Catching Fire, Chapter 20
May. 20th, 2011 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaLast time on catching Fire, Peeta died! ::::D
Duke Devlin goes for CPR.
In contrast to what I was saying last chapter, this is a good example of a detail leading somewhere good. He's from the fishing district. Of all the districts, they would be most likely to know CPR.
Naturally, Katniss tries to attack him because she figures he's attacking Peeta. Who is, you know, currently clinically dead, and also if Duke Devlin wanted to kill him he's got a nice stabby trident, he doesn't need to take the time to suffocate him.
Once in a blue moon, I've seen my mother try something similar, but not often. If your heart fails in District 12, it's unlikely your family could get you to my mother in time, anyway.
Fun fact: CPR is not something the doctor does. It's something bystanders are supposed to do to keep you alive until the professionals show up. (The professionals may have to continue CPR, admittedly, but the whole point of it is that all it requires to do are working arms.)
Even assuming people in District 12 didn't initially know this, you'd think her mom would have explained by now. The maximum time you have before brain death occurs is seven minutes, and brain damage starts up much sooner. When someone has a heart attack you need to start doing CPR right then, and then keep doing it until someone brings a defibrillator. If you have enough people, you can keep the victim alive for hours like this.
Which brings us to our next part! CPR does not restart the heart. What it does is keep oxygen circulating so you don't die. Occasionally, people's hearts just spontaneously restart if you keep them alive, but you really shouldn't expect that. Peeta honestly has better odds if they throw him into the force field again.
(While we're here, modern CPR says you shouldn't try to do the breathing part. But that at least doesn't seem like a flaw, because the exception is in cases of drowning, which is what Duke Devlin's experience should be with.)
Anyway long story short CPR is there to keep the person alive until you can shock them. It doesn't save them.
Yet inevitably, of course, that's how it works out here.
The thing is, it is possible. But the author didn't even try. If Peeta's heartbeat had been irregular, it'd be a lot more likely CPR would keep him breathing until it could stabilize. But it's obvious here the author had no real knowledge of CPR and wasn't making any effort to write something reasonable. It works because the author says that's how things happen. This is one step away from getting amnesia from a hit on the head.
(Incidentally, CPR is pretty damaging, with a tendency to crack ribs. Obviously, better your ribs turn to powder but your brain keeps working than die with all your bones intact, but Peeta should be at least moderately fucked up by the CPR.)
So. Millstone's back.
Anyway. What the hell? Why is there a forcefield there and why does it kill people? We're introduced to this as a way to prevent suicides, and we know the point of the games is obvious flashy stuff. What's the point of this thing?
“Must be a lot stronger than the one on the Training Center roof,” he says.
THIS DOES NOT ADDRESS THE ACTUAL PROBLEM, BOOK.
So Katniss starts crying because now she owes Duke Devlin and it'll suck to kill him. Because killing would have been okay otherwise.
Oh, and also Peeta has a mockingjay medallion too.
Peeta showing up in the arena wearing a mockingjay is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it should give a boost to the rebels in the district. On the other, it's hard to imagine President Snow will overlook it, and that makes the job of keeping Peeta alive harder.
He is a busy man. He has only so many fucks to give, Katniss. He has none left over for something this stupid.
Anyway, they ask how she knew there was a force field.
Katniss explains about the warp in the field so that everyone will have a better chance of haha yeah she lies her ass off.
I don't know if the Gamemakers made note of that moment during training when the two pointed it out to me or not. One way or the other, I have a very valuable piece of information. And if they know I have it, they might do something to alter the force field so I can't see the aberration anymore.
Yeah, because when people start talking about a flaw in the design, they usually mean it's totally fixable and not something inherent.
She says she can hear it instead in her fixed ear. Whatever, book.
So they walk with the force field for a while. Mags eats some nuts, Katniss chastizes her and Duke Devlin doesn't.
I go forward, wondering about Finnick, who saved old Mags but will let her eat strange nuts.
She's not a dumb animal. She's an adult who can make decisions of her own.
Who brought Peeta back from the dead. Why didn't he just let him die? He would have been blameless. I never would have guessed it was in his power to revive him. Why could he possibly have wanted to save Peeta?
Maybe because you're a psychopath barely held in check by the guy, while it'll be easy to finish Peeta off if he needs to later?
So, Katniss climbs a tree and sees that what's going on is the forcefield is making the other half of the circular arena. Gamemakers, I am disappoint. You can't even construct a whole island, you had to wall it off?
Also, there's no water. Still.
This is less than fascinating I must say.
I try rubbing my hand across my belly, hoping some sympathetic pregnant woman will become my sponsor
This subplot officially needs to die.
Anyway Katniss sees a possum.
I shoot one of the latter out of a tree to get a closer look.
It's ugly, all right, a big rodent with a fuzz of mottled gray fur and two wicked-looking gnawing teeth protruding over its lower lip. As I'm gutting and skinning it, I notice something else. Its muzzle is wet.
Oh! It was drinking out of the tree.
Like an animal that's been drinking from a stream. Excited, I start at its home tree and move slowly out in a spiral. It can't be far, the creature's water source.
Is is so much to ask to have a protagonist who is smart.
Anyway Peeta cooks the thing on the force field, because once again it doesn't occur to anyone that maybe water is more important than cooking.
Now it's time for the list of the dead.
The sky brightens when the seal of the Capitol appears as if floating in space. As I listen to the strains of the anthem I think, It will be harder for Finnick and Mags. But it turns out to be plenty hard for me as well. Seeing the faces of the eight dead victors projected into the sky.
Have I mentioned the writing is terrible? The writing is terrible.
The man from District 5, the one Finnick took out with his trident, is the first to appear. That means that all the tributes in 1 through 4 are alive — the four Careers, Beetee and Wiress, and, of course, Mags and Finnick. The man from District 5 is followed by the male morphling from 6, Cecelia and Woof from 8, both from 9, the woman from 10, and Seeder from 11.
This goes with my theory where everything goes conveniently. Of course Cecelia's dead, because she's not with the group and killing her would be bad since she's got three kids.
Finally, they're sent something.
It's a hollow metal tube, tapered slightly at one end. On the other end a small lip curves downward.
Okay. None of them have any idea what it is.
Since we're allies, Haymitch will be working with the District 4 mentors. He had a hand in choosing this gift. That means it's valuable. Lifesaving, even.
Because all other mentors enjoy sending shitty gifts that kill you.
She then thinks that there must be a way to figure it out. I don't know why he can't just send a note.
Suddenly, Katniss remembers.
Yes, I've seen one of these before. On a cold, windy day long ago, when I was out in the woods with my father. Inserted snugly into a hole drilled in the side of a maple.
Well, okay.
Maple syrup could make even our dull bread a treat.
Wait. No.
Maple syrup is not the stuff that comes out of the tree. That's just sap. It's almost all water. It requires a lot of time and effort to process. Katniss can't even smoke meat by the looks of things.
I mean, compared to sugar cane it's pretty good, but it requires a lot of buckets and a lot of boiling. You can't just tap a couple trees and then magically have maple syrup.
“It's a spile. Sort of like a faucet. You put it in a tree and sap comes out.” I look at the sinewy green trunks around me. “Well, the right sort of tree.”
Uh, no, sap is kind of a universal thing in plants. The maple syrup thing is about a particular type of sap that tastes nice boiled down.
Anyway, they stick the spile in and drink.
We fill the basket and pass it around, taking deep gulps and, later, luxuriously, splashing our faces clean.
Sap is not interchangeable with water. Why are you doing this. Just wash with salt water instead of smearing your face with sugarwater.
They go to sleep and then Katniss wakes up.
Bong! Bong! It's not exactly like the one they ring in the Justice Building on New Year's but close enough for me to recognize it. Peeta and Mags sleep through it, but Finnick has the same look of attentiveness I feel. The tolling stops.
“I counted twelve,” he says.
I nod. Twelve. What does that signify? One ring for each district? Maybe. But why? “Mean anything, do you think?”
“No idea,” he says.
Catching Fire: where a bunch of people stand around talking about how they don't know what's going on.
It rains a bit, but not on them. Then the rain stops and Katniss sees fog. Only it's weird fog.
A sickeningly sweet odor begins to invade my nostrils and I reach for the others, shouting for them to wake up.
In the few seconds it takes to rouse them, I begin to blister.
Well, that's legitimately threatening.
Duke Devlin goes for CPR.
In contrast to what I was saying last chapter, this is a good example of a detail leading somewhere good. He's from the fishing district. Of all the districts, they would be most likely to know CPR.
Naturally, Katniss tries to attack him because she figures he's attacking Peeta. Who is, you know, currently clinically dead, and also if Duke Devlin wanted to kill him he's got a nice stabby trident, he doesn't need to take the time to suffocate him.
Once in a blue moon, I've seen my mother try something similar, but not often. If your heart fails in District 12, it's unlikely your family could get you to my mother in time, anyway.
Fun fact: CPR is not something the doctor does. It's something bystanders are supposed to do to keep you alive until the professionals show up. (The professionals may have to continue CPR, admittedly, but the whole point of it is that all it requires to do are working arms.)
Even assuming people in District 12 didn't initially know this, you'd think her mom would have explained by now. The maximum time you have before brain death occurs is seven minutes, and brain damage starts up much sooner. When someone has a heart attack you need to start doing CPR right then, and then keep doing it until someone brings a defibrillator. If you have enough people, you can keep the victim alive for hours like this.
Which brings us to our next part! CPR does not restart the heart. What it does is keep oxygen circulating so you don't die. Occasionally, people's hearts just spontaneously restart if you keep them alive, but you really shouldn't expect that. Peeta honestly has better odds if they throw him into the force field again.
(While we're here, modern CPR says you shouldn't try to do the breathing part. But that at least doesn't seem like a flaw, because the exception is in cases of drowning, which is what Duke Devlin's experience should be with.)
Anyway long story short CPR is there to keep the person alive until you can shock them. It doesn't save them.
Yet inevitably, of course, that's how it works out here.
The thing is, it is possible. But the author didn't even try. If Peeta's heartbeat had been irregular, it'd be a lot more likely CPR would keep him breathing until it could stabilize. But it's obvious here the author had no real knowledge of CPR and wasn't making any effort to write something reasonable. It works because the author says that's how things happen. This is one step away from getting amnesia from a hit on the head.
(Incidentally, CPR is pretty damaging, with a tendency to crack ribs. Obviously, better your ribs turn to powder but your brain keeps working than die with all your bones intact, but Peeta should be at least moderately fucked up by the CPR.)
So. Millstone's back.
Anyway. What the hell? Why is there a forcefield there and why does it kill people? We're introduced to this as a way to prevent suicides, and we know the point of the games is obvious flashy stuff. What's the point of this thing?
“Must be a lot stronger than the one on the Training Center roof,” he says.
THIS DOES NOT ADDRESS THE ACTUAL PROBLEM, BOOK.
So Katniss starts crying because now she owes Duke Devlin and it'll suck to kill him. Because killing would have been okay otherwise.
Oh, and also Peeta has a mockingjay medallion too.
Peeta showing up in the arena wearing a mockingjay is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it should give a boost to the rebels in the district. On the other, it's hard to imagine President Snow will overlook it, and that makes the job of keeping Peeta alive harder.
He is a busy man. He has only so many fucks to give, Katniss. He has none left over for something this stupid.
Anyway, they ask how she knew there was a force field.
Katniss explains about the warp in the field so that everyone will have a better chance of haha yeah she lies her ass off.
I don't know if the Gamemakers made note of that moment during training when the two pointed it out to me or not. One way or the other, I have a very valuable piece of information. And if they know I have it, they might do something to alter the force field so I can't see the aberration anymore.
Yeah, because when people start talking about a flaw in the design, they usually mean it's totally fixable and not something inherent.
She says she can hear it instead in her fixed ear. Whatever, book.
So they walk with the force field for a while. Mags eats some nuts, Katniss chastizes her and Duke Devlin doesn't.
I go forward, wondering about Finnick, who saved old Mags but will let her eat strange nuts.
She's not a dumb animal. She's an adult who can make decisions of her own.
Who brought Peeta back from the dead. Why didn't he just let him die? He would have been blameless. I never would have guessed it was in his power to revive him. Why could he possibly have wanted to save Peeta?
Maybe because you're a psychopath barely held in check by the guy, while it'll be easy to finish Peeta off if he needs to later?
So, Katniss climbs a tree and sees that what's going on is the forcefield is making the other half of the circular arena. Gamemakers, I am disappoint. You can't even construct a whole island, you had to wall it off?
Also, there's no water. Still.
This is less than fascinating I must say.
I try rubbing my hand across my belly, hoping some sympathetic pregnant woman will become my sponsor
This subplot officially needs to die.
Anyway Katniss sees a possum.
I shoot one of the latter out of a tree to get a closer look.
It's ugly, all right, a big rodent with a fuzz of mottled gray fur and two wicked-looking gnawing teeth protruding over its lower lip. As I'm gutting and skinning it, I notice something else. Its muzzle is wet.
Oh! It was drinking out of the tree.
Like an animal that's been drinking from a stream. Excited, I start at its home tree and move slowly out in a spiral. It can't be far, the creature's water source.
Is is so much to ask to have a protagonist who is smart.
Anyway Peeta cooks the thing on the force field, because once again it doesn't occur to anyone that maybe water is more important than cooking.
Now it's time for the list of the dead.
The sky brightens when the seal of the Capitol appears as if floating in space. As I listen to the strains of the anthem I think, It will be harder for Finnick and Mags. But it turns out to be plenty hard for me as well. Seeing the faces of the eight dead victors projected into the sky.
Have I mentioned the writing is terrible? The writing is terrible.
The man from District 5, the one Finnick took out with his trident, is the first to appear. That means that all the tributes in 1 through 4 are alive — the four Careers, Beetee and Wiress, and, of course, Mags and Finnick. The man from District 5 is followed by the male morphling from 6, Cecelia and Woof from 8, both from 9, the woman from 10, and Seeder from 11.
This goes with my theory where everything goes conveniently. Of course Cecelia's dead, because she's not with the group and killing her would be bad since she's got three kids.
Finally, they're sent something.
It's a hollow metal tube, tapered slightly at one end. On the other end a small lip curves downward.
Okay. None of them have any idea what it is.
Since we're allies, Haymitch will be working with the District 4 mentors. He had a hand in choosing this gift. That means it's valuable. Lifesaving, even.
Because all other mentors enjoy sending shitty gifts that kill you.
She then thinks that there must be a way to figure it out. I don't know why he can't just send a note.
Suddenly, Katniss remembers.
Yes, I've seen one of these before. On a cold, windy day long ago, when I was out in the woods with my father. Inserted snugly into a hole drilled in the side of a maple.
Well, okay.
Maple syrup could make even our dull bread a treat.
Wait. No.
Maple syrup is not the stuff that comes out of the tree. That's just sap. It's almost all water. It requires a lot of time and effort to process. Katniss can't even smoke meat by the looks of things.
I mean, compared to sugar cane it's pretty good, but it requires a lot of buckets and a lot of boiling. You can't just tap a couple trees and then magically have maple syrup.
“It's a spile. Sort of like a faucet. You put it in a tree and sap comes out.” I look at the sinewy green trunks around me. “Well, the right sort of tree.”
Uh, no, sap is kind of a universal thing in plants. The maple syrup thing is about a particular type of sap that tastes nice boiled down.
Anyway, they stick the spile in and drink.
We fill the basket and pass it around, taking deep gulps and, later, luxuriously, splashing our faces clean.
Sap is not interchangeable with water. Why are you doing this. Just wash with salt water instead of smearing your face with sugarwater.
They go to sleep and then Katniss wakes up.
Bong! Bong! It's not exactly like the one they ring in the Justice Building on New Year's but close enough for me to recognize it. Peeta and Mags sleep through it, but Finnick has the same look of attentiveness I feel. The tolling stops.
“I counted twelve,” he says.
I nod. Twelve. What does that signify? One ring for each district? Maybe. But why? “Mean anything, do you think?”
“No idea,” he says.
Catching Fire: where a bunch of people stand around talking about how they don't know what's going on.
It rains a bit, but not on them. Then the rain stops and Katniss sees fog. Only it's weird fog.
A sickeningly sweet odor begins to invade my nostrils and I reach for the others, shouting for them to wake up.
In the few seconds it takes to rouse them, I begin to blister.
Well, that's legitimately threatening.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 01:34 pm (UTC)If nothing else, how can you look at the stuff coming out of a bottle and think that was rushing around inside a tree near freezing temperatures?
no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 08:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 06:57 am (UTC)Actually the defibrillator wouldn't start up Peeta's heart if it stopped either. Since he's not hooked up to a machine or anything, it's possible that he's just arrhythmic/has a weak heartbeat, but even in that case they should give him atropine (ironically you can get it from nightshade) and adrenaline + chest compressions to restart his heart.
Defibrillators are only for ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation (kinds of rapid arrhythmia), and they actually stop the heart. You're supposed to keep doing CPR while this is going on to keep the person alive in hopes of their heart restarting itself with a regular rhythm. Trident Bishie actually had the right sort of idea. If Katniss couldn't feel his heartbeat at all when she checked, it's unlikely he has VT or VF and throwing him in the fence would just make things worse. Or it would have cooked dinner! Waste not want not!
:D
no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 03:09 pm (UTC)chap 19
Date: 2011-05-21 12:47 pm (UTC)Also, the "Maybe because you're a psychopath barely held in check by the guy, while it'll be easy to finish Peeta off if he needs to later?" Interpretation is a really good point. One has to wonder if a way to salvage the series would be to have the rebellion succeed and then Katniss promptly murder all the other rebel leaders and declare herself Queen or Overlord or something. That would actually be a pretty cool story! Told from the first person perspective it could even detail her realization at the fact she is a crazy sociopath XD
With the last line, I legitimately cannot tell if it is sarcastic or not. Such is farla's satirical writing style XD
Re: chap 19
Date: 2011-05-21 03:11 pm (UTC)It would be interesting to see Katniss' shoot-first-feel-mild-guilt-later-then-forget-about-it policy occasionally backfire. Right now, any time she'd shoot the wrong person something happens to prevent it. One of the book's many ways of insulating her from actually doing something wrong.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 06:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 06:00 pm (UTC)If Katniss blisters and gets ugly, will this kill her ability to be a main character? Can we then have Effie or Johanna substitute?
also I want a twist where Katniss turns out to actually be pregnant and virgin births the shit out of the anti-christ. I can dream.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-22 02:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-22 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-23 12:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-23 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 07:54 pm (UTC)...not meaning to sound rude but i have no idea where you learnt this because no, sweet god, no. we're taught you don't have to do breathes if you wouldn't be comfortable doing it, because pressing on the chest will force air out of the lungs and the vaccuum will suck air back in, but breathing for someone whilst performing cpr is still preferable. (i teach first aid, if you were wondering on a source for this info.)
also, if peeta was lacking a heartbeat entirely, even a defibrilator wouldn't have done anything, because it actually stops a heart in ventricular fibrilation and allows the heart to return to its natural rhythm.
and now i'll stop going on about my one and only knowledgable subject and carry on reading.no subject
Date: 2011-07-17 01:29 am (UTC)And yeah, if he's lacking a rhythm chucking him into the force field again won't do much, but as I say above, if he's lacking a rhythm it's not like the force field can do any harm since nothing else they can do will get it going either.