District 4

"Do you like seafood? Shrimp and crabmeat? Often overlooked, District 4 plays an essential role, bringing us the bounty of the sea. These citizens are adept with nets and tridents, and can swim like fish themselves."

- Description from The Hunger Games: Tribute Guide

District 4 is one of the wealthiest districts of Panem. Its industry is fishing, which is useful for tributes in the Games as they have experience in using nets and tridents, making fishhooks from scratch, swimming, and identifying edible sea life. In Catching Fire, Katniss notices during her victory tour that District 4, along with 3 and 8, seemed happy to see her, suggesting that it is a rebellious district.

Being one of the wealthier districts, District 4 tends to produce Career Tributes, who volunteer to participate in The Hunger Games. This is also the case for Districts 1 and 2. These children are raised to win the Games, making them stronger and much more capable of winning than the average tribute. The bread is a salty, fish-shaped loaf, tinted green by seaweed. Their source of income is fishing. Some jobs include Longliner, Trawler, Canner, Ship captain, and Deckhand. Kids are trained for these jobs since a young age.

Known tributes

 * Mags - (Tribute in the 3rd Quarter Quell, Winner of an unknown Hunger Game)
 * She was an expert at edible plant life, able to make nearly anything into a fishhook. She was the only known person in the book to be alive when the Hunger Games started, being five at the time. She probably participated in the 7th-13th Hunger Games. Mags also participated in the third Quarter Quell. She sacrificed herself in when she walked into a thick cloud of deadly fog that attacks the respiratory system and causes limbs to twitch rapidly. It also causes blisters to rise if skin touches slightly.


 * Finnick Odair - (Tribute in the 3rd Quarter Quell, Winner of The 65th Hunger Games)
 * He was tall, athletic, with golden skin, bronze hair, and sea-green eyes. He was very popular and was sponsored by nearly everyone. In Catching Fire, it is mentioned that Finnick was one of the best swimmers in his district. He received a trident and wove a net out of vines, using them to ensnare and spear his opponents. After the Games, he had many 'lovers' in the Capitol, but his heart belonged to Annie Cresta. He also participated in the Quarter Quell. President Snow sold him as a prostitute, and his lovers would tell him secrets which Finnick then reveals in Mockingjay. Finnick was decapitated by lizard mutts as he was climbing the ladder out of the uderground.


 * Annie Cresta - (Winner of the 70th Hunger Games)
 * During the 70th Hunger Games, she "went mad" after she saw her District partner beheaded. When the arena flooded, she survived, thanks to being the best swimmer. Katniss met her in Mockingjay. It would seem that "mad" is an exaggeration; her PTSD is more pronounced than most Victors, but she seems to be mostly stable. She is reaped for the 3rd Quarter Quell, but Mags volunteers for her. When she and Finnick reunite, Katniss says, "And suddenly, it's as if there's no one in the world but these two, crashing through space to reach each other. They collide, enfold, lose their balance, and slam against a wall, where they stay. Clinging into one being. Indivisible. A pang of jealousy hits me. Not for either Finnick or Annie but for their certainty. No one seeing them could doubt their love.”

Though never mentioned by name, both tributes from this district seem to die rather quickly in the 74th Hunger Games, not making it past the fifth night. It is rare for Career Tributes to die so quickly. The boy tribute was killed immediately in the initial battle at the Cornucopia. In the movie the boy from 4 was killed by Cato. Along with Glimmer from District 1, the female tribute died from tracker jackers when Katniss Everdeen dropped their nest on the Careers. In the film, the girl from 4 was seen being slashed by Cato at the Cornucopia.

Everyday life
Not much is known about District 4's way of living, aside from their specialization in fishing. Even their bread is tinted green because of the seaweed it contains. In Catching Fire, it is mentioned that District 4 is by the sea, of course. Its rebellious tendencies, expressed during Katniss and Peeta's Victory Tour, were described as "more of a cry for vengeance" and it was said that the crowd did not have "the weary cattle feel". This suggests that the citizens of District 4 faced severe oppression but were healthy enough (not battling starvation and poverty) to fight.

Occupations
Based on the capitol.pn website While preparing for the 3rd Quarter Quell in the Training Center, Katniss encounters difficulty at the knot-tying station and is helped by another tribute, and she realizes that "Of course it's Finnick, who seems to have spent his childhood doing nothing but wielding tridents and manipulating ropes into fancy knots for nets, I guess". This shows that unlike the children of District 12 (and just like the children in the other districts) the children in District 4 begin to learn their district's industry from an early age.
 * Longliner
 * Trawler
 * Canner
 * Ship Captain
 * Deckhand

Distrikt 4