Jared Freedland Mrs.
Kerr Language Arts P. 5 24 January 2012 Title: The Hunger Games Author Background: The author of this book is Suzanne Collins, who currently lives in Connecticut with her family. She started her career in 1991 writing for children’s television. She has worked on Nickelodeon shows including Clarissa Explains it all, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, and Oswald. Suzanne recently finished her third book in the series, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. Genre: Science FictionMeaning of the Title: The title The Hunger Games has a very important meaning.
Every year, between the districts, there are games titled the hunger games, where each district chooses two tributes, a boy and a girl, to play in a set of challenging battles to the death. Setting: The beginning of the story, the setting is taken place in district twelve in the country of Panem. Soon after, the story takes place in the Hunger games arena. Major Characters: Katniss Everdeen- Katniss Everdeen is a teenage girl who lives in District 12, a poor coal-mining region in the country of Panem.
She's a volunteer tribute in Panem's annual Hunger Games, having taken the place of her younger sister in an act of heroic self-sacrifice. Peeta Mellark- When Peeta Mellark is selected as the tribute for District 12, all we really know about him is that he's a baker's son, a little bit emotional, and that Katniss really wishes he hadn't been the one chosen as her co-tribute. Through the book, we learn that he played a large part in helping Katniss's family survive after her father's death. For this, Katniss feels deeply indebted to him.
Peeta is also in love with Katniss Everdeen. Hamitch Abernathy- Haymitch is a former District 12 tribute and winner of the Hunger Games who is now a middle-aged drunk. His job is to come out of his alcoholic addiction long enough to coach Katniss and Peeta to victory in the Hunger Games. He tends to use superior names like "sweetheart," which does nothing to recommend him to the sometimes-overconfident Katniss. Gale Hawthorne-Gale is Katniss's hunting partner and closest friend from District 12.As Katniss says he's "good-looking, he's strong enough to handle the work in the mines, and he can hunt" (Page 34).
The two characters have a good deal in common, from their backgrounds, to their family situations, to their shared harsh opinions on Panem's government. There's also some romantic tension starting beneath the surface, but for now it has yet to boil. Protagonist: Katniss Everdeen is the 16-year-old protagonist. She lives in a region of District 12 known as the Seam, which is the poorest area of the district. She is described as having dark hair, olive skin, and grey eyes.Her best friend is Gale Hawthorne, and she breaks the law with him regularly to go hunting in the woods surrounding their district, which is a forbidden act, yet never get caught as many important people buy their kills.
She volunteers to be a tribute in the Games in order to save her sister, Primrose Everdeen, who was originally chosen. She survives the Games along with Peeta Mellark and was under the mentorship of Haymitch Abernathy. Antagonist: The antagonists in this book are the rest of the tributes in the Hunger Games who all have the same goal: kill everyone till they are the only ones standing.Mood: Sometimes, the mood is sad when Katniss thinks of dying in the games. Other times it is romantic with Peeta’s crush on Katniss.
Also, the book was suspenseful when they were choosing tributes. Point of View: This book is told in first person. Conflict: Person vs. group- When Katniss enters the Hunger Games; she faces 23 other people, battling to the death. Exposition: Although Katniss Everdeen is only a teenager, she's a tough hunter who puts food on her family's table. Her father is dead and she lives with her mother and sister Prim in District 12 in the country of Panem.
Every year the Capitol of Panem hosts an event called the Hunger Games where two "tributes" (a boy and a girl) are drafted from each of the twelve districts to be brought to an arena and fight to the death. Only one person can win. This year, unfortunately, Katniss's little sister is selected for the Hunger Games, so Katniss volunteers to take her place. Rising Action: After the reaping (the tribute selection process), Katniss and Peeta are taken away to the Capitol to prepare for the Games (and primped for live TV). Their support team is rimarily comprised of Haymitch (a former Hunger Games winner and also a drunk), Effie Trinket (their wrangler), and Cinna and Portia (their stylists). During the opening ceremonies, Cinna and Portia dress Katniss and Peeta in flames and they draw much attention to themselves.
During training, Katniss reveals her archery skills to the Game makers and scores an amazing 11 out of 12. Peeta gets a lower score and asks to be coached separately. Peeta also announces in an interview that he has a mega crush on Katniss. Is this all just a strategy to gain audience support and sponsors?Katniss thinks so, but it works well for her too, so she plays along. Climax: All 24 of the tributes are transported to the arena to fight it out.
Katniss is on her own at first, but then she discovers that Peeta has teamed up with the Career Tributes – the strong kids from the rich districts in Panem who actually want to go to the Hunger Games. They eventually corner her in a tree, but she drops a tracker jacker nest on them (that's like a genetically mutated killer wasp) and scores a bow and arrow in the process.After this, Katniss teams up with Rue, a tiny girl from District 11 who reminds her of her sister Prim. The two are able to take out the Career Tributes' food supply, which infuriates their leader, Cato. Also, Peeta doesn't appear to be teamed up with them anymore. Unfortunately, Rue is killed around this time by one of the Career Tributes.
Katniss honors her body by covering it in flowers. After Rue's death, the announcer, wanting to bring back the romance story between Peeta and Katniss, changes the rules of the game: two people from a single district can now win.Before she can stop herself, Katniss calls out Peeta's name. Falling Action: Katniss goes hunting for Peeta and eventually finds him. He is wounded and camouflaged in the muddy bank of a stream.
She nurses him back to health and realizes that by playing up the romance angle, they can get gifts from sponsors. Eventually, Katniss and Peeta must face off with Cato, the only other surviving tribute, but before that they are all pursued by wild dogs which are actually genetically mutated killing machines. Finally, Katniss shoots Cato and he falls into the pack.They've won, right? Wrong. An announcer comes back on and says the rules have changed back: only one winner allowed. Resolution: Katniss and Peeta can't kill each other, so they make a show of taking poisonous berries in an act of double suicide.
Fortunately, the announcer comes back on before they can kill themselves, and says that they win. Katniss and Peeta keep up the star-crossed lovers’ routine for the post-games reunion and interview, knowing that this is the only way to keep from being punished by the Capitol for the rebellious trick with the poisonous berries.Eventually Katniss figures out that Peeta really is in love with her – he wasn't acting at all – and he figures out that she wasn't ever in love with him. As the train pulls into District 12, they put on a happy face for the camera, take each other's hands and step onto the platform. Theme: Society and Class- The book deals a lot with class.
The poorest district of Panem is District 12, where Katniss and Peeta live. If you win the Hunger Games, you are praised with money, food, fame, and much more. Katniss’s family is so poor she needs to hunt illegally for food.Summary: Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used to be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games.
" The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.
