The Hunger Games – Chapter by Chapter Review: Chapter One
The Hunger Games – Chapter by Chapter Review
Part 1: Chapter One (UK edition pages 3 – 24, estimated 5515 words)
Background – This will normally be background to how we have got to this place in the book, but as this is the first chapter the background is a little different. Before I get into this for the first time, I thought I would explain a bit about these reviews and what will hopefully make them different to all the other reviews out there. As you will probably know if you read this blog, I am a wannabe author. I have written my first book at 92,000, edited it (10 edits so far), shown it to agents and I’m now working on fine tuning it based on their comments (which actually means a lot of cutting – around 20,000 words). I am pretty confident that it has the potential to be a published novel in the not too distant future. I am also currently 54,000 words into my second book and I have set myself the goal of having five rejection letters by the end of the year. The reason I say rejection letters, is that such a small % of people get picked up. An agent told me (and the rest of my seminar at the weekend) that she gets 25 prospective novels a week, so that makes 1300 books a year and of those she will actually publish just 4-7 of them. But I’m getting off topic. The way these reviews will work and be different, I feel that with the work I have done on my writing, I am in a good position to talk about character and plot development in reasonable detail. Hopefully you will learn something about The Hunger Games book and I will learn how to weave these things into my own writing better. So without further ado, let’s get started with chapter one.
Basic Plot – (This section will only be a couple of sentences long.) Katniss wakes up on reaping day. She goes into the wood hunting, where she meets up with Gale. They stop by the Hob and trade before going to the mayor’s house to trade there. They split the final remaining spoils (food) of their hunt and go home to prepare for the reaping. At one o’clock they go to District 12’s square for the Reaping, which is compulsory. At the Reaping, Effie Trinket pulls Prim’s name out to compete in the Hunger Games.
Plot Development –
The story starts with Katniss waking up, this is no a start you would often be advised to start with, if fact I’ve heard so many talks that have told you not to do this, so it is very brave for Collins to do this. And it does but you straight in the story and presents our first mystery. The first line end with the news that the other side of the bed is cold, this hints that this character usually sleeps next to someone but who? At this stage, you could well imagine it to be a boy, given the target audience of the book, but in fact it is the protagonist’s younger sister. The hook of the first paragraphs is a good one too – ‘This is the day of the reaping.’ This is great, it puts the focus on that single last word. It creates so many questions about what this is and what it means and why it is so important. It is great to have the last word of the paragraph as our new word, our questioning word – reaping. If that is not a word that pulls you back in and keeps your mind fresh, I don’t know what would.
We then start to get to know our character and find her to be hard. Rather than have a save the cat moment (an action where the main character will do something heroic, something that will get you to root for them – see http://www.blakesnyder.com/ for more details), our author tries to drown the cat. This is daring in the very least, how can you feel for a character that would kill a poor defenceless animal. But it gives you a great visual of the world where cat are unnecessary burdens and no longer pets, as well as given you an insight into the character. This girl is hard, she will do what it takes to survive. The fact that she does not drown the cat and gives into her little sister, Prim’s demands and lets the cat lives, shows even better characteristics of our girl Katniss. She will give her sister what she wants even if she doesn’t think that it is a wise choice.
So far we have had three mentions of the reaping just by page 5 but you still do not know what it is, even if it is a good or bad thing. This creates great suspense and tension as the questions build in your mind. This is brilliant story telling. You keep your readers in the dark as long as possible without withholding information that will make you think that the character is keeping secrets for you, especially when the book is written in first person like this book is. You have to believe in the main character and trust to go on their journey, you can’t doing that if they are keeping secrets from you. This is done very skilfully as this intriguing phrase is mention in passing and we get a feel for it without getting an information dump. In fact we barely know anything about it at all, which leads to our questions. All we actually do know is that things are particularly prepared for the reaping (clothes, food) and that you get a line in. At this point, the reaping could well just be an event like Christmas.
The world and themes of the book are quickly being developed. This book is fast paced and by just page 6, we get our first mention of rebellion, a theme that will last through the three books. And that word alone gets you questioning: rebellion, think about the word, fight against someone or something, people tend not to do it for good reason and here the good reason is that people starve to death in this world. But the rebellion is not followed for very good reason. The people are scared of rebelling because they are scared for their lives and will instead let themselves starve. This quote is in reference to Katniss’s father’s ability to make bow and arrows and highlights perfectly the fear in which people live. ‘My father could have made good money selling them, but if the officials found out he would have been publicly executed for inciting a rebellion.’
Page 7, the world building continues and we get the first mention of Panem (the country) and the Capitol. This has been slowly done. We have got a good feel for the characters, Katniss in particular and the setting before we learn about our actual world. Yes we have had hints but here it is laid out. Collins has careful dropped clues in odd sentences instead of given you a big information dump, this means you have stayed with the character and the action, instead of being pulled in and out of it. Much easier said than done, trust me. And in case I haven’t said this yet, Collins is a genius. What we do learn also back up the hints we have had and supports what we have already learnt. This is a world where you can’t voice you opinion, you can speak up against the Capitol without risking your life. So people learn how to keep quiet and keep their heads down, including at this stage our main character. Something that will change. But at this stage she can’t make a difference and will not risk her neck without cause especially as she has a family to support.
Talking about dropping things in. It takes until page 8 to get our first mention of Katniss’s name and page 9 to get a mention of the Hunger Games. First getting the main characters name – that came late into the book, five pages without a character’s name is a lot. But I actually didn’t miss not knowing it, I actually didn’t realise I didn’t know it until this point. As for the mention of the Hunger Games, I didn’t really care that it took so long to mention. Some titles don’t get their mention until nearly the end of the book, so in this aspect it was very early and very intriguing. Like the mentions with the reaping, it is just dropped in their as a topic and dropped. Katniss and Gale quickly go back to their hunting activities and we get another kind of goodbye scene. It is a glorious day, now maybe it’s the tone of the book so far or my cynical nature coming into place but this struck me as too good to be true, plus you already know that the point of a first chapter is to throw the first chapter is to throw the protagonist’s life in the air, if it didn’t we would start three chapters in. So for me, this day is without question a goodbye, something sweet to hold onto (and I was kind of proved right with that 
.)
We now are starting to learn much more about the reaping. We know now that after the reaping people celebrate that their children have been spared. We don’t know what they have been spared from and apparently it is something that will last for weeks but we do know finally that the reaping is a bad this. Just as we are getting finally start to understand what the reaping is, we break away from the scene as we follow Katniss and Gale to the Mayor’s house. Interesting side not here, we get another note of just how poor this place is. The Mayor is the only one who can afford to buy strawberries. And even the Mayor daughter does not wear nice clothes. Okay yes, she is a great dress for the reaping, but her normal clothes are ‘drap’, she is obviously in special clothes today. We do learn more about the reaping. We now know that they go to the Capitol if they are called and Madge has five entries in making this happen. Begs the question five out of so many. Luckly this question is not left hanging for long. So at the age of 12 you qualify for the reaping and you get one entry. Each year you get an extra entry added until your last year in the reaping at 18 when you have seven entries. That sounds pretty fair. But wait we already know its no going to be fair, I mean it’s hardly the tone that has been set so far in this book. If you are poor you can opt to put your name in extra times in a exchange for a year’s supply of tesserae (a year’s supply of oil and rice for one person). You can qualify for as much tesserae as you like, so most people put their name in for their whole family, like both Katniss and Gale do. So at this year’s reaping Katniss has 20 entries and Gale 42 compared to Madge’s 5. Hardly fair, but then a nice happy fair book wouldn’t sell, well at least not to the same market and it would be a totally different book wouldn’t it?
So we are reaching the end of the chapter and things are starting to fall into place. We are having some of our early questions answered , but those answers are providing even more questions. Good writing again, genius even . So we have finally arrived at the reaping and people are silent. I don’t know about you but silence unnerves me, I mean how many times are things actually silence, there is always some type of noise in the background from somewhere. The description strikes me very much as a cattle market, is that what these children are seen as, how highly they are valued, yes probably but make of that what you will. They are herded (a careful word choice and one very much linked with cattle for sale) into roped areas marked by ages and families line the perimeter. People pass through the crowds offering bets. I’m not losing the feel of cattle market yet I’m afraid. How devalued are they children? Are they just clogs in a machine? It’s starting to sound like the whole of Panem is. Just how powerful is this place? What can’t they do? Anyway back to the cattle pen, the space is tight and claustrophobic, I’m guessing with the number of nervous teenagers in there that it really doesn’t smell too great in there either.
Aha, here’s the back story I have been waiting. Now I know just why this is taking place right at the end of the chapter, way to hold out on us Collins. The mayor reads the history of Panem. This is again cleverly done. The characters obviously know this, so wouldn’t talk to each other about it, but here we the audience are being told as it is part of a tradition for it to be read out. Clever indeed. So here’s the deal. Panem as a country rose from the ashes of north America that had destroyed itself. The mayor quickly covers hundreds of years of history of disasters, brutal warfare (great foreshadowing there), dark days and the rest the Capitol rose, defeated 12 districts and destroyed the other district. And that is why the Hunger Games is needed. It’s a punishment. So now the capitol enforces these games where one girl and one boy is picked from each district and taken away to fight for to the death. To make this worse they make people watch. Page 22: ‘Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just like we did in District Thirteen.’ Now not only is this a new concept but its chilling and it’s got me reading. But what makes these games even more humiliating, the Capitol treats these games like a sporting event. Part of writing is not just giving you a character to root for but also ones to hate and trust me when I say I hate the Capitol.
So now to the last part of the chapter and one of the most important parts, the hook. The hook like I said at the start is the thing that will keep you turning the page. Stop you reading a chapter in a book shop and putting it back to pick something else. Its that mouth watering element to writing. With a hook for a first chapter it should introduce something new, something that changes the story. Now I was expecting Katniss’s name to be called. She is the main character, the book is called the Hunger Games, logic says that she has to go to them. Plus she has all those entries in the reaping. I was never expecting the last two words of this chapter, the name that was called out instead: Primrose Everdeen, Katniss little sister. I mean this is the character that Katniss has tried to protect from everything except the Hunger Games, but what can she do now? Her sister has to take part and if she tries to rebel against it, based on what we have read she will be executed. What a hook. What great final words. And what an impact to have them as the very last thing you read. It certainly had me turning the page. Sheer brilliance.
Characters in Chapter (* if this the first time they have been introduced) – Katniss*, Prim*, Katniss’s mother*, cat named Buttercup*, Gale*, Effie Trinket*, Greasy Sae*, Madge – the Mayor’s daughter*, Mayor Undersee*, Haymitch Abernathy*
Character Development (this will mainly concern Katniss) –
KATNISS DEVELOPMENTS –
Family relationships – Mother: She appears not to have a good opinion of her money, she dismisses her as weak, although they are given a nice moment together where she helps Katniss gets dressed for the Reaping, making her look beautiful, wearing her mother’s dress and her mum pinning up her hair. This however has a very bittersweet feel to it, it almost feels like a goodbye scene, it’s too good a relationship in this scene compared to the comments about the rest of the relationship with her mother. Father: Katniss appears to have a close relationship with her father, he was the one that taught her to hunt before he was killed in a mine explosion. This maybe a possible weakness, still five years later Katniss wakes up screaming for him to run. The fact that she has been so hurt by this and lost him, may just have made her more isolated so that she doesn’t get hurt again, lose someone that she loves in the same way. Prim: Katniss is very protective of her younger sister and goes as far as to call her the only person that she knows that she loves. There is in fact a very ironic and perfect use of this characteristic and relationship on page 18. ‘I protect Prim in every way I can, but I’m powerless against the reaping.’
Friends relationship – Gale: he appears to have a good relationship with Katniss. They treat each other as equals something neither of them appear to do with many other people and they trust each other a characteristic that appears to be even more sparing with this two characters. They are relaxed enough to joke with each and worry over each other’s fortunes in the Hunger Games. Madge: Madge takes time to wish Katniss luck, something that does not take place between Madge and Gale which was a much more antagonistic relationship. This indicates Katniss and Madge seem to have a reasonably close relationship.
Internal Characteristics – Intelligence: Even though Katniss knows that the electricity in the fence is always switched off, she still checks and takes time to listen for the hum that would signal that it is on. Resourceful : The fact that Katniss hunts and uses an hunting partner to bring home food for her family. Pride: Katniss refuses to ask for help or beg to help her family out. Determination: Katniss refuses to give up. Self-scarficing: Katniss takes tesserae for not just herself but also for her mother and Prim even though it ups her chances of taking part in the Hunger Games. Sense of Humour: Katniss appears to have a very dry and dark sense of humour. ‘District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety.’
GALE DEVELOPMENTS
Gale rants about the Capitol, this is very early and sets great foreshadowing on his character for the rest of the trilogy. In this chapter, he claims that tesserae is used to ensure misery and plant hatred amongst the people against each other and not against the Capitol, and to be fair he is most likely right but we will not see that until later in the series. Interestingly Katniss sees these rants against the Capitol as pointless, that ranting doesn’t change things or fill their stomachs – how things will change.
HAYMITCH DEVELOPMENTS
Haymitch arrives at an important event that will be televised drunk, causing great distress to bot the mayor and Effie. His behaviour has caused him to be a laughing stock despite that fact that as a winner of the Hunger Games he should have some kind of legendary status. He appears to be the image of washed up child star that is still dragged out and nothing like their former self and when he was actually famous.
EFFIE DEVELOPMENTS
Effie is clearly ambitious, even this chapter it clearly says that she wants to be bumped up to a better district.
Settings used – (1) House, appears to be very simple and basic, Katniss shares a bed with her sister, the kitchen is bare and there are mentions of rats. This obviously not a house where the people who live there have a lot of money, in fact it sounds like they are desperately poor. (2) District Twelve: the Seam, is full of cold miners and surrounded by a fence which is chain-linked and topped with barbed wire that in theory has been electrified to keep predators out but there is hardly any electricity and it is too expensive to keep it fully working. (3) The woods, somewhere that is illegal to go and is full of predatory animals. (4) District Twelve: the Hob, is an underground market which is not the healthiest of place both in the way is kept and what is served there, for example wild boar is a standard meal from one of the stalls. (5) District Twelve: the Mayor’s House – this is not described. (5) District Twelve: the square, is described as having a holiday feel to it and is a meeting place that is surrounded by shops.