Catching Fire

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2009

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-5

Part 1, Chapters 6-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-14

Part 2, Chapters 15-18

Part 3, Chapters 19-23

Part 3, Chapters 24-27

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Katniss’s Mockingjay Pin

In The Hunger Games, Katniss wears a gold pin with a “mockingjay flying in a circle of gold” (41). The pin was a gift from a District 12 friend, and although Katniss does not initially attach much meaning to the pin, it becomes a symbol of her rebellious act against the Capitol.

Mockingjays are the result of a failed genetic experiment from the Capitol. The Capitol created jabberjays to spy on the people of Panem, but lost control of the birds and abandoned them to the wild. The jabberjays bred with mockingbirds, which led to a new species: mockingjays. Mockingjays symbolize defiance against the Capitol and how the weapon of a fascist government can evolve into a tool that can be used against them.

Katniss initially associates the mockingjay symbol with Rue and says that “the pin was the reason [Rue] decided to trust me” (41). Katniss begins having dreams about a mockingjay and believes that it is really Rue, trying to lead her somewhere and tell her something. Over time, Katniss grows to understand that the mockingjay is actually a symbol of her own destiny as a symbol of defiance against the Capitol. Rue’s death was the catalyst for Katniss to begin her rebellious behavior in The Hunger Games, and Rue’s four-note song becomes a symbol of allegiance to Katniss in the districts.

Katniss’s mockingjay pin grows in popularity after her victory in the arena, not because anyone in the Capitol understands the significance of mockingjays, but because “Everyone wants to wear the winner’s token” (78). Katniss begins to see the mockingjay symbol in a different light when she meets Bonnie and Twill, who show her the symbol baked onto a piece of bread. Katniss realizes that the bird has become a symbol of rebellion around the districts: a representation of Katniss’s stunt with the berries and the people’s support of her. Cinna even designs Katniss’s wedding dress to transform into a continuation of this symbol as a final statement against Snow. Try as he might to control Katniss and use her as a tool for his own agenda, she is a free creature who, like the mockingjay, will rise against him and the Capitol’s tyranny.

At the conclusion of the novel, Plutarch and Haymitch explain that they had to break Katniss out of the arena because she is the mockingjay: the symbol of the rebellion. If Katniss dies, they believe the rebellion will die out with her. A multitude of symbols flash through Katniss’s mind, connecting the pieces and solidifying her understanding: “The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol’s plans. The symbol of the rebellion” (386-87).

Fire

In The Hunger Games, Katniss gains the nickname “The Girl Who Was On Fire” a reference to Cinna’s bold, pyrotechnic fashion choices for her. In Catching Fire, the nickname hints at Katniss’s potential to set the country metaphorically ablaze with thoughts of rebellion. In one of her final outfits designed by Cinna, Katniss is dressed to reflect the idea that “the girl on fire, has left behind her flickering flames and bejeweled gowns […] She is as deadly as fire itself” (207).

Fire represents both creative and destructive forces in Catching Fire. In Snow’s eyes, the “fire” that is spreading through the districts will result in devastation and the collapse of the Capitol, and, as a result, Panem will be destroyed. Katniss and the districts, however, see the “fire” that is spreading as a sign that things can get better in Panem if people are willing to take action. The rebellion might bring destruction, but it will be the destruction of tyranny and the old methods of controlling the people in the districts.

Food and Luxury

There is more than enough food in the Capitol, but starvation is widespread throughout the districts. In the first novel, Katniss has to hunt in the woods as a child to try to keep her family from starving, and food is a valuable commodity. When Peeta gives Katniss bread as a child, she sees the act as him throwing her a lifeline. Food is a means of survival in the districts. By contrast, when Katniss is on the train to the Capitol and attending parties, there is never a shortage of food; these meals aren’t about survival, but indulgence and gluttony.

At the party in The Capitol in Chapter 6, Katniss makes an uncharacteristically indulgent claim: she wants to taste everything at the party. She says that “the real star of the evening is the food. Tables laden with delicacies line the walls. Everything you can think of, and things you have never dreamed of, lie in wait” (77), and the spread is too tempting for her to resist. When she becomes very full and can’t eat any more, she is offered a glass of something that will make her vomit so she can keep eating. Katniss and Peeta are shocked and disgusted by the idea of throwing up food on purpose, especially knowing how many people they have watched die in District 12 from starvation. The interaction serves as a stark reminder to Katniss that although the Capitol’s food might be pleasing, it is not valued in the same way that it is in the districts. Food, in this case, is a tangible example of everything the Capitol has in excess but refuses to share with those in need in the districts.

Food and the restriction of food is used to control the citizens of Panem. Another example of this is the tesserae: the food that is given to children in the districts in exchange for entering their name more times into the drawing for the reaping. Katniss remembers the former Head Peacekeeper for District 12, and how he was known for “luring starving young women into his bed for money” (114). Food is weaponized by the Capitol, and any illegal activities like hunting for more food are strictly forbidden. When Gale is caught trying to sell a wild turkey that he hunted, he is brutally whipped. Food is tightly regulated by The Capitol and used to remind the districts that they are seen as subhuman and undeserving of the luxury of food. The Capitol’s withholding of food is ironic because the districts grow and harvest the food for the Capitol. As the uprisings begin, the districts begin to use similar tactics against their oppressors, and the food supply to the Capitol is tightened or cut off in many places.

Katniss and Peeta’s Nightmares

At the beginning of the novel, Katniss talks about the nightmares she started having after the end of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss comments that she is no stranger to nightmares, but before the Hunger Games, her bad dreams were focused on the details of her father’s death in the coal mines. Katniss’s post-Games nightmares typically involve grisly details from the arena that are twisted into new, horrifying events, such as “Peeta bleeding to death” and another tribute’s body “disintegrating in [Katniss’s] hands” (54). Her nightmares intensify during the Victory Tour, and Peeta comes to comfort her in the night because he, too, cannot sleep due to his own bad dreams.

Katniss and Peeta’s nightmares are similar: they revolve around the events of the arena, and they both deal heavily with feelings of guilt, shame, horror, and helplessness. Katniss is especially tormented by the memory of not being able to save Rue, and the ghosts of the tributes Katniss killed in order to survive. Katniss’s nightmares are symbolic of the trauma she lived through in the arena and the reality that she will never be able to leave what happened behind. The events of the arena forced Katniss to do things she never thought she would have to do before, and she carries a great deal of shame as a result of those decisions. Katniss, a fiercely independent person, felt powerless to stop the horrors that were happening around her in the arena, and this loss of control over her own fate pushed her to a place of intense psychological damage.

Peeta uses his artwork to process his feelings and work through his nightmares, but they never really go away. Haymitch won the Hunger Games 25 years ago, and he still has trouble sleeping, presumably because of the nightmares that haunt him as well. For all three victors, the dreams are a reminder that they were the sole survivors of a manufactured death trap, and they will always bear the subconscious burden of what they had to do to make it out alive.