Let’s Analyze The Hunger Games Chapter 6-10

I’m finally back to blogging, and that means I’m finally going to analyze the next 5 chapters of The Hunger Games! I’ve had a productive couple of days regarding marketing (update incoming) and am feeling quite motivated to get some more work done, so let’s do this thing!

Chapter 6:

We spend the first few pages of chapter 6 getting to know the training center where Katniss will be staying before the games begin. Collins uses this time to do several things at once, which is something I’ve always admired in her writing and is one of the marks of a good writer in my opinion.

First, she takes some time to do a bit of worldbuilding for the Capitol. We see crystal elevators, machines that can turn graphite into diamonds for the citizens of the Capitol, huge rooms for the tributes, a shower with hundreds of options, and even a box you put a hand in to detangle, part, and dry your hair in an instant (wake me up when that’s a real thing). This gives us more of a vision for what the Capitol is like.

Collins also uses this time to draw parallels and show differences between the decadence of the Capitol and the horrible conditions of District 12. We see the lack of knowledge Capitol citizens have of the districts and Katniss’ inability to get enough to eat.

And finally, Katniss delivers all of this information in a very matter-of-fact way, and all of the options and near-magic technology in the Capitol doesn’t seem to awe her, because her way of life and intense trauma has forced her to view things in a very logical way, and in her mind, showers with 100 options don’t put food on the table. This serves as both characterization for Katniss and to make the Capitol seem even more foreign.

Katniss goes to dinner and recognizes an Avox girl, (the traitors who have their tongues cut and are forced to serve the tributes) but backtracks when she is scolded by the adults at the table. She remembers where she knows the girl from, but that knowledge is saved for the audience until later. Peeta saves Katniss by claiming the girl simply reminds the two of someone else.

When Peeta and Katniss head off to bed, he asks about the girl, and because he lied for Katniss, we get to see her most prominent character trait on display yet again. Her constant need to “repay” what she sees as owed to others. We’ll see this dynamic more between her and Peeta later on in the story. Consistent characterization is important when writing characters, and I’ve taken this advice in my own writing.

Katniss and Peeta head to the roof’s garden where no one will hear them talking over the windchimes there. She explains that the girl was in the woods while Katniss and Gale hunted one day and was taken by a Capitol hovercraft. The guilt adds even more to Katniss’ need to apologize or repay the girl for being unable to help her in the woods.

Chapter 7:

Chapter 7 begins with Katniss waking up, getting dressed, and going down to breakfast. Haymitch meets her and Peeta and they discuss their training. Katniss mentions she knows how to use a bow an arrow but greatly diminishes her true talent. Peeta corrects her by telling Haymitch that the squirrels Katniss sells his father are always shot through the eye.

If you pay attention, the chapters leading up to the Games really serve to show just how formidable Katniss will be in the arena. Her skill with a bow is undeniable, and rare for her district. Districts like 1, 2, and 4 train as youths, while districts like 7 use weapons like axes from the time they’re children. District 12 is at a distinct disadvantage because they aren’t allowed to work the mines until they are 18, at which point they are marked safe from the reaping. But Katniss, who had to learn from a young age to shoot a bow, is given an advantage immediately. Not only that, she can feed herself. She knows how to be hungry, but is more well-fed than most in her district.

Katniss fires back about Peeta’s formidable strength, which leads Peeta to an outburst about his mother believing Katniss is good enough to win the Games. This is where we see our first glimpses of Peeta’s true feelings for Katniss. “She has no idea. The effect she can have.” Katniss assumes he is commenting on her weakness, which will return later.

Haymitch tells the pair to keep their true talents under their hats for the training with the other tributes: strength and archery, and learn something they don’t know much about instead. He also tells them to be together throughout the entire process, and it’s implied later on this is because Peeta had already told Haymitch about his feelings for Katniss.

We see the bitter inner conflict Katniss has for about 3/4ths of the book, which is her whirlwind back and forth about whether Peeta is pulling some elaborate strategic trick on her or actually feels for her.

Katniss and Peeta spend 3 days learning about things like knot tying, edible plants, camouflage, making shelter and fire, etc. Peeta talks about the unique breads from different districts, and Rue is introduced as the tiny young district 11 girl and follows Katniss and Peeta around the training center.

Katniss is called to her private training session with the Gamemakers, and they refuse to pay proper attention to her, so she shoots an apple out of a roast pig’s mouth that was brought to their banquet.

Katniss is a hot-headed character, and we see this coming through now. This moment sets up one of the larger themes in place, which is the overall rebellion of Katniss and the accidental nature of it. Everything, from her refusal to let her sister go to the Capitol’s Games for slaughter, her and Peeta’s friendly display in the opening ceremony, her demand for the Gamemakers’ attention. All of it contributes to the rebellion and the eventual downfall of the Capitol later in the series.

Chapter 8:

Katniss is horrified by her impulsive decision to shoot towards the Gamemakers, and worries about what might happen to her or her family. However, the others (Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, and the stylists) manage to cheer her up. They remind her it would be a pain to replace her so late, and since the trainings are completely private, they would have to reveal what had happened which they don’t do.

We learn that each tribute receives a score from 1 to 12 based on their potential in their private sessions. The higher the score, the more likely the tribute is to get sponsors, but unfortunately it also means they are more likely to be hunted down first. This is likely why Katniss managed to pull an 11. But it also means more sponsors, so her score is celebrated.

The next morning, we get a short flashback showing how Katniss and Gale truly met in the woods. Katniss uses this moment to ponder her feelings for Gale, and comparing their dynamic to her and Peeta’s fake one. She comments to herself that her and Gale were driven together by a mutual need to survive.

This serves as foreshadowing for later in the series, when Katniss and Peeta’s trauma forces them to bond. While her and Gale are able to survive separately, the same can’t be said later in the Games for her and Peeta.

But for now, we get another instance of that inner conflict Katniss is having about Peeta’s true intentions, and how she can’t tell what his are compared to Gale’s. It’s the difference between the foreign and the well-known.

When Katniss arrives at breakfast, Haymitch breaks the news that Peeta has requested to be trained for their interviews alone, leading into the next chapter.

Chapter 9:

The pendulum of Katniss’ inner conflict swings abruptly to the “Peeta is using some weird likable strategy to kill me” side, and we see her relieved that he doesn’t want to fake being friends anymore. She goes to training on how to walk and sit and smile with Effie Trinket, and then we see her with Haymitch, attempting to find her unique personality to put on display at the interviews, where tributes are shown to the citizens of the Capitol and answer questions about their lives.

Katniss struggles with this, as her personality towards Haymitch is sullen and hostile. However, when she’s handed over to Cinna, her stylist, he convinces her to speak directly to him, someone she actually likes, when she answers the questions.

Katniss does just that during her interview, and the audience seems to like her well enough. When Peeta does his interview, he is asked about having a girlfriend, and he drops the bomb that ends the chapter. He has feelings for Katniss.

Now, this works for several reasons.

1.) It sets up a tense conflict between two key characters that the audience doesn’t know the true answer to until the very end of the book.

2.) It immediately makes Katniss and Peeta seem more sympathetic in the eyes of the Capitol citizens, which increases their chances in the Games.

3.) It whips Katniss’ internal conflict into a frenzy as she continues to wonder if Peeta really cares about her or if it’s all a strategy for the Games.

4.) It adds a romance angle to the book that manages to lure in readers that typically wouldn’t read a dystopian adventure thriller book. (No, The Hunger Games book is NOT a romance, despite what everyone says. If you don’t believe me, look up the genres.) It HAS romance, but isn’t one.

5.) It makes Katniss seem more desirable since Peeta claims lots of boys like her, including him. This will come up later.

Chapter 10:

When Katniss and Peeta return to their suite, she attacks him, shoving him into a glass urn and cutting his hands on the shards.

Katniss’ adversity to feeling weak is on full display here as it takes several minutes for Haymitch, the stylists, and Effie to explain to her that Peeta’s declaration of love only made her look better to the audience. It’s made more and more clear to the audience that the Games are all about showmanship, and the more you can play up the audience, the better your chances at survival.

That night, Katniss can’t sleep and returns to the roof to find Peeta there as well. He expresses his desire to die as himself, to show the Capitol that he’s more than just a piece in their Games. More foreshadowing for the audience about the end of the book. The two fight because Katniss only cares about trying to win, and trying to return to those she loves.

This is another running theme in the book, the idea that Peeta has nothing to hold onto but the promise of a heroic or strategic death to make Katniss’ survival assured. Peeta serves as a sort of foil to Katniss in this way in that she has people she truly cares about. Gale and Prim namely. While Peeta has no one besides Katniss.

The tributes arrive to the arena catacombs and Katniss is outfitted in her arena clothes. Her Mockingjay pin is returned to her clothes by Cinna, the only person she has in her final moments before the Games begin. He reminds her of Haymitch’s advice: run away from the cornucopia where all the other tributes battle it out for supplies and weapons, and find water.

Katniss is sealed in a tube and pushed into the arena, and the announcer yells out for the Games to begin.

And this is the end of chapter 10 and the start of the actual “Hunger Games” portion of the book.

The first third of the book is a combination of character and worldbuilding, inner conflict, rising tension, and establishing of themes. I think this speaks volumes about the importance of pacing and that this can mean different things depending on what type of story you’re trying to tell. A large group of people will tell you that starting as close to the main action of your book as possible is necessary to not bore your audience. But the truth is in some instances, starting at the defining moment or catalyst of that conflict can work just as well, or even better. It can help you really flesh out your themes, characters, world, and conflicts aside from the main conflict in your book. It’s important to have multiple kinds of conflict, and some books that start too close to the initial action I find to be sorely lacking in inner and character conflicts.

I hope you have enjoyed this segment of my Hunger Games analysis. It feels good to be getting back into it and doing some work on the blog again.

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Happy reading!