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  • This is a story about a teenage girl named Katniss who lives in District 12 of a post-apocalyptic

  • North America called Panem. She lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim, as they

  • struggle to find food and survive in such tough conditions.

  • Each year, as part of a punishment for a previous rebellion, each of the districts select a

  • boy and girl as tributes to compete in the Hunger Games, a battle royale with one survivor.

  • Prim gets selected, but Katniss quickly volunteers to take her place, becoming one of the tributes

  • for District 12, along with Peeta, the baker’s son.

  • Katniss and Peeta are transported to the Capitol to be trained by their coach, Haymitch, a

  • drunkard. But Haymitch is clever and proposes a strategy to fake a romantic relationship

  • between Katniss and Peeta.

  • Katniss and Peeta are dressed by their stylist, Cinna, who adorns them with flames for the

  • opening ceremony. As they are paraded around the arena, the audience cheers.

  • Over the next few days, each of the tributes train with specialized trainers, learning

  • survival and combat skills. At the end of the training, each tribute is given a rating

  • to help potential sponsors and betting. Peeta earns an 8, while Katniss earns an 11.

  • As they prepare to enter the arena, Haymitch tells them that their best chance at surviving

  • is to immediately run away when the game starts.

  • All of the contestants are then transported to the arena and the gong signals that the

  • Hunger Games have begun. Immediately, Katniss is engulfed in a scene of killing, as several

  • of the contestants are attacked by the stronger tributes.

  • Katniss reaches for a backpack and then runs towards the woods to hide. She is fortunate

  • that the backpack has some basic survival supplies, but she lacks water.

  • As tributes are killed, a cannon is fired to indicate their death. Katniss continues

  • to search for water and it looks like she will die of dehydration. She eventually finds

  • water, but sees a group of strong tributes working together, which she calls the Careers.

  • With them is Peeta.

  • The Careers, led by a boy named Cato, trap Katniss in a tree, but she decides to drop

  • a nest of tracker jackers, an insect with powerful venom, on the group. She swarm kills

  • two girls, scares away the rest of the group, and allows Katniss to escape, though she is

  • stung a few times.

  • Katniss decides to take a bow and arrow set from one of the dead girls. Peeta helps her

  • escape Cato, but she is confused. She walks away, but succumbs to the venom of the tracker

  • jackers and falls asleep.

  • When she wakes up, she collects herself and meets Rue, a small girl with acrobatic skills

  • in the trees. They decide to work together against the Careers by destroying their supplies

  • and food.

  • As Rue lights a series of fires in the distance, Katniss destroys the supplies by setting off

  • the surrounding landmines. However, she loses hearing in one ear. She tries to meet up with

  • Rue, but Rue is killed by one of the Careers. Katniss avenges her, but it is too late.

  • An announcement is made that will allow two victors of the Hunger Games if they come from

  • the same district, which means that both Peeta and Katniss can win. This drives Katniss to

  • find Peeta, who is injured badly with a leg wound.

  • Katniss takes care of Peeta’s wounds in a nearby cave and the two of them begin to

  • get romantic with each other. The audience watching loves it and expresses their approval

  • with a gift of food.

  • As Peeta recovers, another announcement is made that each district will be given supplies

  • at the Cornucopia, a centerplace in the arena. Since it’s dangerous, Peeta doesn’t want

  • Katniss to go, but she drugs him and goes alone.

  • She tries to recover her supplies at the Cornucopia, but is attacked by one of the Careers. Just

  • as Katniss is about to be killed, another tribute saves her, repaying her for helping

  • Rue. Katniss goes back to the cave and uses the newly acquired serum in her supply pouch

  • to save Peeta.

  • Peeta recovers and the two decide to leave the cave. As they are gathering and hunting

  • food, one of the other tributes, a girl Katniss names Foxface, unknowingly eats poisonous

  • berries that Peeta was gathering. That leaves only three remaining: Katniss, Peeta, and

  • Cato.

  • Katniss and Peeta go to the Cornucopia to find Cato and he shows up, but is being chased

  • by mutated dogs. Katniss realizes that the dogs are actually the tributes that were previously

  • in the Hunger Games.

  • They leave Cato to the dogs and he is killed. Katniss and Peeta are the last two tributes

  • alive. However, an announcement is made that there can only be one winner, but the decision

  • is then reversed when Katniss and Peeta try to poison themselves.

  • Katniss and Peeta are declared the winners and are taken back to the Capitol. Haymitch

  • warns Katniss that their suicide stunt was not appreciated by the Hunger Game officials.

  • Katniss and Peeta are interviewed and eventually get to go home.

  • In the end, Peeta discovers that Katniss was being coached to pretend to like him, while

  • he truly felt those feelings.

  • As always, a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is

  • the idea of illusion and what this story says about our society’s willingness to cover

  • up the truth with images that aren’t real.

  • As soon as Katniss enters the Capitol, she notices all of thefakepeople covering

  • up themselves, such as the women with dyed hair and makeup. Everything seems artificial

  • and setup. No one seems comfortable and natural, unlike her conditions in District 12, where

  • she hunts freely and can be herself.

  • As Katniss prepares for the Hunger Games, she soon realizes that her prep team is changing

  • her by waxing her hair and fitting her in costumes and outfits that she wouldn’t necessarily

  • wear. Interestingly, Katniss resists at first, but then sees herself in the arena and likes

  • what she sees. In fact, her survival during the games relies on a clever illusion of a

  • romantic relationship with Peeta.

  • So while I’m not yet convinced that Katniss hasn’t entirely bought into the paradigm

  • of the Capitol - that she hasn’t gone all Hollywood - she is willing to play the game,

  • so to speak. Not only does she win the Hunger Games, but also manages to fool the audience

  • into believing that she loves Peeta.

  • However, as I’m sure the other books pursue, a person can’t stay with one foot in both

  • the illusion and what they conceive as real. Eventually Katniss will have to choose to

  • either reject the illusion and stand up for truth as she sees it, or allow the illusion

  • that she is delving into become her new truth.

  • So, let me know what you think of the story in the comments below.

  • Don’t forget to subscribe for more Minute Book Reports and thanks for watching.

This is a story about a teenage girl named Katniss who lives in District 12 of a post-apocalyptic

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