Catching Fire

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Literary Devices

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Literary Devices Themes

This ignorance is apparent any time Katniss encounters people from the Capitol, which usually means her hair-and-makeup team. The first time in the novel that they arrive at her house in District 12, she notes that their concerns are almost entirely about frivolous things like parties and appearances. Later, during the feast at President Snow’s mansion, Katniss and Peeta are both appalled when they’re told that people in the Capitol will often make themselves vomit at feasts so that they can keep eating. Katniss thinks of the numerous people starving back home and how insensitive and insulting her prep team sounds. The scene prompts Peeta to wonder if they should try to subdue dissent. That same ignorance is apparent in the fact that people in the Capitol consider the Hunger Games, in which children are forced to kill one another, entertainment. The example suggests that their ignorance isn’t necessarily of the facts: they know that the children of people in the districts are drafted into the Games. It’s of the experience of life outside their privileged bubble. They appear completely unwilling, and perhaps even unable, to imagine what life in the districts is like, and consequently they seem to have no compassion for the everyday struggles of people like Katniss beyond what’s broadcast on their televisions for their amusement.

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