The Hunger Games


 * This article is about the book. For other uses, see The Hunger Games (disambiguation).

The Hunger Games is a young-adult, post-apocalyptic novel written by Suzanne Collins. It was originally published on September 14, 2008. The book is the first in The Hunger Games trilogy, followed by Catching Fire, then Mockingjay.

In the novel, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the ruthless Capitol randomly selects one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts, placing them against each other in a game of survival where they are forced to kill each other until only one remains.

Characters

 * Katniss Everdeen — The story's main character, a sarcastic, determined and strong-willed teenager. Katniss lives in the coal-mining District 12, one of the poorer districts, and lives in the part nicknamed the Seam. She often hunts outside of the District's walls in order to feed her family. Her father was a coal miner who died in a mine accident. When Katniss' sister Prim is reaped for the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. Her hunting and archery skills are a boon to her in the Hunger Games.
 * Peeta Mellark — The male tribute from District 12, Peeta is a baker's son. He has been in love with Katniss since they were five years old, and he once saved her from starving. Peeta is characterized by a likable personality, strategy, and selflessness.
 * Cinna — Katniss' stylist, who later becomes her close friend. Cinna is clever and supportive.
 * Portia — Peeta's stylist, works with Cinna.
 * Rue — The tribute from District 11. Small and bird-like, she is underestimated in the games, but her knowledge of trees and how to hide keeps her alive longer than expected. She warns Katniss about the tracker jacker beehive, mutations that were once set out by the Capitol to ease away the rebellion. Unfortunately Rue was killed by Marvel (the boy tribute from District 1), who had thrown a spear into her stomach. Katniss sang Rue to sleep, then death, and after Rue closed her eyes and the cannon shot, Katniss gathered flowers and covered Rue with the beautiful wildflowers showing the Gamemakers that she was 'more than just a piece in the games'. She also sang a song that she had learned, for her father also used to sing before his death. Throughout the books, Katniss mentions Rue on numerous accounts. Katniss had a special connection to Rue because she reminded Katniss of her beloved sister Prim.
 * Cato — The brutal District 2 tribute. Described as a "ruthless killing machine", he is extremely strong and was the most likely choice of a winner. He, Katniss, and Peeta were the last three tributes to face the mutated dogs with the other tribute's eyes. Cato had been weakened by the mutated dogs. Katniss and Peeta hid on top of the Cornucopia for one last night in the arena waiting for the cannon signaling Cato's death, but it didn't come. At last, he emerged as a "raw hunk of meat". After hours of moaning and groaning, Katniss decided to end his misery by shooting an arrow into his skull.
 * Clove — The female tribute from District 2. She is very skilled in knife throwing, as she was the one who killed the male tribute from District 9. She was the fifth person from the last to die and went to the "feast" (where she was killed) having Cato guarding her. Killed by a large rock, thrown by Thresh, she seemed to have a connection to Cato due to the rule change. After admitting she had some involvement in the killing of Thresh's district partner Rue, he dented her skull with a rock "the size of a small loaf of bread". She dies in Cato's arms, as Katniss flees for her life.
 * Foxface — Known by no other name, this red-head from District 5 is hard to catch. Though she doesn't have brute strength or knowledge of weapons, she can outsmart everyone in the arena. She's killed by accident by the poisonous berry Nightlock, when stealing food from Peeta and Katniss. She placed fourth in the Games.
 * Thresh — The male tribute from District 11 keeps to himself. He disappeared during the first part of the game. This made him even more dangerous. He spared Katniss's life because she was friends with Rue. He was probably killed by Cato but this is unknown.
 * Glimmer — The female tribute from District 1, she was very beautiful. Described as very sexy, with long, blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She was killed by Katniss' tracker jacker attack.
 * Marvel — The male tribute from District One, he was strong and ruthless. He was the one who killed Rue, the District 11 tribute by throwing a spear through her stomach. Was killed by being stabbed in the neck by Katniss' arrow, her first kill.
 * Haymitch — Katniss and Peeta's mentor. Dangerous and cunning, Haymitch was mostly drunk, with a glass in one hand and knife in the other. He promised he would sober up long enough for Katniss and Peeta to play the games and help them. He sends Katniss gifts throughout the book to help her survive. He won during the second Quarter Quell where double the tributes were required.
 * Gale Hawthorne — The best friend of Katniss, she and Gale met when she was only twelve and he was fourteen after both of their fathers died in the same mining explosion. Gale hunts with Katniss in the forest, usually everyday but in Catching Fire, he only hunts with her on Sundays (before the 24 hour electric fence arrives). Gale called Katniss when they first met, "Catnip."
 * Primrose Everdeen — The younger sister of Katniss Everdeen. She owns a goat named Lady and a cat named Buttercup. Lady provides dairy for the Everdeen family. Very much unlike her older sibling, Prim has a heart full of compassion and for healing. Prim had been originally chosen as a tribute, until Katniss volunteered to take her place.

Book description

 * "In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV."


 * "Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love."

Plot
Each year, for 74 years, the Hunger Games have taken place, forcing 24 children between the ages of 12-18 to kill each other. This year seems no different for Katniss Everdeen, until her younger sister, Prim, is called to participate. She takes her sister's place as Tribute to save her sister.

Katniss will do anything to survive, even if she may possibly have to go against her own moral standards. But when a fellow tribute reveals his affection for her and another begins to act like and remind her of her sister, it becomes harder and harder to figure out how to survive without killing those closest to her.

Part One, The Tributes
The Games have not taken place in this time, instead, this part of The Hunger Games is mostly about the preparation for the Games and delving into the characters.

The book opens up on the day of The Reaping, with Gale Hawthorne and Katniss slipping away into the woods, which is the only place where they feel safe enough to discuss The Capitol and other problems. Being poachers, they catch their loot of the day and go out to sell it at District 12's black market, The Hob, to Greasy Sae and other customers. Once the game is sold, Gale and Katniss go to Mayor Undersee's house to sell strawberries. When they knock on the door Madge, the mayor's daughter, answers the door. After a petty argument between Gale and Madge, Katniss returns home to get ready for the reaping. Because the day of the Reaping isn't a happy one, Katniss tries to cheer Prim up by commenting on her dress, a previous Reaping day outfit for Katniss,(which is a little roomy on Prim) and tells her to "tuck your tail in, little duck" displaying Katniss' love for her sister.

At the reaping, Prim is chosen as the girl tribute for District 12. Katniss, devastated and shocked, immediately volunteers for her twelve year old sister doing something that isn't normally seen in District 12, as the last winner was almost 24 years ago. As the rest of the District stares in shocked silence, Katniss becomes the girl tribute for her district. As an act of respect to a loved one, the entire district places three fingers to their lips and presses outward in a silent salute. Then, the next tribute, Peeta Mellark, is chosen. Katniss has a rocky past with the boy from the town as he is known to her as the boy with the bread.

Katniss and Peeta are then taken into custody, being guarded so they do not escape. Katniss and Peeta are permitted visitors, and Katniss has five- Her mother and Prim where she makes her mother promise not to "leave" Prim as she did when their father died in a tragic mine explosion. And promises Prim that she try her hardest to win the games. Then the baker, Peeta's father and often the person Katniss and Gale trade squirrels to, he promises to take care of Prim in a way so she won't go hungry. Her second to last visitor, Madge, is full of urgency and passion as she begs Katniss to take her mockingjay pin as her Tribute Token. Katniss hesitantly agrees. Then last, Gale. Their final meeting isn't long but Gale leaves her with "Remember I...." Katniss does not hear the rest because he is taken away.

After the visitation are finished they are rushed to the Tribute Train that will take them to the Capitol. When they arrive to the Capitol they are immediately taken to the remake center to be readied for Opening Ceremony where all the tributes ride through the heart of the Capitol in chariots. When Katniss' prep team, Venia, Flavius, and Octavia, are finished Cinna, Katniss' stylist, comes to show Katniss her costume for the ceremony. He dresses her in black unitard complimented by a head dress and cape. Katniss makes her way to the stables to find Peeta in the same outfit. They board their chariot and Cinna and Portia, Peeta's stylist, light their capes and head dresses using synthetic fire. Just as the chariot is about to take its turn Cinna tells Katniss and Peeta to hold hands as they ride their way through the streets dazzling the people of the Capitol.

The chariots take them to the Training Center where they will stay until they day of the games. Here they train in the underground gym until the day of the Gamemaker's assessment. This is when each of the tribute's best skills are shown to get a training score that can make or break whether you get sponsors. Katniss is last, as she enters she can already tell that the Gamemakers are drunk and no going to pay attention to her so she does an amazing display of bow and arrow shooting, that being her true talent, but no one watches. So in an act of defiance and anger she shoots an apple out of the roasted pigs mouth on the Gamemaker's dining table. Later that night when the scores are displayed, Katniss gets 11 out of 12, the highest score of all the tributes.

The next day are the interviews and Cinna dresses Katniss in a stunning jeweled dress depicting her as being on fire.... Katniss, the girl on fire. During his interview, Peeta follows her and professes his love for her to the entire nation of Panem.

Part Two, The Games
This part of The Hunger Games mostly focuses on the actual Games. The death, destruction, and chaos that surrounds the Games is described within these chapters.

The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day. When the Games begin, Katniss attempts to get the bow and arrow she notices quite close to the Cornucopia but decides against it when she loses her momentum after a slight distraction from Peeta. She gets away quickly, after trying to grab as much as she can, getting into a minor tussle with a boy over a backpack which ends when the boy is killed by Clove. Katniss is almost killed at the Cornucopia when Clove aims a knife at her; she blocks it by using her backpack and earns a good knife. Over the next few days Katniss moves further and further away from the Cornucopia, sleeping at high points of trees, though she is later slowed down by lack of water. She nearly dies of thirst before, to the point where she begs Haymitch to get water for her. She sees this as a sign, or a way of her mentor to tell her that he is not sending her water because she is close to a source. She finds a small pond to drink from, stumbling into it while she thinks of camouflaging her bright orange backpack so it won't draw too much attention.

The next morning she is awoken by a wall of Gamemaker-made fire, including fireballs that are flung at her. She survives this but suffers minor burns on her hands and a severe burn on her calf. She goes to sleep and is woken by the sound of footsteps. Katniss is briefly chased by the Career pack of Glimmer, Marvel, Cato, Clove, the girl from District 4 and Peeta, and escapes up a tree. Cato tries to climb up after Katniss, but crashes to the ground because he is too heavy for the branches. All of the Careers are too heavy to climb after her and settle to wait for her to come down. Rue then appears in a neighboring tree and points to the tracker jacker nest above Katniss. Katniss cuts it down with the knife she received from Clove and the tracker jackers attack the Careers, killing Glimmer and the girl from District 4. Taking this as a chance, she takes the bow and arrow that Glimmer was able to get ffrom the Cornucopia, but not before she is seen by Peeta who lets her escape, therefore getting him into trouble with Cato. The other Careers all get tracker jacker stings, as does Katniss, and take several days to recover.

When Katniss wakes up from the hallucinations caused by the tracker jacker venom, she proposes an alliance with Rue, who reminds her of Prim, in both size and demeanor. The two bond over several things, feeling comfortable with each other. Katniss and Rue then plan to destroy the Careers' food supply. Rue provides a distraction while Katniss checks out the Career camp. She figures out that the food is protected by landmines, which were the mines they were standing on as they enter the arena, which the boy from District 3 reactivated, after Foxface skips around the mines as she takes some of the supplies. She later shoots a sack above the mines to spill apples onto the ground, setting off all of the bombs. Nearly everything is destroyed and Katniss' left ear is damaged.

Katniss goes to the woods, listening for Rue. Her four note melody rings out through the woods from mockingjays, but she suddenly cries out for Katniss. Knowing it's probably trouble, and possibly a trap, she runs through the trees to find Rue entangled in a mesh net, one arm sticking out before a spear is thrown into her abdomen by the boy from District 1, whose name is later revealed to be Marvel. Katniss kills the boy and sits down with Rue, and sings the Valley Song, one that many people refer to as Rue's Lullaby. She dies after Katniss finishes the song. Seeing Rue dead and angry that the Capitol enjoys watching innocent children die, Katniss grabs flowers and decorates Rue's corpse with them, hiding the wound and weaving them into her hair, then she gives her the farewell gesture they do in District 12. Later, this is said to be an act that defied the Capitol. She then takes her and the dead boy's backpacks, knowing that Rue would want her to have them. As she moves away from Rue and the hovercraft claiming her body, a gift falls down from the sky to her, containing a crescent-shaped silver bread dotted with seeds - a gift from District 11, apparently maybe intended as a gift for Rue, but District 11 decided to give it to her instead, possibly for gratitude.

Part Three, The Victor
The conclusion of The Hunger Games. This part mainly focuses on the end of The 74th Hunger Games and the aftermath leading up to the events in Catching Fire. After it's announced two tributes from the same district can win, Katniss finds Peeta camouflaged all along and is horrified by the condition he is in. In the act of saving Katniss, Peeta took a gruesome sword slash to the leg delivered by Cato. Katniss attempts to heal Peeta but is left no choice but to go to the "feast" given to the last six tributes. At the feast is what each tribute needs most. Foxface is the first to retrieve her backpack, running in so fast Katniss lost her momentum. As Katniss runs to retrieve hers, small enough to fit her wrist, labeled with a 12, holding the medicine that would save Peeta, Clove throws a knife missing Katniss, but then she rams into Katniss and knocks her to the ground to start killing Katniss in a slow, sadistic way, giving Cato a show. Just as Clove is going to cut Katniss, Thresh, the remaining tribute from District 11 tackles Clove only to beat her in the temple with a rock, the cannon soon signifying her death. As Thresh turns to Katniss, she asks if he can make it quick, but Thresh spares her life for taking care of his district partner Rue while she was dying. Cato later runs to Clove's body, so Thresh lets Katniss run as he takes his backpack, and Cato's, from the table. Katniss runs back to their cave, injects the medicine into Peeta and blacks out.

Things happen after that with them either staying in their cave, resting and recovering, or hunting and foraging near. Thresh's cannon signifying his death fires while Peeta and Katniss are trapped in their cave due to the bad weather. Foxface is killed after she steals and eats nightlock, berries that Peeta collected, not knowing that it is deadly.

On the final day of the games, the river that runs near their cave runs dry. They see this as a sign that the Gamemakers are gathering the three remaining tributes to the lake near the Cornucopia. That is where they find a frantic Cato running from giant Capitol muttations, human-like wolves who turn out to be in some form that resemble the other dead tributes. The final show down on top of the Cornicopia has Cato trying to use Peeta to stop Katniss from killing him, fails and falls over, attacked by the muttations as soon as he falls. He does not die and is merely tortured continuously by the muttations because of his armor, which the Gamemakers provide. Cato is severely wounded by the mutts and killed by Katniss with an arrow through the head. His cannon fires, and Katniss and Peeta are unsure why they are not being announced victors. Claudius Templesmith then announces that there can only be one victor, revoking the previously placed rule. As a way to defy the Gamemakers, Katniss and Peeta threaten suicide with the nightlock berries in hopes that the Capitol would rather have 2 victors than none. It works, and they are declared the winners. Although, the Capitol becomes angry with Katniss and claims she was sparking rebellion by "outsmarting" the Gamemakers and defying the Capitol. When Haymitch tells Katniss this, she takes it as her job to reverse it to save the ones she loves so she puts up the madly-in love act to convince them that she did this for her future with Peeta. Upon going home Peeta and Katniss start drifting apart when she tells him she knew when Haymitch would send her sponsorship gifts and played most of the games that way. Though not sure of her feelings for Peeta this hurts him as much as her, but must be in love for show as they enter their district as newly crowned Victors.

Sales
After writing the novel, Collins signed a six-figure deal for three books with Scholastic in 2006. The first book originally had a 50,000 first printing which was then bumped up twice to 200,000 copies. As of February 11, 2010, The Hunger Games has sold 800,000 copies and 26 foreign editions; rights to the novel have been sold in 38 territories.

Sequels
The Hunger Games is the first book of The Hunger Games trilogy. Followed by Catching Fire, which follows Katniss Everdeen and her "friend" Peeta Mellark as they try to survive in and out of yet another deadly Hunger Games, the Quarter Quell. The third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, was released August 24, 2010 and finishes the rebellion in unexpected ways.

Film adaptation
Lionsgate Entertainment has acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of The Hunger Games, which will be produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company. Suzanne Collins adapted the novel for film herself, with screen writer Billy Ray revising it. Gary Ross will direct the film. Jennifer Lawrence has been confirmed to portray Katniss Everdeen in the adaptation, while Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth will play Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne, respectively. The film is slated for release on March 23, 2012.

Critical reception

 * "[The Hunger Games] is a violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense... I couldn't stop reading." -- Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
 * "I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished, I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it. ...The Hunger Games is amazing." -- Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga
 * "Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced." -- John Green, The New York Times Book Review

Book trailer
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