Catching Fire Chapter 1 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
Not only are we in the districts forced to remember the iron grip of the Capitol's power each year, we are forced to celebrate it. And this year, I am one of the stars of the show. I will have to travel from district to district, to stand before the cheering crowds who secretly loathe me, to look down into the faces of the families whose children I have killed. (1.3)
This Capitol values the appearance of admiration rather than admiration itself. The admiration the people show for the "stars of the show," their "cheering," is all false. They don't really admire the winners of the Games; they are "secretly loath[ing]" all of it.
Quote 2
Although they never mention it, I owe the people who frequent the Hob. Gale told me that Greasy Sae, the old woman who serves up soup, started a collection to sponsor Peeta and me during the Games. It was supposed to be just a Hob thing, but a lot of other people heard about it and chipped in. I don't know exactly how much it was, and the price of any gift in the arena was exorbitant. But for all I know, it made the difference between my life and death. (1.22)
Katniss doesn't even know what she "owe[s] the people" of the Hob, but she knows it's something. The people of District 12 have so little to give, but they manage to give nonetheless. This is incredibly meaningful to Katniss. During their first Hunger Games she and Peeta depended on kindnesses that, while they appeared small, were "exorbitant" in cost.
Quote 3
But that was before the Games. Before my fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark, announced he was madly in love with me. Our romance became a key strategy for our survival in the arena. Only it wasn't just a strategy for Peeta. I'm not sure what it was for me. [...] My chest tightens as I think about how, on the Victory Tour, Peeta and I will have to present ourselves as lovers again. (1.17)
In the arena, nothing is what it seems. Katniss and Peeta made it out alive by performing a love affair, which was "a key strategy for [their] survival." What makes things more complicated is that, for Peeta, "it wasn't just a strategy"; he's really in love with her. With this ambiguity and forced pretense of a romance, it becomes even harder for Katniss to know what's real and what's not.
Quote 4
It's just one more part of the lie the Capitol has concocted. When Peeta and I made it into the final eight in the Hunger Games, they sent reporters to do personal stories about us. When they asked about my friends, everyone directed them to Gale. But it wouldn't do, what with the romance I was playing out in the arena, to have my best friend be Gale. [...] So some genius made him my cousin. (1.37)
The Games have turned Katniss' life inside out. Everything has to fit neatly into a box and form a simple, exciting narrative for the media. In the arena, Katniss and Peeta's narrative became a romance against all odds, and nothing could be permitted to get in the way of that storyline. Somewhat ironically, the Capitol's media worked <em>for</em> Katniss by helping perpetuate the idea of that romance, which is what ended up keeping her alive.
Quote 5
Peeta keeps all of us in fresh baked goods. I hunt. He bakes. Haymitch drinks. We have our own ways to stay busy, to keep thoughts of our time as contestants in the Hunger Games at bay. (1.55)
There are many kinds of courage. It takes one kind to be a competitor in the arena and fight for your life. It takes another to be a mentor for the competitors, win sponsors for them, and try to keep them alive. And it takes yet another kind of courage to deal with the aftermath, to make peace with the memories and the experience and move on. In their "own ways," Katniss, Haymitch, and Peeta all have to keep the experience they went through at a distance, so that they can go on living.
Quote 6
There will be others waiting, too. A staff to cater to my every need on the long train trip. A prep team to beautify me for public appearances. My stylist and friend, Cinna, who designed the gorgeous outfits that first made the audience take notice of me in the Hunger Games. (1.2)
From the first page of <em>Catching Fire</em>, appearances are important for keeping characters alive and maintaining the manipulative system set up by the Capitol. In order to survive in that system, you have to look the part and pretend that everything is okay.
Quote 7
If it were up to me, I would try to forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak of them. Pretend they were nothing but a bad dream. But the Victory Tour makes that impossible. (1.3)
Usually winners enjoy the glory and recognition that comes with taking first place. Given the nature of this competition, though, which involves killing innocent teens in order to win, Katniss finds no joy or glory in what she has done – only relief that she made it through alive.
Quote 8
[Haymitch is] surly, violent, and drunk most of the time. But he did his job – more than his job – because for the first time in history, two tributes were allowed to win. So no matter who Haymitch is, I owe him, too. And that's for always. (1.24)
In the first <em>Hunger Games </em>book, few characters thought Haymitch would be a good mentor or that he would really be able to help Katniss and Peeta. Yet he turned out to be a great mentor by keeping them both alive – a hat trick that would have seemed impossible to anyone. Of course, Katniss and Peeta stayed alive because of their own smarts and manipulation too, but that doesn't mean they "owe" Haymitch any less.