Setting

Most of the story takes place in the Hunger Games arena, which is a forest in which the tributes have to survive in until they finish each other off. In the middle of the forest, where the tributes start the game, there is a small sandy beach with a lake. The rest of the arena is an endless forest with lush, green trees and plants of all sorts. There are streams and rivers here and there which provide sources of water. The forest is also rich in animal species, including rabbits and wild goose which the tributes can hunt in. Overall, it is a very dense, common, green forest.

Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins was born in 1963. As a child, she moved from town to town because her father served as an airman in the Air Force. When she was older, she attended New York University and she received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Dramatic Writing. After she graduated, in the 1980’s she moved to New York City. After, in the 1990’s, she began to work on children’s television shows. When she was working on a Kids WB show called Generation O!, she met a guy named James Proimos who convinced her to try to begin to write children’s literature. She currently lives in Connecticut.

In addition to The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins has written many other books for children. One of the most relevant other titles is the sequels to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Other titles include The Gregor the Overlandor, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of the Secret, and Gregor and the Code of Claw. These five books are part of The Underland Chronicles, a recreation of Alice in Wonderland that takes place in an urban setting. Two more titles are Fire Proof: Shelby Woo #11 and When Charlie McButton Lost Power. That’s a little bit about Suzanne Collins.

The Hunger Games

The book The Hunger Games is divided into three parts. They are The Tributes (Chapters 1-9), The Games (Chapters 10-18), and The Victor (Chapters 19-27).

In Part I, The Tributes, we meet Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from District 12 of a country called Panem. She goes illegally hunting with her friend Gale before the Reaping. They discuss many things, as well as hunt. They sell what they have caught at the Hob, or Black Market. After that, they go to the Reaping.

The Reaping is the selection of people to participate in the Hunger Games. If you are a citizen of Panem, and you are twelve years old, you enter your name one time and one more time every year thereafter. This happens until you are eighteen years old when your name is entered seven times. However, any citizen can enter their name more than once in exchange for a year’s worth of grain and oil for one person. At the Reaping, they choose one girl and one boy to be tributes, representing each of Panem’s districts in the Hunger Games. This is the Capitol’s “payback” because a few years before, the thirteen districts revolted against the Capitol. The Capitol obliterated District 13 and made the other twelve participate in the Hunger Games. Once each district has chosen tributes, they are sent to the Capitol to fight to the death against each other. The first tribute that they choose is Katniss’ sister, Primrose “Prim” Everdeen. So her sister won’t have to play in the games, Katniss sacrifices herself for her sister, and volunteer to go to the Games instead of her sister. They then choose the boy tribute, Peeta Mellark. Peeta had known Katniss before, when he gave her some bread as a little boy when she was starving. Although Katniss remembers, she doubts that Peeta does. They are allowed to see visitors, mostly family, before they are escorted onto a train, toward the Capitol.

Once in the Capitol, they are introduced to their stylists, Cinna and Portia. Cinna is Katniss’ stylist who wants to dress her for the games in a way that reflects her district. Since District 12 does a lot of coal mining, Cinna and Portia dress Katniss and Peeta in black unitards that have synthetic fire burning from them, to represent coal burning. They soon go to the tribute training center, where they practice what skills they are good at. The trainers score each tribute, and Katniss gets the highest score. After, they get interviewed. Katniss goes first and talks about her volunteering for Prim. Once her time is up, it’s Peeta’s turn. The interviewer, Caesar Flickerman asks Peeta if he has a crush on someone. He says “, I do, but if I go home after the games, she wouldn’t be able to be with me, because…she came here with me.”

In Part II, The Games, Katniss is surprised at Peeta’s confession and she is angry at him, but then calms down. The next day, the Hunger Games begin and the tributes are supposed to survive in a forest, while killing each other. Before the games start, the tributes are held back, and then, they are released with a cornucopia in the middle of them with all sorts of supplies. Katniss grabs a backpack and a sheet of plastic. Over the course of a few days, some tributes die, and others form alliances. Peeta allies with the expert Career tributes who have trained for this all of their lives. He does this to protect Katniss. Another such alliance was that of Katniss and a girl from District 11 named Rue. They worked together through the middle of the games, including blowing up the food of some tributes, until a boy from District 1 kills Rue with a spear. However, Katniss goes at him with an arrow and she kills him. To shame the Capitol, and make them accountable for Rue’s death, she fixes up Rue so that she gets a “proper” return home in flowers. Soon, it is announced that there is a rule change in the games, and that two tributes from the same district can win. Suddenly, Katniss screams out Peeta’s name.

In Part III, The Victor, since Katniss has learned of the new rule, she is rejoicing and is finally starting to notice that Peeta was helping her by being an “ally” of the Careers. Since the Careers found out that Peeta was helping Katniss, they tried to kill him, but he got away. Soon, Katniss finds a trail of blood and follows it. Soon, Katniss finds Peeta camouflaged in the mud. They soon get together and form an alliance. Peeta is very injured, but Katniss tries to heal him. However Peeta’s pain just keeps getting worse and worse to the point that he starts talking about dying right there. To shut him up, Katniss, without thinking about it, kisses him. It’s her first kiss and his first kiss as well. Then, they both calm down.

A few days later, Claudius Templesmith, one of the game makers, tells the remaining six tributes that each of them needs something and that they can go back to the Cornucopia and get it. Katniss needs to get Peeta something for his wound, but she fears the other tributes injuring her. Eventually she goes, and gets Peeta’s medicine while fighting another tribute. A while after, a few more tributes die and it’s only Katniss, Peeta, and another tribute named Cato left. Animals soon kill Cato and Katniss and Peeta wait to be released, but they’re not. The rule change that said that two tributes from the same district can win, was changed back to only one. To humiliate the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta try to double suicide themselves by giving each other poison berries. However, right before they swallow, the game makers allow two tributes and declare them both winners.

They are soon fixed up and sent back to District 12, where the crowd greets them with applause and happiness.

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