Catching Fire (Post #2)

I read the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins which is the second book in the Hunger Games series.

After Katniss won the games, the Capitol is angry at her because she may have started a rebellion. During the Victory Tour, on which Katniss and Peeta visit all the districts, Katniss tries to make up for this to keep her family safe. Katniss and Peeta still have to pretend they are in love and Peeta proposes to her. It doesn't work, however, and several districts have rebellions. For the seventy fifth Hunger Games there is a Quarter Quell (they happen every 25 years). For the Quarter Quell, President Snow announces that two victors from each District will have to be in the Hunger Games. Katniss has to go because she is the only girl victor from District 12 and Haymitch is drawn for the other victor, but Peeta takes his place. During an interview Peeta says that Katniss is pregnant (which isn't true). When the games begin Katniss immediately becomes allies with Peeta and several other. After a couple days when over half of the victors have died, Katniss realizes that the arena is like a clock and for every hour on the "clock"  there is a different attack. They use this information to their advantage and form a plan to take out their enemies. Before they can carry out the plan, one of Katniss' allies whom she dislikes rips open her arm with a knife. Katniss manages to make it back to the rest of the allies, but everything has gone wrong. One of her allies is dying but is trying to get Katniss to shoot an arrow with special wire attached to it through a weak spot in the force field that surrounds the arena. Katniss figures it out, and when she shoots the arrow lightning strikes the tree that the wire is wrapped around destroying the force field. A rebel ship from District 13 (it turns out that District 13 wasn't actually destroyed) comes down and rescues Katniss and several of her allies, but they are too late to get to Peeta and the Capitol takes him. Katniss' friend Gale is on the ship and he tells Katniss that District 12 was destroyed. That's where the book ends.

Catching Fire is a really good book; possibly even better than The Hunger Games. I like how the ending left me in suspense to find out what happened to District 12. The themes in Catching Fire are very similar to those of The Hunger Games, which I already posted about, but I did find a motif in this book. Mockingjays are a very big part of the series. The Capitol released a genetically-engineered bird called the Jabberjay to record the words of rebels, but they figured out and sent back false rumors to confuse the Capitol. To add to that, the Jabberjay mated with the Mockingbirds. The Jabberjays died out, but a new species called a Mockingjay remained. Mockingjays are used in the book to represent rebellion and freedom because of Katniss' Mockingjay pin and what she did with the poisonous berries in The Hunger Games. I like how Suzanne incorporates this into the series. The way she does it really amazes me. One of my favorite characters in the book is Finnick. He is Katniss' new friend and ally. He has a sense of humor, but when it comes to it, he has Katniss' back. A quote from the book is: "Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, you have provided a spark, that left unattended, may grow into an inferno that destroys Panem." This was said by President Snow to Katniss talking about the berries. It is an important quote because Katniss finally realizes she could cause the whole country to rebel.

One question I have is: Does Katniss love Peeta or not? I think does deep down and I really want her to, but it's hard to tell sometimes.