Let’s Analyze The Hunger Games Chapter 1-5

There are two things I typically dislike in a YA novel. One is a first person point of view. The other is a deeply dystopian “post war America” setting with little more than a message of “capitalism is bad” and shirtless men, usually much older than our protagonist, around every corner, which is always much more important to said protag than any dystopian government.

The Hunger Games stands as the YA novel that broke me of that. It’s one of the few YA novels with a protagonist I didn’t mind being solely in the head off. It’s also the most competent and powerfully messaged YA novel I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying.

A lot of people would disagree with me, but a lot of people also have never read the books, or dare I say they didn’t understand what they were reading. Suzanne Collins is a talented storyteller, and she weaves a tale full of trauma, PTSD, war, loss, destruction, hatred, and politics, all wrapped in a neat little YA bow.

I want to analyze this bad boy in chunks. So let’s jump into the first 5 chapters.

This deep dive is going to be very spoilery, so if you don’t want that, skip this post.

Chapter 1:

In the very first paragraph of this novel, three things happen.

1. We learn the name of someone who is very dear to our protagonist. It is established that these two characters often sleep in the same bed, and that their mother is another character, which tells us the two are sisters.
2. We learn that there is something called the reaping, which already has negative connotations because it is linked to Prim (the sister) having bad dreams.
3. We are left with a question. What is the reaping?

It is incredibly important to draw your audience in with your first paragraph. You should give enough information so as not to be vague, but not so much that your reader doesn’t immediately want to know more.

Next, we learn that Prim has a gross looking tomcat named Buttercup. We are told right off the bat that our protagonist’s first instinct upon seeing a scrawny kitten with fleas is to drown him, and the only thing that stopped her was Prim’s pleading.

This is important for several reasons. First of all, it’s established that this is a world where having another mouth to feed is a very bad thing. The instinct to be rid of animals or people who can’t help themselves is usually a sign that an environment is far from ideal. It is also established without directly telling us that our protagonist is a survivor. She cares about herself and the people closest to her deeply, and if something doesn’t impact them, she doesn’t worry about it.

We are then given several things at once while the story starts rolling. One thing I admire about Suzanne Collins is her spectacular pacing. At many points in these books we are given characterization, plot, and worldbuilding all in one paragraph. It rolls very smoothly as a story and makes sense while doing it.

Our protagonist slips into her boots, which she describes as “supple leather that has molded to my feet” telling us she uses them often. We learn a bit about District 12, but the story doesn’t slow down because our protagonist is on the move. This gives us those “cinematic shots” where it doesn’t feel like the story is grinding to a halt, but we are still getting some information. This is one of the advantageous facets of a first person perspective since you can learn about the world through prose. We learn that her home, District 12 only gets 2 to 3 hours of electricity a day, and it’s implied this is one of the poorer places to live.

We learn our protagonist’s father is dead, and that this haunts her through nightmares. We also learn that she seems to have some manner of skill with a bow, since she uses one to hunt.

Then we meet another character, and it is only at this point we learn the protagonist’s name. I like this tactic, because this type of “in the moment” story benefits more from only mentioning things when they become relevant, rather than being laid out in the way some first person stories are. Gale calls her “Catnip” and she corrects the audience through her prose that her real name is Katniss.

We learn a bit more about the Capital, and one of their little sayings.

One of the reasons the pacing works so well in this book is the absence of exposition dumps. Exposition dumps aren’t exclusive to YA novels, but they seem exceptionally bogged down by this sin of story writing. Exposition is important to a story, but to avoid a glut of it, authors will often only feed their readers bites at a time.

Katniss doesn’t come out on stage to inform the audience that she lives in District 12, one of 12 districts beneath the Capital, and they hold a tournament each year to- blah blah blah. Instead we get some playful banter between her and another character to establish scant information about the Capital.

Because at that time in the story, anything else is unimportant to our protagonist. Katniss takes her world for granted, as all characters in your stories should. This is life for them. For 16 years this is all Katniss has known. Collins waits for these things to become relevant for Katniss to tell us about them. And this allows us to experience the story with Katniss, rather than from her.

We get to see a little bit of what a typical day for Katniss looks like as well. This is also a positive, because while it’s established everyone has to meet at the square at 2, and normally Katniss would spend the day hunting, we still get to see a little bit of life in District 12. You don’t want to begin your story so far into the action that we can’t learn about the character’s life before it happened, but you also don’t want to start too far from the action.

We learn about the Hob, which is a black market, and we meet a few other minor characters, one of which is Madge, the mayor’s daughter.

This is another moment I’m going to spend fangirling over Suzanne Collins. Most scenes have at least two purposes in these stories. Katniss’ meeting with Madge has 3.

First, we learn that Katniss and Madge have a sort of friendship. She’s not as close to her as she is Prim or Gale, but we still know they’re friends.

Their meeting also sparks further discussion about the reaping. Again, it’s not Katniss standing on a stage spelling it out for us. It is now relevant to the story due to a snarky comment made by Gale.

It also gives us a little hint of foreshadowing that combines with the discussion.

We learn that the day a child turns 12, their name is entered into the reaping once. Every year after until age 18 it is entered another time. But we also learn that the hungrier members of the district are allowed to take something called tesserae, which is a ration of grain and oil, for each of their family members. So we learn that Katniss has her name entered 20 times, Gale has his name entered 42 times, and due to her “wealth” Madge has her name entered only 5 times.

This sparks some outrage in Gale, understandably. We learn he is a hotheaded guy who hates the Capital. Katniss reflects on this privately and also mentions that the chance of someone like Madge getting chosen is very slim. “Not impossible, but slim.”

If you’ve read the book before, you likely caught that small foreshadowing hint. We get another of these small moments when Katniss is comforting Prim because she’s worried that “the unthinkable might happen,” by which they mean Katniss getting chosen.

It’s only when we make it to the square and the Mayor is talking about the history of the Hunger Games that we learn what it actually is. Roll credits.

We’re given just enough information to know what the Hunger Games is, and to know that Katniss really doesn’t want to be chosen. The end of the chapter is a gut wrenching cliff hanger that likely hit you like a truck the first time you read it. We learn that it’s Prim’s name on the piece of paper, and then the chapter ends.

Chapter Two:

This moment is very powerful in the book. We are right there with Katniss as the breath is knocked from her lungs, her very world comes crashing down around her. I also want to draw your attention to two lines in the book.

“The odds had been entirely in her favor. But it hadn’t mattered.”

Prim having just turned 12 only had her name entered a single time, and yet she had still been chosen. This is an ongoing theme in the books. The defying of odds. That’s all I’m going to say about that for now but keep it at the back of your mind.

Katniss volunteers for Prim, and as she’s taking the stage we learn about the volunteer system. Again, we don’t get it in an exposition style dump before this moment because, and I can’t stress this enough, it doesn’t matter to Katniss until this moment.

Katniss stands on stage and manages to control her emotions. We’re given small moments of her doing this before this particular one so that when it happens it isn’t a surprise.

Next, the boy tribute is chosen. When Peeta Mellark’s name is drawn, a flashback is triggered.

This is an awesome moment because we get not only characterization for both Katniss and Peeta, but also some of the themes and existential questions that pop up in the narrative.

In short, Katniss and Prim almost starved to death after their father’s passing because it caused their mother to go into a deep depression and she couldn’t take care of them. Peeta, who is the son of the baker in town, sees Katniss suffering in the rain and burns some bread on purpose to give to Katniss. He even takes a beating from his mom to do it, and when he’s sent out to feed it to the pigs, he throws it to her.

Now this is important for a few reasons. For one, we learn that for Katniss, the concept of owing someone is very much at the center of her moral code. At several points in the book, she struggles with this inner battle of owing Peeta for what he’s done for her. Her closeness to him has just as much to do with their survival as it does her desperation to save his life as he once did hers.

Peeta acts as a foil to Katniss in many ways throughout the books. While Katniss only cares for the people closest to her, Peeta shows empathy and compassion for complete strangers. Peeta has no concept of owing and instead gives without thought of receiving anything in return, while Katniss is hung up on paying people back for their good deeds.

This concept stems from Katniss’ hardships. Trauma and hard times can often make people lurch into a type of survival mode where they only have the energy to devote to themselves, and they often don’t have the emotional space to offer compassion and love to strangers.

This is one of the biggest gripes people have about Katniss. But at the end of the day, she is a victim of deep perpetual trauma, and it’s no surprise she is unable to care for people she doesn’t know.

Katniss sees Peeta the next day at school, and looks down in embarrassment when their eyes meet. She sees a dandelion which reminds her of her father collecting food from the woods, and this is the moment where she begins going there.

And thus, this links up Peeta’s representation and symbolism in Katniss’ mind later on in the books. To her he is a bright beautiful flower she notices whilst trapped in the darkness and trauma of her own existence. She laments at the possibility she may be forced to kill him later. This is just another example of Katniss’ inability to think of anything else other than she must survive.

Chapter 3:

Next we get a scene of Katniss saying goodbye to her loved ones. Her mother and Prim, Madge, Gale, even the baker.

Katniss spends these books in disbelief that people seem to like her. She chalks the baker coming to see her up to him loving Prim. More on this later, but I wanted to squeeze a bit in here. Madge gives her the famous Mockingjay pin.

Katniss reflects on the fact that Peeta doesn’t even try and hide his tears. Katniss chooses to do so in order to not appear weak. Again, we are reminded that the unrelenting thought that fills Katniss’ waking hours is survive. Against all odds, she wants to survive.

She assumes this is a strategy on Peeta’s part because she can’t quantify anyone being uncaring about their own survival. Everything is a strategy to Katniss, and this is where a lot of her strength lies, despite it being due to her deep seeded trauma.

In a quick motion we are aboard the train to the Capital and Katniss is in her room. She remembers the Mockingjay pin Madge gave her at the last minute, and takes a moment to really look at it.

It is here we actually learn that the bird is a Mockingjay, as well as what they are. Jabberjays were birds of the Capital’s design that were supposed to gather intel from the districts and deliver it back to them. It backfired when the districts started feeding them false news. They left the Jabberjays to die out, but they mated with female mockingbirds and created the Mockingjay.

The symbolism of the Mockingjay is present throughout all of the books. It represents a lack of control on the Capital’s part, thus making it the perfect symbol for the future rebellion and Katniss.

They eat dinner, watch the replay of the reapings, and Effie Trinket, their escort, mentions that Haymitch, the only living District 12 Hunger games winner, is their lifeline in the games right as he staggers out and throws up all over the floor.

Chapter 4

At the beginning of this chapter we get another internal battle from Katniss. She wonders why Peeta would volunteer to clean up Haymitch and not make her help, at first considering he is trying to earn the spot of the favorite. But once she realizes he likely won’t remember it, she figures out that Peeta is just being nice.

This upsets Katniss more however, because she is worried she’ll start to feel compassion for him if she allows him to become a part of her inner circle.

Katniss is a character that often tries to seal off her heart from feeling anything. We see it with Peeta, her own feelings, as well as Rue later in the book. This is another product of her trauma, and often happens to people who have been abandoned or betrayed by someone they love. Katniss likely feels this both because of her father’s death as well as her mother’s depression and neglect.

We get a bit more of this in a flashback when Katniss vows to avoid letting Peeta take hold of her and throws his father’s gift of cookies out the train window. She notices dandelions out the window and it reminds her of some of her first foods gleaned from the woods. She talks briefly about closing off her heart to her mother after her abandonment.

The next morning Katniss and Peeta finally convince Haymitch, their mentor and previous winner of the games from their own district, to help them. Haymitch is an interesting character in that he is an alcoholic, and we don’t get much more information on him until the second book. Because of that, I’m going to keep my comments on him at a minimum for now. He only agrees to help them after Peeta knocks a glass out of his hand and Katniss drives a knife between his fingers. It is implied Haymitch doesn’t often get tributes that are willing to try to win, which was already established due to the hardships that pervade District 12 and the fact that there have only ever been 2 District 12 winners.

Katniss ends the chapter with another inner back and forth. She convinces herself that everything Peeta is doing thus far he is doing to survive. Which in her mind means he is trying to kill her.

Chapter 5:

We begin the chapter with Katniss being glammed up by her prep team. We see some of the enormous differences between district life and Capital life. There are a lot of parallels drawn between the Capital and the idea of first world problems in our own world. The Capital citizens are woefully unaware of the darker parts of their government, and while they know about the Hunger Games, their willingness to stand by to the horrors before them are the product of intense and generational indoctrination by their own government.

This is something we see in our own world. There are a lot of awful things that happen in our world that we’re willing to stand by and let happen, whether due to our own views leading us to believe it’s okay, the views of the people around us, general fear of standing up for what you believe in, or lies that have been fed to us by people we respect or admire. Celebrities, politicians, doctors, etc.

It may be an extreme version of it, but if you look deep inside yourself, you should be able to see the parallels.

Katniss also finds herself unable to be angry at her prep team. At the end of the day, they’re harmless citizens, complicit in the destructive acts of their government due to the way they were raised and their utter powerlessness to stand up to them. In later books, Gale openly blames not only the government but the citizens as well, which causes a fight between the two.

Next we get to meet Cinna. Katniss remarks on how “non Capital” he looks and sounds. There are a lot of fan theories out there that suggest a lot of things about Cinna, but all we can be sure of in this book is that he doesn’t seem to appreciate or feel as complicit about the Capital’s methods as most others. I’ll leave it at that for now as well.

Katniss and Cinna talk about her outfit for the opening ceremony, and we get her iconic black unitard and cape that bursts into flames in front of the cheering crowd. This later becomes one of Katniss’ many names and symbols for the rebellion. The girl on fire. It’s yet another symbol/theme in the book that we’ll talk more about in Catching Fire. The clothing and costumes in these books play major roles later on, and are always symbolic in nature.

The costumes are, of course, a hit, and Katniss gains some confidence and hope that she may have a chance at winning the games.

We return to the theme of defying the odds as the District 12 tributes are the hit of the opening ceremony.

I really like the way the themes, parallels, and symbolism flows in these books. It makes for an interesting and compelling deep dive as well as a fun read many times over. Every time I read I have a new thought on these books.

I hope you enjoyed my rambling, and I also hope you may have picked up on something that can offer some insight in your own writing or reading. Analyzing media is one of my favorite pastimes, and I like sharing it with anyone who’s interested. Join me next time for chapters 6-10.

Happy writing or reading!