Catching Fire, Chapter 24
May. 26th, 2011 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaLast time on Catching Fire, Katniss heard Prim screaming and ran toward the sound.
Katniss chases for a while, then hears the sound is coming from up in a tree.
It's coming from the mouth of a small, crested black bird perched on a branch about ten feet over my head.
Yup, our first on-screen jabberjay.
The muttation, the forerunner, the father. I pull up a mental image of a mockingbird, fuse it with the jabberjay, and yes, I can see how they mated to make my mockingjay.
Really? I can't.
Not black and doesn't have a massive crest.
Indeed, Katniss' descriptions of mockingjays earlier sounds exactly like that of mockingbirds. The distinctive wing flashes seem to still be present exactly as they were.
Now, going by the book...
If that's the resulting crossbreed, then the jabberjay must look even more freakish. So why are they crossbreeding, let alone crossbreeding to the point mockingjays have replaced mockingbirds? And why would the resulting messes have been selected for, when their coloring should have been all wrong?
What's particularly weird is the emphasis that the jabberjay was an all-male species. If both genders were around, it's possible jabberjays as a species could have persisted a while and slowly interbred, especially if they're got some sort of superior genes courtesy of having human designers. But if it's all from a single bunch of males...kind of weird. I mean, if it's just the talky genes that got in, fine, I can see that would persist by evolutionary selection even from a small founding population. Still a stretch, but it's possible. But a totally different phenotype? I mean, these birds aren't ducks, they pair up nicely, the jabberjays can't have just raped their way through the mockingbird population.
And it makes the capital look like utter idiots. Did they really think the rebels wouldn't think anything odd about a completely different looking bird species? How hard could it have been to make them look like actual mockingbirds?.
(Also, the more I think about it the more ick the metaphor gets. The point of the mockingjays is something out of the capital's control, but it's kind of depressing to get a female main character whose symbol is based on how an all-male species escaped their control. And it isn't simply me reading into it here, the book is really emphasizing that they're all guys. Katniss describes it as The muttation, the forerunner, the father. )
Katniss proceeds to kill a jabberjay.
I remove my arrow and wring its neck for good measure. Then I hurl the revolting thing into the jungle. No degree of hunger would ever tempt me to eat it.
This is the same person who sells wild dog, from the wild dog packs that regularly kill and eat people. Just saying.
Duke Devlin catches up with her, and right as Katniss starts explaining, another bird goes off, this time a scream he recognizes, so he runs off.
Katniss manages to shoot it for him, but seeing the bird doesn't calm him down.
Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?” he says.
Well.
Fuck.
Another one starts screaming, and Katniss tries to go to it because Gale's voice is so full of pain I can't help struggling to reach it. So women really are at clever animal reasoning levels and automatically react to things even when they know it's a fake. Duke Devlin has to drag her off and repeat the explanation that it's just a bird a few dozen times before it sinks into Katniss' female brain.
like the night in the fog, I flee what I can't fight. What can only do me harm. Only this time it's my heart and not my body that's disintegrating. This must be another weapon of the clock.
Such terrible, terrible writing.
They run into yet another flavor of invisible wall.
You can touch the hard, smooth surface all you like. But Peeta's knife and Johanna's ax can't make a dent in it. I know, without checking more than a few feet to one side, that it encloses the entire four-to-five-o'clock wedge. That we will be trapped like rats until the hour passes.
And this is terrible writing for a different reason.
Let's count what we have so far:
There's a force field that bounces you off harmlessly, so you can't suicide.
There's a force field that electrocutes you.
There's a fog force field that just stops fog.
And now there's a solid force field.
Why the fuck didn't they use this solid thing to block off the edges of the arena, instead of something the tributes would accidentally walk into and die from? Katniss doesn't even think the visible flaw of the deadly force field is known to capital, so that means the only way to know it's there as far as the capital knows is if you see someone else walk into it, and after that it's still easy for someone to run into by accident because it's, you know, INVISIBLE.
And even if we go with my theory, that the capital is willing to sacrifice drama for just killing everyone as fast as possible and getting this over with, then why not use the same death force field here? The only reason for this chain of events is that the author wants Peeta to almost die to the force field, but still has a use for Duke Devlin. Of course, if she had held off on that canary bullshit with Wiress, they could have had her run into the force field first instead.
Well. Not quite. See, Peeta's on the other side of the force field, having rushed over toward Katniss. So, he or Johanna would have run into it to, because, you recall, KATNISS DIDN'T TELL THEM HOW TO ACTUALLY NOTICE A FORCE FIELD BECAUSE SHE IS A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR.
But a death from that would have been nice, really, because it would have pointed out why what she did was such a terrible idea. And then maybe Katniss could feel guilt and stop being quite so sociopathic. Or the author could have not had her lie in the first place.
I give up and curl up beside Finnick, trying to block out the excruciating sounds of Prim, Gale, my mother, Madge, Rory, Vick, even Posy, helpless little Posy...
...how do you know exactly what their screams sound like? As I said, it's not like screams are too identifiable.
You know, now that I think about it there's such a wasted opportunity here. Remember, the jabberjays are supposed to be able to repeat conversations. So they could be actually saying stuff here. Prim could be begging Katniss to save her, that sort of thing.
But then again, even using the jabberjays is kind of dumb. I mean, the capital has cameras and microphones everywhere that are somehow invisible. Surely they can sneak in a speaker or two as well. Giving the voices a clear origin, and one that's shootable no less is making things too easy. With the speakers they could even keep the voice moving, so you keep chasing but you never quite reach it.
If the jabberjays need to show up so there can be more mockingjay commentary, they could be there repeating conversations. Birds occasionally popping up to say "Tick-tock," in Wiress' voice would be pretty disturbing. And they can repeat other tribute's words (and screams), which would address the general problem the books have of ignoring what's going on in the games beyond the group. It could even be part of the game. This is obviously a puzzle arena. Try to decipher someone else's panicked last words and see if you can figure out the danger quicker than they did!
And that'd be a much better reason for Katniss to kick herself over talking about how the arena's a clock if one shows up repeating that little fact, and a much better reason for Katniss to be lying all the time.
I know it's stopped when I feel Peeta's hands on me, feel myself lifted from the ground and out of the jungle. But I stay eyes squeezed shut, hands over my ears, muscles too rigid to release.
I also find this pretty melodramatic.
I feel kind of bad saying that. But - listening to screams should be awful, but this particular kind of awful I just don't buy for some reason. It kind of goes into the social thing. Hearing people scream is just fundamentally stressful to human beings. Instead, the focus here is all that it happens to be people Katniss knows, and her reaction of curling up in a ball is something that's a reaction to a personal danger, not an empathy response which is the reason listening should be so horrible.
Once Katniss uncurls enough for speech she tells Peeta that they must have tortured Prim.
“Katniss, Prim isn't dead. How could they kill Prim? We're almost down to the final eight of us. And what happens then?” Peeta says.
“Seven more of us die,” I say hopelessly.
Thank you Katniss, it's nice to see you're on the same page as me for once. Peeta is not, so he claims that's the wrong answer. The point is...
“They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?”
“No?” I ask, still unsure.
“No. That's how we know Prim's alive. She'll be the first one they interview, won't she?” he asks.
Peeta! Priorities here. Snow was willing to run these games despite the fact the capital was sobbing over it. I really don't think his big concern is interviews. Also! You can totally interview people and then torture them to death. Plus they already interviewed Prim! If they want new fodder they can interview all the people who knew her on their feelings about her tragic death (probably at the hands of the evil rebels) and how sad it is and how would Katniss react if she knew?
Beetee agrees that it's totally possible to fake a voice like that, which is more convincing on the basis that Snow is too busy to torture twelve year olds for the lulz. He just shoots them in the head.
“Of course Peeta's right. The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands,” says Johanna flatly.
Johanna. No. No. Johanna have you caught the stupid from the other characters ::::( Johanna what about childmurder games confuses you, the part about children, the part about murder or the part about how it's a game to them?
“Don't want that, do they?” She throws back her head and shouts, “Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!”
Oh! You were just saying that as a lead-in to referencing the uprisings in the hopes you could say it before the censors realized! Johanna, don't scare me like that!
My mouth drops open in shock. No one, ever, says anything like this in the Games.
Apparently, all two thousand kids before now have been a bunch of total wusses. YOU'RE PICKED FOR THE CHILDMURDER GAMES WHY ARE YOU SCARED TO TALK SHIT ABOUT THE CAPITAL THEY HAVE ALREADY DECIDED TO KILL YOU.
Of course the more reasonable explanation is they say it all the time and the capital just doesn't show it. But Katniss can't think about that because that'd contradict the idea that her playing the games and doing just what she's supposed to do is somehow the most defiant thing ever.
But I have heard her and can never think about her again in the same way. She'll never win any awards for kindness, but she certainly is gutsy.
It's nice of you to join the rest of the class, Katniss. I'm not really molified because for god's sake you were going on about how Peeta, who didn't even win, was so incredibly brave for being part of this, what gave you the idea Johanna wasn't?
I can't help catching her hand as she passes me. “Don't go in there. The birds—” I remember the birds must be gone, but I still don't want anyone in there. Not even her.
This...it's really Katniss' characterization issues in a nutshell. The book is trying to portray her as nice, but at the same time is hateful and judgmental and probably thinks "not even her" shows how incredibly nice Katniss is to care about someone who's been so nasty, when actually the fact Katniss even thinks to qualify a statement like that and look for praise for being nice to "even her" actually is pretty awful.
“They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love,” Johanna says, and frees her hand with an impatient shake.
Johanna: better than you at everything, even angst.
We then learn that Duke Devlin is totally heterosexual. He's in love with Annie, the girl we last saw having a breakdown over being picked for the games before Mags volunteered.
Annie's the one who went mad when her district partner got beheaded. Ran off by herself and hid
This is another little tidbit of life beyond Katniss' sphere. Annie teamed up with someone else and was horrified by his death. I can't help but think this probably reflects how the games go for most of the kids.
She survives because there's a flood and, being from 4, she was a good swimmer.
“Did she get better after?” I ask. “I mean, her mind?”
“I don't know. I don't remember ever seeing her at the Games again. But she didn't look too stable during the reaping this year,” says Peeta.
Well yes, you asshole, getting picked to go back there was probably slightly upsetting. It doesn't mean she's like that normally, it means she went through a traumatic experience and doesn't do well at the thought of going through that again.
So that's who Finnick loves, I think. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home.
Thanks Katniss, because this book hasn't been fucked up enough.
So let's unpack everything messed up here:
People who go crazy under stress are permanently broken.
People who react badly to being told they have to do that again must be constantly crazy.
Katniss is talking about yet another person as if she isn't one.
Finnick is in a relationship with someone who's incredibly vulnerable and, going by the book, is apparently completely nuts and probably can't consent to anything. Since we do not see this relationship for the book to portray as creepy, I will be blocking this entire line of inquiry from my mind and assume nothing fucked up is going on here despite the fact every other relationship we've seen so far is.
But the rest is horrible and hateful. She isn't a poor mad girl. She's a woman who went through something really terrible and probably has PTSD, but is likely perfectly sane otherwise and probably functions fine when she isn't being threatened with having to watch people die in front of her again.
As an aside? The book seems to have completely forgotten that 4 trains their kids. She should have been trained for this. I suppose one could argue that even the best training can't completely eliminate the chance someone will lose it, but the way Peeta talks makes it sound like anyone reacting like this is rare, and a trained kid should be far less likely than a normal one.
It continues our heterosexuality parade as well as the idea that all relationships are romantic. It's impossible he could care about her without being in love with her, just like every other relationship. Closest we got was Mags, who the book specifies kissing him on the mouth before dying.
And, of course, she marks yet another woman who's weak and insane. Both Annie and Wiress just couldn't take the stress, while no guys have had a breakdown yet.
There's a cannon and they see a body retrieved in bits from the next wedge over, and decide not to go near it.
Then it's night. Another eight deaths. So now there's only eight left. Them, the two from District 2, and Chaff, who for some reason hasn't met up with them.
That's...actually really bad. They badly outnumber the District 2 groups, and that's without taking into account that Katniss has a distance weapon and therefore outclasses any other tribute in a fight. Worse, we know that the trained group's first assault, when they were twice as large, only managed to kill Wiress by surprise and then got the two younger, healthier fighters killed in the following battle.
And that means the gamemakers should focus on doing something to upset their streak of good luck, because the District 2 pair aren't going to make any attempt until things change and people don't watch murder games to watch a bunch of people sit around eating fish.
Speaking of eating, Duke Devlin catches them more food.
A parachute comes down with a pile of bite-sized square-shaped rolls.
...they keep getting sent food they don't need.
Finnick counts them, turning each one over in his hands before he sets it in a neat configuration. I don't know what it is with Finnick and bread, but he seems obsessed with handling it.
So there's probably something going on. And yet Duke Devlin is stupidly drawing attention to it. Or maybe he's just trying to figure out Haymitch's weird signals because the guy is being a dick.
“Let's each have three, and whoever is still alive at breakfast can take a vote on the rest,” says Johanna.
<3
Katniss approves as well, and then Johanna gives her a look that isn't a death glare for it. Aw, they're black humor buddies!
I don't know how Johanna's still on her feet. She's only had about an hour of sleep since the Games started.
It is by virtue of awesome, Katniss, isn't it obvious?
But even the awesome need to sleep. Katniss and Peeta take first watch so they can have some meaningful private conversation, just them and the entire country watching on television.
The conversation, naturally, is an argument over who gets to die for who. Peeta says Haymitch made the same sort of agreement with him. He makes the argument that Katniss' family needs her, while his doesn't.
I...don't really see that. Katniss' family did need her before, although the book inexplicably then had Katniss run through everything and decide they could survive okay without her. But as long as one of them makes it out alive, they'd provide for the other's family, right?
I wait for him to mention the baby, to play to the cameras, but he doesn't. And that's how I know that none of this is part of the Games. That he is telling me the truth about what he feels.
I don't know why the book presents this as if it's a shock. He's obviously trying to convince her, why would be bring up something that wasn't true and would distract her from what he's saying?
“No one really needs me,” he says, and there's no self-pity in his voice. It's true his family doesn't need him. They will mourn him, as will a handful of friends. But they will get on.
And so will Katniss' family, honestly.
I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.
Women are so breakable, aren't they?
Why? Why would losing him destroy her for good? She lived without him for months after the games. She chose to save him out of what honestly seems more like some weird version of survivor's guilt than anything, a combination of being certain she owes him (and it can't be said too many times that she doesn't) and the bizarre idea he's just inherently a better person. Neither of those things are the same thing as loving someone.
before he can talk, I stop his lips with a kiss.
I feel that thing again. The thing I only felt once before. In the cave last year, when I was trying to get Haymitch to send us food. I kissed Peeta about a thousand times during those Games and after. But there was only one kiss that made me feel something stir deep inside. Only one that made me want more. But my head wound started bleeding and he made me lie down.
You know, it occurs to me that all of the romance issues can be summed up in one easy piece of advice:
IF YOU CAN'T WRITE ROMANCE DON'T WRITE IT
IT ISN'T ACTUALLY A REQUIREMENT
IF IT'S GOING TO BE AWFUL JUST DON'T INCLUDE IT
The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind.
I quote because if I had to read this so do you.
Also ugh somehow the attempts to keep it PG just make it ickier.
Thank god, a lightning bolt interrupts this.
Duke Devlin wakes up and offers to take over the watch. Peeta tells Katniss she'll be a great mom.
His reference to the baby signals that our time-out from the Games is over. That he knows the audience will be wondering why he hasn't used the most persuasive argument in his arsenal. That sponsors must be manipulated.
...they're not exactly lacking for money, so no, they really don't. The whole baby thing is just getting worse and worse.
There's no dramatic ending line this chapter, which is nice. Katniss thinks about how she is never ever ever having babies, then imagines a world where she could. This is probably dramatic irony because of course the capital will get overthrown, but it's just weird because Katniss knows people are trying to do that and has been trying to incite them to it, so the possibility of being able to have kids in a game-free world should be more of an option than she's treating it as.
She also thinks Peeta would be the good parents and not her for no discernible reason. Probably all that deep-down betterness.
My deep-down bitterness aside, the book really is a lot better during the games. There's all the same issues but there's stuff happening to distract from it.
Katniss chases for a while, then hears the sound is coming from up in a tree.
It's coming from the mouth of a small, crested black bird perched on a branch about ten feet over my head.
Yup, our first on-screen jabberjay.
The muttation, the forerunner, the father. I pull up a mental image of a mockingbird, fuse it with the jabberjay, and yes, I can see how they mated to make my mockingjay.
Really? I can't.
Not black and doesn't have a massive crest.
Indeed, Katniss' descriptions of mockingjays earlier sounds exactly like that of mockingbirds. The distinctive wing flashes seem to still be present exactly as they were.
Now, going by the book...
If that's the resulting crossbreed, then the jabberjay must look even more freakish. So why are they crossbreeding, let alone crossbreeding to the point mockingjays have replaced mockingbirds? And why would the resulting messes have been selected for, when their coloring should have been all wrong?
What's particularly weird is the emphasis that the jabberjay was an all-male species. If both genders were around, it's possible jabberjays as a species could have persisted a while and slowly interbred, especially if they're got some sort of superior genes courtesy of having human designers. But if it's all from a single bunch of males...kind of weird. I mean, if it's just the talky genes that got in, fine, I can see that would persist by evolutionary selection even from a small founding population. Still a stretch, but it's possible. But a totally different phenotype? I mean, these birds aren't ducks, they pair up nicely, the jabberjays can't have just raped their way through the mockingbird population.
And it makes the capital look like utter idiots. Did they really think the rebels wouldn't think anything odd about a completely different looking bird species? How hard could it have been to make them look like actual mockingbirds?.
(Also, the more I think about it the more ick the metaphor gets. The point of the mockingjays is something out of the capital's control, but it's kind of depressing to get a female main character whose symbol is based on how an all-male species escaped their control. And it isn't simply me reading into it here, the book is really emphasizing that they're all guys. Katniss describes it as The muttation, the forerunner, the father. )
Katniss proceeds to kill a jabberjay.
I remove my arrow and wring its neck for good measure. Then I hurl the revolting thing into the jungle. No degree of hunger would ever tempt me to eat it.
This is the same person who sells wild dog, from the wild dog packs that regularly kill and eat people. Just saying.
Duke Devlin catches up with her, and right as Katniss starts explaining, another bird goes off, this time a scream he recognizes, so he runs off.
Katniss manages to shoot it for him, but seeing the bird doesn't calm him down.
Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?” he says.
Well.
Fuck.
Another one starts screaming, and Katniss tries to go to it because Gale's voice is so full of pain I can't help struggling to reach it. So women really are at clever animal reasoning levels and automatically react to things even when they know it's a fake. Duke Devlin has to drag her off and repeat the explanation that it's just a bird a few dozen times before it sinks into Katniss' female brain.
like the night in the fog, I flee what I can't fight. What can only do me harm. Only this time it's my heart and not my body that's disintegrating. This must be another weapon of the clock.
Such terrible, terrible writing.
They run into yet another flavor of invisible wall.
You can touch the hard, smooth surface all you like. But Peeta's knife and Johanna's ax can't make a dent in it. I know, without checking more than a few feet to one side, that it encloses the entire four-to-five-o'clock wedge. That we will be trapped like rats until the hour passes.
And this is terrible writing for a different reason.
Let's count what we have so far:
There's a force field that bounces you off harmlessly, so you can't suicide.
There's a force field that electrocutes you.
There's a fog force field that just stops fog.
And now there's a solid force field.
Why the fuck didn't they use this solid thing to block off the edges of the arena, instead of something the tributes would accidentally walk into and die from? Katniss doesn't even think the visible flaw of the deadly force field is known to capital, so that means the only way to know it's there as far as the capital knows is if you see someone else walk into it, and after that it's still easy for someone to run into by accident because it's, you know, INVISIBLE.
And even if we go with my theory, that the capital is willing to sacrifice drama for just killing everyone as fast as possible and getting this over with, then why not use the same death force field here? The only reason for this chain of events is that the author wants Peeta to almost die to the force field, but still has a use for Duke Devlin. Of course, if she had held off on that canary bullshit with Wiress, they could have had her run into the force field first instead.
Well. Not quite. See, Peeta's on the other side of the force field, having rushed over toward Katniss. So, he or Johanna would have run into it to, because, you recall, KATNISS DIDN'T TELL THEM HOW TO ACTUALLY NOTICE A FORCE FIELD BECAUSE SHE IS A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR.
But a death from that would have been nice, really, because it would have pointed out why what she did was such a terrible idea. And then maybe Katniss could feel guilt and stop being quite so sociopathic. Or the author could have not had her lie in the first place.
I give up and curl up beside Finnick, trying to block out the excruciating sounds of Prim, Gale, my mother, Madge, Rory, Vick, even Posy, helpless little Posy...
...how do you know exactly what their screams sound like? As I said, it's not like screams are too identifiable.
You know, now that I think about it there's such a wasted opportunity here. Remember, the jabberjays are supposed to be able to repeat conversations. So they could be actually saying stuff here. Prim could be begging Katniss to save her, that sort of thing.
But then again, even using the jabberjays is kind of dumb. I mean, the capital has cameras and microphones everywhere that are somehow invisible. Surely they can sneak in a speaker or two as well. Giving the voices a clear origin, and one that's shootable no less is making things too easy. With the speakers they could even keep the voice moving, so you keep chasing but you never quite reach it.
If the jabberjays need to show up so there can be more mockingjay commentary, they could be there repeating conversations. Birds occasionally popping up to say "Tick-tock," in Wiress' voice would be pretty disturbing. And they can repeat other tribute's words (and screams), which would address the general problem the books have of ignoring what's going on in the games beyond the group. It could even be part of the game. This is obviously a puzzle arena. Try to decipher someone else's panicked last words and see if you can figure out the danger quicker than they did!
And that'd be a much better reason for Katniss to kick herself over talking about how the arena's a clock if one shows up repeating that little fact, and a much better reason for Katniss to be lying all the time.
I know it's stopped when I feel Peeta's hands on me, feel myself lifted from the ground and out of the jungle. But I stay eyes squeezed shut, hands over my ears, muscles too rigid to release.
I also find this pretty melodramatic.
I feel kind of bad saying that. But - listening to screams should be awful, but this particular kind of awful I just don't buy for some reason. It kind of goes into the social thing. Hearing people scream is just fundamentally stressful to human beings. Instead, the focus here is all that it happens to be people Katniss knows, and her reaction of curling up in a ball is something that's a reaction to a personal danger, not an empathy response which is the reason listening should be so horrible.
Once Katniss uncurls enough for speech she tells Peeta that they must have tortured Prim.
“Katniss, Prim isn't dead. How could they kill Prim? We're almost down to the final eight of us. And what happens then?” Peeta says.
“Seven more of us die,” I say hopelessly.
Thank you Katniss, it's nice to see you're on the same page as me for once. Peeta is not, so he claims that's the wrong answer. The point is...
“They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?”
“No?” I ask, still unsure.
“No. That's how we know Prim's alive. She'll be the first one they interview, won't she?” he asks.
Peeta! Priorities here. Snow was willing to run these games despite the fact the capital was sobbing over it. I really don't think his big concern is interviews. Also! You can totally interview people and then torture them to death. Plus they already interviewed Prim! If they want new fodder they can interview all the people who knew her on their feelings about her tragic death (probably at the hands of the evil rebels) and how sad it is and how would Katniss react if she knew?
Beetee agrees that it's totally possible to fake a voice like that, which is more convincing on the basis that Snow is too busy to torture twelve year olds for the lulz. He just shoots them in the head.
“Of course Peeta's right. The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands,” says Johanna flatly.
Johanna. No. No. Johanna have you caught the stupid from the other characters ::::( Johanna what about childmurder games confuses you, the part about children, the part about murder or the part about how it's a game to them?
“Don't want that, do they?” She throws back her head and shouts, “Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!”
Oh! You were just saying that as a lead-in to referencing the uprisings in the hopes you could say it before the censors realized! Johanna, don't scare me like that!
My mouth drops open in shock. No one, ever, says anything like this in the Games.
Apparently, all two thousand kids before now have been a bunch of total wusses. YOU'RE PICKED FOR THE CHILDMURDER GAMES WHY ARE YOU SCARED TO TALK SHIT ABOUT THE CAPITAL THEY HAVE ALREADY DECIDED TO KILL YOU.
Of course the more reasonable explanation is they say it all the time and the capital just doesn't show it. But Katniss can't think about that because that'd contradict the idea that her playing the games and doing just what she's supposed to do is somehow the most defiant thing ever.
But I have heard her and can never think about her again in the same way. She'll never win any awards for kindness, but she certainly is gutsy.
It's nice of you to join the rest of the class, Katniss. I'm not really molified because for god's sake you were going on about how Peeta, who didn't even win, was so incredibly brave for being part of this, what gave you the idea Johanna wasn't?
I can't help catching her hand as she passes me. “Don't go in there. The birds—” I remember the birds must be gone, but I still don't want anyone in there. Not even her.
This...it's really Katniss' characterization issues in a nutshell. The book is trying to portray her as nice, but at the same time is hateful and judgmental and probably thinks "not even her" shows how incredibly nice Katniss is to care about someone who's been so nasty, when actually the fact Katniss even thinks to qualify a statement like that and look for praise for being nice to "even her" actually is pretty awful.
“They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love,” Johanna says, and frees her hand with an impatient shake.
Johanna: better than you at everything, even angst.
We then learn that Duke Devlin is totally heterosexual. He's in love with Annie, the girl we last saw having a breakdown over being picked for the games before Mags volunteered.
Annie's the one who went mad when her district partner got beheaded. Ran off by herself and hid
This is another little tidbit of life beyond Katniss' sphere. Annie teamed up with someone else and was horrified by his death. I can't help but think this probably reflects how the games go for most of the kids.
She survives because there's a flood and, being from 4, she was a good swimmer.
“Did she get better after?” I ask. “I mean, her mind?”
“I don't know. I don't remember ever seeing her at the Games again. But she didn't look too stable during the reaping this year,” says Peeta.
Well yes, you asshole, getting picked to go back there was probably slightly upsetting. It doesn't mean she's like that normally, it means she went through a traumatic experience and doesn't do well at the thought of going through that again.
So that's who Finnick loves, I think. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home.
Thanks Katniss, because this book hasn't been fucked up enough.
So let's unpack everything messed up here:
People who go crazy under stress are permanently broken.
People who react badly to being told they have to do that again must be constantly crazy.
Katniss is talking about yet another person as if she isn't one.
Finnick is in a relationship with someone who's incredibly vulnerable and, going by the book, is apparently completely nuts and probably can't consent to anything. Since we do not see this relationship for the book to portray as creepy, I will be blocking this entire line of inquiry from my mind and assume nothing fucked up is going on here despite the fact every other relationship we've seen so far is.
But the rest is horrible and hateful. She isn't a poor mad girl. She's a woman who went through something really terrible and probably has PTSD, but is likely perfectly sane otherwise and probably functions fine when she isn't being threatened with having to watch people die in front of her again.
As an aside? The book seems to have completely forgotten that 4 trains their kids. She should have been trained for this. I suppose one could argue that even the best training can't completely eliminate the chance someone will lose it, but the way Peeta talks makes it sound like anyone reacting like this is rare, and a trained kid should be far less likely than a normal one.
It continues our heterosexuality parade as well as the idea that all relationships are romantic. It's impossible he could care about her without being in love with her, just like every other relationship. Closest we got was Mags, who the book specifies kissing him on the mouth before dying.
And, of course, she marks yet another woman who's weak and insane. Both Annie and Wiress just couldn't take the stress, while no guys have had a breakdown yet.
There's a cannon and they see a body retrieved in bits from the next wedge over, and decide not to go near it.
Then it's night. Another eight deaths. So now there's only eight left. Them, the two from District 2, and Chaff, who for some reason hasn't met up with them.
That's...actually really bad. They badly outnumber the District 2 groups, and that's without taking into account that Katniss has a distance weapon and therefore outclasses any other tribute in a fight. Worse, we know that the trained group's first assault, when they were twice as large, only managed to kill Wiress by surprise and then got the two younger, healthier fighters killed in the following battle.
And that means the gamemakers should focus on doing something to upset their streak of good luck, because the District 2 pair aren't going to make any attempt until things change and people don't watch murder games to watch a bunch of people sit around eating fish.
Speaking of eating, Duke Devlin catches them more food.
A parachute comes down with a pile of bite-sized square-shaped rolls.
...they keep getting sent food they don't need.
Finnick counts them, turning each one over in his hands before he sets it in a neat configuration. I don't know what it is with Finnick and bread, but he seems obsessed with handling it.
So there's probably something going on. And yet Duke Devlin is stupidly drawing attention to it. Or maybe he's just trying to figure out Haymitch's weird signals because the guy is being a dick.
“Let's each have three, and whoever is still alive at breakfast can take a vote on the rest,” says Johanna.
<3
Katniss approves as well, and then Johanna gives her a look that isn't a death glare for it. Aw, they're black humor buddies!
I don't know how Johanna's still on her feet. She's only had about an hour of sleep since the Games started.
It is by virtue of awesome, Katniss, isn't it obvious?
But even the awesome need to sleep. Katniss and Peeta take first watch so they can have some meaningful private conversation, just them and the entire country watching on television.
The conversation, naturally, is an argument over who gets to die for who. Peeta says Haymitch made the same sort of agreement with him. He makes the argument that Katniss' family needs her, while his doesn't.
I...don't really see that. Katniss' family did need her before, although the book inexplicably then had Katniss run through everything and decide they could survive okay without her. But as long as one of them makes it out alive, they'd provide for the other's family, right?
I wait for him to mention the baby, to play to the cameras, but he doesn't. And that's how I know that none of this is part of the Games. That he is telling me the truth about what he feels.
I don't know why the book presents this as if it's a shock. He's obviously trying to convince her, why would be bring up something that wasn't true and would distract her from what he's saying?
“No one really needs me,” he says, and there's no self-pity in his voice. It's true his family doesn't need him. They will mourn him, as will a handful of friends. But they will get on.
And so will Katniss' family, honestly.
I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.
Women are so breakable, aren't they?
Why? Why would losing him destroy her for good? She lived without him for months after the games. She chose to save him out of what honestly seems more like some weird version of survivor's guilt than anything, a combination of being certain she owes him (and it can't be said too many times that she doesn't) and the bizarre idea he's just inherently a better person. Neither of those things are the same thing as loving someone.
before he can talk, I stop his lips with a kiss.
I feel that thing again. The thing I only felt once before. In the cave last year, when I was trying to get Haymitch to send us food. I kissed Peeta about a thousand times during those Games and after. But there was only one kiss that made me feel something stir deep inside. Only one that made me want more. But my head wound started bleeding and he made me lie down.
You know, it occurs to me that all of the romance issues can be summed up in one easy piece of advice:
IF YOU CAN'T WRITE ROMANCE DON'T WRITE IT
IT ISN'T ACTUALLY A REQUIREMENT
IF IT'S GOING TO BE AWFUL JUST DON'T INCLUDE IT
The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind.
I quote because if I had to read this so do you.
Also ugh somehow the attempts to keep it PG just make it ickier.
Thank god, a lightning bolt interrupts this.
Duke Devlin wakes up and offers to take over the watch. Peeta tells Katniss she'll be a great mom.
His reference to the baby signals that our time-out from the Games is over. That he knows the audience will be wondering why he hasn't used the most persuasive argument in his arsenal. That sponsors must be manipulated.
...they're not exactly lacking for money, so no, they really don't. The whole baby thing is just getting worse and worse.
There's no dramatic ending line this chapter, which is nice. Katniss thinks about how she is never ever ever having babies, then imagines a world where she could. This is probably dramatic irony because of course the capital will get overthrown, but it's just weird because Katniss knows people are trying to do that and has been trying to incite them to it, so the possibility of being able to have kids in a game-free world should be more of an option than she's treating it as.
She also thinks Peeta would be the good parents and not her for no discernible reason. Probably all that deep-down betterness.
My deep-down bitterness aside, the book really is a lot better during the games. There's all the same issues but there's stuff happening to distract from it.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 04:20 am (UTC)(Not even going to comment on the rest of it because it is just getting brain-breakingly awful and why would I want to think about that when I could be thinking about JOHANNA?)
chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 05:25 am (UTC)Your point about the "My mouth drops open in shock. No one, ever, says anything like this in the Games" bit makes sense in one regard, I mean, what are they gonna do, kill you twice? But they could have a punishment system, y'know, you cuss in front of the cameras, we burn a village in your district, etc, etc.
Though I wonder why Katniss doesnt try a line to incite more protests and rebellions. I reckon a line like this would be great at sowing some dissent: "I don't want my child to grow up in a world where he/she could get sent to the Hunger Games" *dramatic look away from the camera*
P.S. In a reference to Finnick's vulnerable lover, here's a quote from the actual Duke Devlin "Wanna know the best thing about unconscious chicks? They can't say no. What? Oh yah, like I'm the only one thinking it."
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 07:51 am (UTC)I get that Katniss is all hurt and everything, but why blame the mockingjays by shooting them? They're not deliberately trying to make you angsty and annoying. That's like getting pissed at the cable guy for turning off your Tivo when you don't pay the bill.
And, I don't think screams are that distinguishable. I actually had my brother scream, and he just sounded like any other kid.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 10:09 am (UTC)At that point, for me, the story was no longer about Katniss. All about Johanna.
Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 02:17 pm (UTC)Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 03:40 pm (UTC)Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 03:46 pm (UTC)But they could have a punishment system, y'know, you cuss in front of the cameras, we burn a village in your district, etc, etc.
Could but don't. The idea of the capital punishing a district for a tribute's behavior gets brought up repeatedly as a possibility, but never in the context of anyone having heard of it actually happening. And in a lot of ways it makes sense - Katniss says they just won't air anything they don't like. Reprisals would suggest the capital could potentially be harmed by it, while just ignoring your last attempts at defiance because they control everything is far more demoralizing.
Also, what, there were no kids ever who hated their district? I'd assume there would be at least a couple kids who would want everyone else to suffer for what was happening to them, so if saying stuff could get people killed, you'd expect tributes to take advantage of it now and then.
Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 03:49 pm (UTC)The jabberjay thing is understandable - shooting makes the screams stop, and it is pretty awful to have to listen to that. The ranting about how they're disgusting and filthy is where it gets weird, because yeah, the bird's just being a bird.
Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 05:22 pm (UTC)"Kenny told Ian that Lily and Lenny stole Sam, Neil, Oli and William's sandwiches." = KILL SNOW. if only....
And I admit, while most folks might follow the utilitarian route of "I
ll place nice so you don't murder my family", there probably would be some folk would intentionally want to cause people harm (perhaps they were browbeated into joining the Games, etc). Dayum, that would have made a really good story to mention in the first book about the guy who swore on live tv and got his family crucified or something. Sigh, yet another missed moment of awesome...
Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 05:39 pm (UTC)Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 06:27 pm (UTC)What I'd expect from the kids is something similar to the jabberjay thing - anyone you don't like? "Accidentally" mention they hate the capital. I don't know how many kids would take their opportunity to murder anyone who wronged them, but there's been two thousand kids so far, someone would have done it by now if it's an option.
Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-27 06:29 pm (UTC)Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-28 02:29 am (UTC)And the jabberjay thing would have been so awesome. Hope you mention that when you do one of your "it would've been better if ____" posts. It'd be like accusing someone of being a witch in Salem, they could never prove they were innocent!
Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-05-28 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 12:40 am (UTC)i agree, collins doesn't seem able to write romance well. and i hated how this series addressed mental illness. yes, how annie is depicted is unreal. it is clear that most (maybe all) of the tributes suffer from some sort of ptsd after the games so making annie "crazy" is really cheap to me. but consistent with how poor people view mental illnesses. when you have to worry about eating or staying alive, your state of mind really takes a back seat.
and, for what it's worth, when all that bread kept arriving, i just thought it was how career districts look out for their tributes.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 12:55 am (UTC)Re: chap 24
Date: 2011-11-20 05:19 pm (UTC)This is much more satirical and grim than I think Collins could/would do, though.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-20 05:22 pm (UTC)The jabberjay/"father" has betrayed/tricked/wounded Katniss through "singing" as her sister has so much potential, what with the emphasis on her father's singing voice and her fears of a further broken family, plus foreshadowing that EVERYONE YOU LOVE WILL DIE. And demonizing a masculine entity? Scandal!! However, jabberjays as female is TOO MUCH AGENCY, because WOMEN'S (mockingbirds') strength is in PRODUCING SUPERIOR HYBRID (interracial?) BABIES, LIKE KATNISS THE MOCKINGJAY. It also still conveniently paints the feminine as surviving through accepted victimization metaphorically, but in real life everything is stupid why did two distinct species even produce viable offspring idgi. Unless jabberjays are genetically modified variant of mockingbirds, which is dumb, because they look weird, and also, why mockingbirds? I feel like crows have a bigger natural habitat, and have the benefit of potential as a psychological weapon, what with all the symbolism around death and horribleness.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-21 04:11 am (UTC)The real issue, of course, is if you're trying to be unnoticed, why modify anything so it looks like a new species instead of outwardly identical to an existing one.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 10:01 pm (UTC)PTSD doesn't mean consent issues but "poor mad girl" is a lot more questionable. What she does have sounds like PTSD, the book is talking about her like she's a helpless child and that's where it starts looking bad to be in a relationship with her.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-28 02:29 am (UTC)So do foxes! My mom once spent 20 minutes running around the woods behind our house yelling "Do you need help? where are you?!" before realizing it was a fox screaming.
Also: "The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind."
Thanks for that. I feel like I've just watched an after school special that featured softcore porn. I feel so dirty now.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-29 05:50 am (UTC)If I had to suffer through it, so do you!
no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 01:05 pm (UTC)As for their being all male, that makes no sense either. If you find jabberjays useful, you'll certainly want them to reproduce. It's much cheaper than sythesizing every bird in the lab.