Previous
Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hunger Games, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Division and Control
Love, Loyalty, and Compassion
Societal Inequality
Appearances
Hypocrisy
Summary
Analysis
The crowd grows upset, sympathetically murmuring after Peeta’s admission. Katniss is shocked and looks down to avoid the cameras. After the tributes return to their floors, Katniss sees Peeta and shoves him into an urn, which shatters and bloodies Peeta’s hands. She says that he had no right to say those things about her. When the other doors open and the adults arrive, Haymitch pins Katniss against a wall, telling her that Peeta has done her a favor by making her look desirable. Realizing that Haymitch is right, Katniss apologizes to Peeta for shoving him.
Although Katniss doesn’t realize it yet, Peeta’s decision to cast them in the light of star-crossed lovers is also an act of defiance. It shows the Capitol that there’s still room for him to care about a person other than himself—and not only another person, but a competitor in the Games. It also earns the sympathy of the audience, who might be more upset and less entertained by Peeta’s and Katniss’s deaths.
Themes
The group sits down to dinner and afterwards watches the interviews as they air on television. Then it’s time for them to say their goodbyes, since the next morning, Peeta and Katniss will enter the arena. Effie actually has tears in her eyes, and Haymitch again repeats his advice to stay alive. When Katniss goes to bed, however, she realizes that she’s unable to sleep. She heads to the roof where she finds Peeta standing on the edge, watching the celebrations in the city below.
In just a short time, Katniss and Peeta have formed more relationships—with Effie, Haymitch, and their stylists. These are people who will now view the Games differently, since they’ve gotten to know the tributes involved.
Themes
Peeta starts to talk about how he’s trying to avoid becoming one of the Capitol’s pawns—how he wants to maintain his identity, even in the Games. This rubs Katniss the wrong way, and she snaps at Peeta before turning and heading back to her room. She sleeps fitfully for the remaining hours and then Cinna comes to see her before dawn, giving her a simple shift to wear before she dons her costume outside the arena. Cinna takes her to the roof, where a hovercraft appears and carries Katniss away. A woman places a metal tracker in Katniss’s arm, and then Katniss is released to eat breakfast.
When the hovercraft lands, Cinna and Katniss find themselves in a room below the arena, where Katniss changes into the outfit she will wear. Cinna hands her the token Madge gave her, which he retrieved from one of the outfits Katniss wore on the train. Katniss fastens the token on her shirt, and then she and Cinna wait for the call that will signal the beginning of the Games. Cinna holds one of her hands in both of his, and they wait without speaking until it’s time for Katniss to enter the arena. Cinna tells her that if he could bet, his money would be on her. Then Katniss is enclosed in a glass cylinder that begins to rise, and for a minute, her eyes are dazzled by the sunlight—before she hears the announcer’s voice signaling the start of the Games.
All of Katniss’s goodbyes reveal people who care about her. When she left District 12, Madge and Peeta’s dad surprised her, and now, when she’s getting ready to enter the arena, she finds that she and Cinna have grown closer.
Themes
Get the entire The Hunger Games LitChart as a printable PDF.
