And we’re back! And so is Katniss. Can’t she get a weekend off? Like, one long weekend? Or a regular one? Maybe just a Saturday afternoon and then all day Sunday? Good Lord, Snow.
In The Hunger Games, Katniss had one job: survive in the Arena. For this, she used her skills and knowledge gained through years of surviving in District 12 (although she also was forced to develop skills like being charming and playing to the crowd). In the first section of Catching Fire, she has a new job: calm the districts that had been riled by her act of defiance. For this, she used brand-new skills like pretending to be in love, pretending to care about fashion and luxuries, and getting engaged–basically, going from rejection of patriarchal gender standards to full-on immersion. That implicit compliance now is presented not just as a way to entertain the Capitol masses but also as a way to soothe the oppressed District masses. Will it work? Is she capable of doing it? Will she even be able to just not make it worse? Ready, go.
A reminder here that we’re reading this as if for the first time, so if you’ve already read it all the way through, please do your best not to spoil it for those who haven’t. If you have anything even remotely spoilerish, leave it in comments to the first Hunger Games post yea so long ago, then link to it here using just the names of the characters involved.
Next up: If you’re up for it, next Saturday, June 30, we’re going to take on Part II, chapters 10-18.