Quart. 2 Free Choice Reading Blog Post, Cycle 3

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins. Quart. 2 Cycle 3 FCR Response pgs: 164-187

 Short Story

            Katniss has her wedding gown photo shoot, and is still trying to rap her head around the idea of marrying Peeta.  The night her photo shoot is aired, the Capitol makes an announcement. The next Hunger Games is the Quarter Quell. Every 25^th year the Capitol does something "special" for the Hunger Games. For the first Quarter Quell, the districts had to vote for who would represent them in the games, basically, they were voting on who to kill. In the second Quarter Quell the Capitol forced the districts to submit twice as many tributes. For the upcoming Quarter Quell, the Capitol cooked something especially "special" up. The tributes will be pulled from the existing victors. The people who beat the system, went from poverty to riches, and didn't have to ever worry again about being entered in the Hunger Games, until now.

Katniss, being the only girl victor alive from her district is guaranteed a spot in the games. When she hears the news, her feelings over come her and she runs blindly from the house. She enters a abandoned house and screams for an hour finally collapsing into tears. The next dawn she staggers over to Haymich's house and proceeds to try alcohol on droning her grief. When she is finally cleaned up, she goes and talks to Haymich and Peeta and they devise a plan. They start training, getting back in shape, and preparing for the inevitable future.

Literary Devices

            In the chapters I read, Suzanne did a good job of catching Katniss's reaction to the announcement. She made it seem very realistic. She caught the fear, self-pity, worry, and sadness all in a couple of pages. Suzanne took you there to the moment, and made you feel what Katniss was going through.

Creative Critical Reflection

              Personally, I like Gale better than Peeta. I definitely think Katniss should choose him over Peeta. First of all, he seems manlier than Peeta, he seems to have a more mature, intense character. I still see Peeta as a plump baker's son, not living in the reality of the real world. The story about Peeta being in love with Katniss since 4^th grade, not a turn-on. I mean, it is very sweet, but not that enticing. The thing that really counts against Peeta, is that it is a little too sweet. He is always ready to give his life to save Katniss's, like he is more in love with her than anything else in the entire world. It is a little bit creepy actually, or more, like an obsession.

          I like Gale better, because he has known Katniss for a lot of her life, and not in the stalker-ish way either. He has learned things from Katniss, and also taught her. I think Katniss agree with me and likes Gale better in romantic type of like. I think she values Peeta's friendship over many other things, but it's just not the same. Unfortunately she is engaged to Peeta, so I don't know if Gale will be in luck.