Summary: Chapter 4
Peeta volunteers to clean up Haymitch, who is drunk and has fallen in his
own vomit. While Katniss sits in her room, she wonders why Peeta did this, then
realizes he may just be kind. She decides this is more dangerous to her than an
unlikable Peeta and determines not to get any closer with him. When she throws
the cookies his father gave her out the window, they land in a field of
dandelions, and she remembers gathering dandelions with Prim after she realized
she would have to feed her family. Her mother, who is an apothecary, had a book
describing plants that can be used for healing, and in it she found notes, made
by her father, about which plants were edible. The next day, she went into the
woods alone for the first time and began hunting and foraging regularly to keep
her family alive. What she caught or collected that she didn’t need, she would
trade or sell at the Hob. One day, she noticed some katniss, the plant she’s
named after, in a pond. She dug up the edible roots, and that night she and her
family ate till they were full. Her mother began to return to normal as well.
Katniss, however, never fully forgave her weakness and their relationship was
never the same. Katniss wonders what her mother and Prim are doing at home and
falls asleep.
In the morning she goes to the train’s dining car. Effie, Peeta, and
Haymitch are there. Haymitch is already drinking, and Peeta gets angry with him
because he’s supposed to be advising them. He slaps the drink out of Haymitch’s
hand. Haymitch punches him, and Katniss stabs her knife into the table between
his hand and the liquor bottle. Haymitch wonders if he’s got fighters this year
and asks Katniss what else she can do with a knife. She pulls it out of the
table and throws skillfully into the wall. If they don’t interfere with his
drinking, Haymitch says he’ll help them. His first piece of advice is that
whatever the stylists do to them, they shouldn’t resist. The train finally
arrives at the Capitol. Katniss and Peeta are amazed at the grandeur and
strangeness of it. The people all have bizarre hair and painted faces. Peeta
waves to the people gathered to see the tributes coming in. He says he’s waving
because some of them may be rich, and Katniss realizes he may be planning a way
to survive the Games, making him a threat to her.
Summary: Chapter 5
In the Capitol, a team of people wax Katniss’s body hair to prepare her
for her stylist, Cinna. Cinna is quiet and modest. It’s his first year working
as a stylist for the Hunger Games, and to Katniss’s surprise, he requested the
tributes of the impoverished District 12. It is typical for the tributes to
dress in a style that reflects their district, and Cinna says since District
12’s industry is coal mining, Katniss’s and Peeta’s costumes will reflect coal’s
main function, which is to burn. Her costume will be lit with a synthetic flame,
and Cinna calls her “the girl who was on fire.” In their matching costumes—an
unusual touch as tributes are rarely made to match—Katniss and Peeta are
escorted to a main plaza in the city, where they will go before the huge
audience. The other district’s tributes all have their turns, then just before
Katniss and Peeta emerge, Cinna lights them and tells them to hold hands. They
emerge and are instantly a sensation. The crowd loves them, and because of
Cinna’s work, they are the most memorable tributes of the night.
Summary: Chapter 6
At the Training Center, where the tributes stay until the Games begin,
Effie Trinket talks enthusiastically about Katniss and Peeta. Katniss,
meanwhile, is in awe of how luxurious her room is. It’s larger than her house
and has all sorts of automated features, notably in the shower and closet.
Katniss finds everyone, including the stylists, in the dining room for dinner.
The servers are all young people dressed in white tunics. Katniss, who has had
some wine, says she knows one of them, a girl with red hair, then realizes this
person is associated with a bad memory. Effie snaps at her, saying she can’t
possibly know an Avox. Haymitch explains that an Avox is someone who committed a
crime and had their tongue cut out. Katniss says it must be a mistake, and Peeta
covers for her by saying the Avox girl resembles someone from there school.
Everyone talks about their success at the ceremony, then Haymitch tells Katniss
and Peeta to go get some sleep. Their training begins the next day.
Katniss and Peeta go to the roof, where they can speak without being
overheard. There’s an electrified field around it so tributes can’t jump off,
and Peeta leads Katniss to a garden where wind chimes and the wind will cover
their voices. Katniss says she and Gale were hunting in the woods one day when
they saw a ragged-looking girl and boy running in terror. A hovercraft appeared
and captured the girl in a net. It hauled her up instantly, then shot the boy
through with a spear that had a cable attached and hauled his body up too. Then
it disappeared. Katniss says for a moment, before the girl was taken, she locked
eyes with her, but Katniss did nothing. The memory haunts her. They go back
inside because it’s cold, and Peeta asks Katniss if Gale is a relative. He also
asks if Gale came to say goodbye when she left. She says he did, but so did
Peeta’s father. Peeta mentions that his father knew Katniss’s mother. They said
goodnight, and in her room Katniss sees the redheaded Avox. She asks the girl to
take some clothes to Cinna, and as she falls asleep, wonders if the girl will
enjoy watching her die in the Games.
Analysis
The clash between Katniss’s poor upbringing and the wealth of the Capitol
continues throughout these chapters. In Chapter 4, we see how Katniss learned to
forage, and she describes how, after the meal of katniss roots she gathered, she
and her family felt full for the first time in months. A few paragraphs later,
the story returns to the present, and Katniss sits down to a large breakfast of
eggs, ham, fried potatoes, bread, and other things. The theme continues in
Chapter 5, when Katniss meets with Cinna. At the press of a button, Cinna
summons a giant meal, prompting Katniss to consider the literally days of effort
it would take to prepare the same meal herself at home. The scene highlights
exactly how much the people of the Capitol have compared to those in the
districts, particularly the poorer districts like District 12.
