hunting is illegal most people would do it if they did have them weapons. Katniss's bow and arrow was handcrafted by her father before she died. Katniss makes a joke of the statement which sadly is true "District 12 . Where you can starve to death in safety. "
Katniss saves food for her family and then sells the rest at the Hob -black market- . When Katniss was younger she would openly speak her mind about the capitol and topics like that which would only lead to trouble. Nowadays if there is any talk like that it happens only during hunting between Katniss and Gale.
Gales Hawthorne is Katniss's bestfriend and as she states the only person she can be herself with. They met in the woods and that is where they meet every morning. This particular morning of the reaping Gale trades a squirrel for a fresh loaf of bread and Prim leaves out some cheese that Katniss takes to share with Gale. Gale says the baker must have felt sentimental that morning and Katniss makes another joke of how the reaping seems to bring everyone together as if it were a happy occasion. Gale mocks the capitol in his "Effie Trinket" voice by saying "I almost forgot ! Happy Hunger Games !" Gales starts with what has become one of the most known quotes of the book "And may the odds !" in which Katniss finishes by saying "Be ever in your favor !" Katniss's mother's family used to work serving the peacekeepers. Katniss's father when he hunted would sometimes bring back medicinal herbs to sell to them. Thats how they met. Katniss believes her mother really loved her father to move from her house to the seam. Conversation of running away together (non romanticly speaking) and bringing their familys takes place but Katniss discourages it and the subject changes. They sell the fish they caught to greasy sae at the Hob, and then go to the Mayors house to sell because he is fond of Strawberrys. Here we meet Madge, the Mayors Daughter. Katniss and her wouldnt call each other friends but in reality they are. Gale makes a comment to Madge about her dress and she replys that she wants to look nice if she has to go to the capitol. We all know its ironic because that is a very slim chance she will have too. When your 12 you enter once, when your 13 twice, 14 three times and so on until you are 18 and you have 7 entrys. You also have the option to take out Tessera. Tessera is the trade for having your name entered another time in trade of oil and grains for a year. You can do this for as many people there are in your family, so many people in the Seam have to do this to stay alive.
Prim is nervous since she is 12 and it is her first reaping. She is as safe as she can get because she only has one entry. Katniss wouldnt let her take out any Tessera. They get dressed up, go to the town center and stand with their age group. On the stage Effie Trinket stands and so does the Mayor. At exactly 2:00pm the Mayor gives a speach about how floods and war and storms have ruined what used to be north American -which they dont mention it was northing America- but which leaves the "shining" nation of Panem. He then talks about the rebellion and how the districts tried to overthrow the capitol years ago and how they failed. Thus the Hunger games was born as a punishment to show to capitol has control. One Boy and one girl must come from each District, go into the arena and fight to the death. Everything is televised & everything is recorded. The Mayor states "It is a time for repentance , and a time for thanks. " District 12 has had only 2 winning tributes known as victors. Only one is still alive, Haymitch Abernathy. An alchoholic. He stumbles onto the stage into the third chair. Effie Trinket makes her way to the stand. Gale and Katniss exchange looks. They are both worried for themselves and for eachother. Gale has 42 slips in the drawing. The odds are not in his favor even though there are over 1,000 names in the drawings. Effie Trinket sings out "Ladies first !" as she crosses over to the big glass ball. She reaches in deep and the crowd goes silent. All Katniss can think about is her hoping that its not her. Finally, Effie Trinket calls out "Primrose Everdeen !".
Katniss saves food for her family and then sells the rest at the Hob -black market- . When Katniss was younger she would openly speak her mind about the capitol and topics like that which would only lead to trouble. Nowadays if there is any talk like that it happens only during hunting between Katniss and Gale.
Gales Hawthorne is Katniss's bestfriend and as she states the only person she can be herself with. They met in the woods and that is where they meet every morning. This particular morning of the reaping Gale trades a squirrel for a fresh loaf of bread and Prim leaves out some cheese that Katniss takes to share with Gale. Gale says the baker must have felt sentimental that morning and Katniss makes another joke of how the reaping seems to bring everyone together as if it were a happy occasion. Gale mocks the capitol in his "Effie Trinket" voice by saying "I almost forgot ! Happy Hunger Games !" Gales starts with what has become one of the most known quotes of the book "And may the odds !" in which Katniss finishes by saying "Be ever in your favor !" Katniss's mother's family used to work serving the peacekeepers. Katniss's father when he hunted would sometimes bring back medicinal herbs to sell to them. Thats how they met. Katniss believes her mother really loved her father to move from her house to the seam. Conversation of running away together (non romanticly speaking) and bringing their familys takes place but Katniss discourages it and the subject changes. They sell the fish they caught to greasy sae at the Hob, and then go to the Mayors house to sell because he is fond of Strawberrys. Here we meet Madge, the Mayors Daughter. Katniss and her wouldnt call each other friends but in reality they are. Gale makes a comment to Madge about her dress and she replys that she wants to look nice if she has to go to the capitol. We all know its ironic because that is a very slim chance she will have too. When your 12 you enter once, when your 13 twice, 14 three times and so on until you are 18 and you have 7 entrys. You also have the option to take out Tessera. Tessera is the trade for having your name entered another time in trade of oil and grains for a year. You can do this for as many people there are in your family, so many people in the Seam have to do this to stay alive.
Prim is nervous since she is 12 and it is her first reaping. She is as safe as she can get because she only has one entry. Katniss wouldnt let her take out any Tessera. They get dressed up, go to the town center and stand with their age group. On the stage Effie Trinket stands and so does the Mayor. At exactly 2:00pm the Mayor gives a speach about how floods and war and storms have ruined what used to be north American -which they dont mention it was northing America- but which leaves the "shining" nation of Panem. He then talks about the rebellion and how the districts tried to overthrow the capitol years ago and how they failed. Thus the Hunger games was born as a punishment to show to capitol has control. One Boy and one girl must come from each District, go into the arena and fight to the death. Everything is televised & everything is recorded. The Mayor states "It is a time for repentance , and a time for thanks. " District 12 has had only 2 winning tributes known as victors. Only one is still alive, Haymitch Abernathy. An alchoholic. He stumbles onto the stage into the third chair. Effie Trinket makes her way to the stand. Gale and Katniss exchange looks. They are both worried for themselves and for eachother. Gale has 42 slips in the drawing. The odds are not in his favor even though there are over 1,000 names in the drawings. Effie Trinket sings out "Ladies first !" as she crosses over to the big glass ball. She reaches in deep and the crowd goes silent. All Katniss can think about is her hoping that its not her. Finally, Effie Trinket calls out "Primrose Everdeen !".
Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 begins at the reaping. Prim's name has just been called. Of course Katniss wont let this happen to she volunteers to take her place. So Katniss walks up to the stage and no one claps. Silence is a sign of disagreement. The crowd doesnt want Katniss to be the tribute. They know her too well. They know her as the girl who hunts and sells to them. The girl who's father died in the Mine explosion. They know her. They also know Prim. They wouldnt of let her go either. So all they can do is the sign in Panem of gratitude, Love, Goodbye. The three middle fingers of the left hands touched to the mouth and then outstretched toward her. Bold, its a sign of thanks, and a sad but loving goodbye. Prim screams and Gale picks her off of Katniss. She fights not to cry but when they replay all the reapings on TV people will notice her tears so she tries to compose herself. Katniss is worried her mother will check out again. After her father died her mother sat for days on end, eating nothing, either laying in bed, or sitting up in a chair. She is scared for Prim. But she knows Gale will take care of Prim and her mother. Effie Pulls the Boys name and its Peeta Mellmark. Peeta Mellmark is the same age as Katniss. They dont know eachother but they have a connection that happened years ago. Three months after her father died Katniss was trying to trade Prims old baby clothes for food in the main section of town because she didnt dare go into the Hob. She was only 11. She looked in the bakery garbage can and the bakers wife comes out screaming at her to leave and get out of the trash. Behind her was a young ashy blonde haired boy. She had seen him at school but they had never talked. The trashcan was empty and Katniss could do nothing since she was so weak, she fell down by the tree by the pig pen. The next thing she knew she heard a thud, more screaming, a whack, and then the mother yelling at the boy. The boy -Peeta- ran out with two loaves of bread. Black and burnt. He tore off the burnt parts and fed them to the pigs, then without haste, tossed the loaves of bread at Katniss's feet. With a big red welt on his face from where his mother hit him he ran inside out of the rain. Thats how she knew Peeta Mellmark. The boy with the bread.
Chapter 3.
The Anthem at the reaping ends and Katniss & Peeta are taken by the peacekeepers to seperate rooms in the justice building. Here they will have an hour for their familys and friends to say goodbye. The room is beautiful with thick carpets and velvet. Katniss has only seen velvet once on the collar on one of her mothers dresses. Katniss holds back the tears still even though she is in privacy, she knows that there will be cameras at the train station and she doesnt want to seem weaker than she has already made herself look. First Prim and her Mother come in. Prim sits on her lap and her mother hugs them. They sit like this for a few minutes. Katniss then tells them how they will survive. She goes over how Gale will hunt, and how Prim has to tend to her goat and to make cheese and Goat milk and sell it. She tells them Prim is to not take any Tessera, and that her mother cannot check out and leave Prim. Prim cant survive in the childrens home. Peacekeepers come in and tell them they have to leave. Next the last person she would expect is Peeta Mellmark's dad. He comes in and gives her a white package of cookies. He tells her than he will make sure her family has something to eat and then he leaves. Next comes Madge. The Mayors daughter. She gives Katniss a little gold circular pin with a mocking jay on it. She makes her promise she'll wear it into the Arena at the games. She says a quick goodbye and leave. Katniss realizes Madge really was her friend. But its too late for that now. Madge leaves and Gale comes in. Although they dont think about eachother romanticly when he opens his arms she doesnt refuse. She hugs him and listens to his familiar heart beat and the smokey smell she is familiar with from their countless days of hunting together. He tells her no matter what to get a bow & arrow. If she has to race to one or even make one she needs to get her hands on one. There will almost always be wood in the Arena. The peacekeepers come back and they beg for more time but they say no. As he is leaving he promises that her family wont starve and he gets out "Katniss, Remember I -" and he is gone before she can hear what he has to say. Peeta and Katniss are taken to the train station. They are swarmed by cameras. They stand in the doorway of the train and then walk up the steps inside. The train isnt like the coal trains. This one is a capitol high speed 250 mph train. They would be in the capitol within a day. The train is more lavish that the room in the Justice building. They each get their own room, a changing room, and a bathroom. Katniss takes a shower for the first time and says its like a warm summers rain. She puts on clothes that they have provided and remembers to wear the Gold Mocking Jay pin. Mocking Jays are a result of a capitol mutt gone wrong and then fused with a Mocking bird. During the rebellion the capitol made a new species, a mutant, a mutt they would call them. Jabber jays. JabberJays flew to rebel camps. They could memorize whole human conversations and could repeat them word for word. Finally the rebels found out and sent false information back to the capitol through JabberJays. The capitol had no choice but to set them free and let them die in the wilderness. But they didnt die. They mated with the mocking bird. Now they have mocking Jays. The cant repeat conversations but they can repeat whole songs. Verses, Chorus, and everything. Your voice has to be something special for Mocking Jays to listen. Katniss's father had a voice that when he sang all the mocking jays went silent. Wearing the Mocking Jay pin made Katniss feel like she was bringing a little piece of her father into the arena with her. She went to dinner which was fabulous. Thick carrot soup, green salad, Lamb chops, mashpotatoes, cheese, fruit, & chocolate cake. Katniss fought to keep to rich meal in her stomach because she wasnt used to such fine food but she managed too. Effie makes a comment on Haymitch's Abscence and Katniss and Haymitch just smirk. Effie gets frustrated because Haymitch is their lifeline. He chooses life or death, he decides when the gifts from the sponsors come in. he chooses when to help and when not to help. They loose their smirk almost immediatly. Just as they were finishing Haymitch stumbles in the room & vomits. Obviously he is drunk. Effie Trinket runs out of the room.
