Okay so Prim’s name was called…which one entry against people who have their names in multiple times? Oye. Well it only takes one. I’d definitely feel like Katniss…like the wind had been knocked out of me. But wait. People can volunteer? Well apparently they can because Katniss just did. Effie Trinket’s a real hag trying to make it out all ‘we have to wait for a volunteer by the rules and blah blah blah’. Annoying! Prim really doesn’t want Katniss to go though which is clear from her attempt at wrapping herself around her sister. Oh good, Gale. Well at least one person can help. But it’s clear District 12 shows great distaste because when Effie asks them to give Katniss a round of applause, they all stay silent. Instead they give her the sign for thanks, admiration…and it’s also a goodbye to a loved one. The three middle fingers of the left hand to the lips, then held out. Much as everyone does what they can, they still haven’t chosen the boy tribute. It’s Peeta Mellark. Peeta and Katniss aren’t friends according to Katniss, bust he showed her a kindness like no other when they were younger. After Katniss’ father died, her mother kind of fell off the radar of truly existing. Because of it, Katniss and Prim struggled to uphold themselves from starvation…well as close to it as you can get when you’re young and have to try and make meals for yourself and younger sister (at the age of 11). The only thing Katniss could think to do was start going through people’s trash. Stealing is forbidden in District 12. Katniss found herself behind the bakery, being shooed away by the baker’s wife, and knowing she had nothing to take home to Prim and their mother had her defeated. But Peeta noticed Katniss and ‘accidentally’ burned two loaves of bread. He actually didn’t hand them to her, I think out of fear of getting hit by his mother again. It was an act of kindness, something rarely shown in the district. Peeta obviously knew of this moment, or remembered, when his name was called. How could you forget a moment like that? But now they’re being thrown into a game where, in the end, one may have to kill the other. So kindness kind of seems out the window at this point. Each tribute gets an hour to say goodbye to their family after the reaping is finished. Katniss gets to see her mother and Prim first. It’s kind of that gut wrenching feeling, knowing that you have to see the sister you saved, but also knowing you may never see her again. And knowing the last time something bad happened, your mom just kind of stopped being…that has to put some fear in your heart that it’d happen again. Wait, okay I could see Peeta’s father visiting him, but he comes to visit Katniss, and brings her cookies. The next person to visit is Madge. She’s the mayor’s daughter. And she came to bring Katniss a symbol for the district. Each tribute can wear one thing from their district. All I know at this point, is that it’s a bird. Gale’s the final person to really get a visit. He’s sweet and harsh all in the same. You can tell he wants nothing more than for Katniss to come home from this…alive. When his time is up, he’s pulled from Katniss and we don’t even get to find out what his last words really are! Both Katniss and Peeta get taken to the train station and it’s plain to see that Peeta doesn’t care if he’s looked at as weak. It could, in fact, be strategy. Every single thing from the reaping on is taped. SO maybe it’s part of Peeta’s strategy…appear weak. Apparently it worked for someone named Johanna Mason a few years prior. She was the victor of District 7. Anyway, they’re taken to the Capitol by train, and I find out that it’s a place that was once known as The Rockies. District 12 was known before as Appalachia. On the train, everything is luxurious. So are they allowing the less fortunate a taste of the rich life because clearly they’ll die in the games anyway? Finally, I find out what the bird pin is that Katniss received from Madge! It’s a mockingjay. Apparently the bird is what you’d call a ‘slap in the face’ to the Capitol. The Capitol liked to make ‘muttations’, also known as ‘mutts’, and one bird was a jabberjay. It could memorize and repeat conversations. Well, the districts began using it against the Capitol so, they tried to terminate them, only they didn’t. The jabberjays then mated with female mockingbirds…hence mockingjay. They can’t really repeat things, but they can mimic tones and memorize notes of songs. It’s sort of a ‘take that Capitol you failed at your job’ so Katniss having the pin is definite rebellion. She’s already a bit of a hellraiser. After changing, Katniss goes to eat and the abundance of food is sort of overwhelming. Effie Trinket is with them, and talk about more annoyance. She claims that the tributes from the prior year are sort of savage because they didn’t use utensils to eat. Well that pissed Katniss off. And honestly, who says stuff like that?! After the meal, they get to watch a recap of the reapings. Now, this is directly quoted from the book: ‘A few stand out in my mind. A monstrous boy who lunges forward to volunteer from District 2. A fox-faced girl with sleek red hair from District 5. A boy with a crippled foot from District 10. And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11.’ After it all, Haymitch, who’s definitely a drunkard, enters the compartment. He does it only to end up vomiting and falling in it. And he’s Peeta and Katniss’ mentor…the one who’s supposed to guide them on how to stay alive? You have got to be kidding me!
Deep in the world lie 12 districts. Each district is known for something different. Each district also lies in a different class by what they produce…You may be able to afford decent meals, you may not. Within each district lies fear, but also hope. Only the strongest may survive. Would you be willing to lay everything on the line? If not for your family’s sake, for your own survival? Could you force yourself to kill? It’s at your own risk, but it also decides whether you live…or die.
Meeting Katniss Everdeen in the first instant is different. Not because it’s written from an outside point of view, but from Katniss’. A little sister named Prim, and whatever reaping is, cause me to wonder what’s so strange and important of both. There’s a cat named Buttercup and it’s easy to start wondering ‘what’s with the strange names?’ But then I learn that they are a part of what’s called District 12, and things start to make some sense. Why or how? I don’t know. District 12 is also known as the Seam, but what does that mean? They’re trapped in by a chain link fence…almost making me think ‘what are we in, a jail ground?’ But Katniss doesn’t feel as trapped as I would because she crawls under the fence. Wait, what? A coal mining town, so no one’s really ‘fortunate’ in earnings. But when a coal mine explosion happens, what happens to any victims’ family? Well I guess knowing Katniss now…I know a little. Her dad taught her to hunt so in a sense, she’s sort of left in charge. But, then I find out what she’s done is completely wrong…crawling under the fence. Death? Rebellion? Peacekeepers? Okay so apparently if you break rules you’re trying to start a rebellion which is punishable by death and that’s what the Peacekeepers are for? Apparently that’s how it’s supposed to work…but Katniss hunts for the good of the people that live in District 12, especially her family. Panem is known as the Capitol…so they rule districts. I kind of think it’s in reality Washington D.C. It is set in North America after all. And saying bad things about your district is just as bad? Okay then. So it would be like me saying my town is the worst ever, or something else, and I could be severely punished by a beating? Katniss meets someone named Gale in the woods…and he calls her Catnip. You’ll find out why in reading. He brings a part of ‘breakfast’ and mocks the Capitol accent. Wait an accent? Apparently they do. And then you have it, the title of the book. ’Happy Hunger Games’ well, Hunger Games, because Gale mentions it. What are they? Apparently by this point I can only think it’s really bad. So bad, Gale is willing to flee the district. But he has a family too. After getting on with hunting, they finally head back for home. But they first enter The Hob, which is like the black market. Apparently being hunters, and a source of decent meat to the people, allows Katniss and Gale to get a few necessary items for their families. Anyway, they finally get to what the reaping is. Once you’re 12 years old, your name goes in a pool…which is stopped (your name being in the pool anyway) once you’ve finally reached age 19. You may also get extra entries put in by exchanging for tesserae. Well, read it and you’ll understand exactly what that entails. Because of this, and Katniss being 16, she has twent entries. Gale is 18 and has his name in 42 times. Wouldn’t you, because the reaping is a BAD thing, want to have your name entered the fewest amount of times? The reaping is held at the town square, and it is mandatory to attend. The reason behind The Hunger Games seems almost a bizarre thing to me. Panem, or the Capitol, was supposed to bring peace to thirteen districts. However, the districts started an uprising against the Capitol. All districts were reigned in but one, which ended up being wiped out completely. The Capitol’s way of reminding the people of the remaining districts to keep the peace, lies in The Hunger Games. Each child that’s chosen from each district, which includes one boy and one girl, are known as tributes. The Hunger Games force the tributes into an arena to basically fight to the death, until only one remains. As per usual, the girls are up first. Which means Katniss having to worry first. Not only does she worry about herself, but about her sister Prim. She doesn’t worry too heavily about Prim because she is only entered in the drawing once. The first name is called, and…it’s Primrose Everdeen.
Katniss’ sister? A twelve year old…with ONE entry?
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
This is what Prim was named for.
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Well hello there! I’m Melissa, though for some of you…you already know that. I decided to start a blog based on the premise of new books I read! This has started with my reading of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Now, I’ll get into more of that in the next blog I post! For now, I may as well introduce myself to you all. As of January 20, 2010, I turned a quarter of a century old. Crazy aye? But it’s true. When I was younger, I loathed reading. I was always forced to read in school which I’ve come to the conclusion, is why I hated it. The only good year of experience with reading I truly had was in the fourth grade…partly because of my teacher, and partly because that’s the grade my mom taught. We had a lot of exciting stories that year – one example being The Indian in the Cupboard. Now that I’m grown, I’ve started to thoroughly enjoy reading. The experience truly started when I was 19 and on my way to New Zealand. I decided to pick up the first Princess Diaries book and from there, I couldn’t stop reading. My favorite series books thus far that I’ve read have been The Princess Diaries (which includes too many books to name), The Sweep series (15 total), Harry Potter (7 total) and of course Twilight (4 books). I’ve also been known to read V.C. Andrews books, my favorite of which is The Cutler Family series. My favorite color is blue, and I love cheese. Yes, I just put those in the same sentence! I live for music as well, and honestly should have started a blog when I started to discover music from outside of the United States back when I was eighteen! You can find me listening to anything from Classical to Metal to Country to Christian Rock! However, you will not find me listening to rap or trance a whole lot. Loving Twilight granted me to attend (thus far) three conventions, one being the first ever known Twilight convention here in the USA. I was also a part of The Hillywood Show’s parody for New Moon and am hoping if they do Eclipse, to be part of it as well. We shall see. My favorite actors/actresses include Kristen Stewart (and not because of Twilight), Nikki Reed (also not because of Twilight), Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, George Clooney, Adam Sandler (yes I love watching his movies), Heath Ledger (RIP), Peter Facinelli (again, not BECAUSE of Twilight – thank you Can’t Hardly Wait) and there are many, many more but that just names a few! My favorite musicians/bands include the likes of Pink, Within Temptation, Alexz Johnson, Rascal Flatts, Barlow Girl, and I’ll even admit it…The Spice Girls! If you’d like to know more about me, you’re more then welcome to add me to facebook or follow me on Twitter. I have the same user name on each that you can look me up by! Well friends, for now, that is all!
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