8. The Hunger Games Analysis

Summary: After Katniss shot the arrow at the Gamemakers, she goes back to her room and cries because she thinks that due to her defiance, she and her family will be hurt. When they eat dinner, she tells them what happened and convince her that her family is safe and the worst they'll do is make life difficult in the arena. They get their scores. Peeta got an eight and Katniss an eleven. Katniss reminisces about Gale, and how they met in the woods six months after she had started hunting. Through mutual need, they started relying on each other. The next morning when Katniss and Peeta are to start prepping for interviews, Haymitch tells Katniss Peeta has decided to prepare alone.

Flashbacks: Flashbacks can put a halt to the flow of a story, but in this case, Collins has Katniss reflect back on home, which makes her think to Gale, and then go into how they met. To pull out of the flashback, Katniss starts to talk in more general terms about their relationship until it becomes part of the present.

Characters:

• Katniss: Her action and reaction in shooting the arrow at the Gamemaker's pig says a lot about her character. That she rebels, but doesn't mean to. That she's scared of the consequences once she thinks about it, but her problem is that she doesn't think about it.
• Gale: With his importance to Katniss's life up to this point and in the other books, but not being able to actually be there, his flashback is important to understand his character. With the image of his going out to the woods which no one else does, he becomes a rebel, but one with a purpose, with the information that he's the oldest and needed to take care of his family after his father died.

What we can learn in a nutshell: Before a character does something drastic, hint at their personality by putting them in a smaller situation where they make the same choice. Ease into flashbacks and ease out instead of just plunging in.