Rebellion in Catching Fire
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark’s stunt to win the last Hunger Games has inspired the beginnings of an uprising against the Capitol. This has put Katniss and her family’s life at risk. She tries to fix what she has started, and finds out she cannot; she then uses her influence to cause a rebellion in the districts. The author uses the protective control of the government and the rebellion to show what happens when a government takes citizens’ freedom away. Suzanne Collins became a popular writer with her series The Underlander Chronicles.
Her fame has grown enormously from her newest series The Hunger Games. This series has made her quite famous. A movie has been made for the first book and one is also planned for the second book. Collins says her inspiration for writing is to entertain the youth (“Suzanne Collins”). In Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen is beginning a different type of life because she won the Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta Mellark faked a romance during the Hunger Games, and now they must continue this act so that the Capitol does not find out.
President Snow greets Katniss at home before she goes off to tour the other districts, and he tells her that she and Peeta must sell this fake romance to all the citizens so that a rebellion does not begin. After the tour, she finds out she has not been able to prevent the rebellion. In a change of rules Peeta and Katniss must return to the Games. Peeta and Katniss team up with other tributes in order to survive. Haymitch saves Katniss in a hovercraft, because the rebellion has begun (Collins). Ever since Katniss had to support her family, she would go into the woods with Gale to hunt for food.
They would go to the Hob and sell or trade their animals illegally. These activities were against the Capitol, but Katniss and Gale knew they had to support their families anyway they could. They used their time outside of the fences to talk about the Capitol and the injustices upheld against them. If the Capitol catches them they could be executed, but defying the rules for their families’ survival was more important. The author shows us that the reason for rebelling is to improve the lives of everyone (Collins). Before the uprising had ever begun, in the first Hunger Games which Katniss and Peeta participated in, they were the last ones left. Instead of killing each other they both grabbed poisonous berries and were about to eat them, until the Capitol stopped them and both were announced winners. All of the Districts saw this as an uprising against the Capitol. This gave the people of the districts the idea and courage to rebel (Collins). When the Capitol forces Katniss and Peeta to return to the games, they know it is to show that the Capitol is all-powerful.
At their interviews, Peeta tells the audience that he and Katniss have already been married and that Katniss is pregnant. This news, although not true, makes the audience furious. “The audience can’t absorb the news right away. It has to strike them and sink in and be confirmed by other voices before they begin to sound like a herd of wounded animals, moaning, shrieking, calling for help” the reaction of the crowd shows the intensity of the anger that the citizens have for the Capitol (Collins 145). Peeta has shown how unjust the Capitol is, and this alone might cause a rebellion among the districts.
When Peeta comes back, all the tributes link hands in unity of the districts. This signifies that the districts are against the capitol. This unity of hands is a rebellion in itself (Collins). Collins uses symbols to add to her theme of rebellion. Collins uses these symbols to show the wrongs committed by a totalitarian government. One of the greatest symbols of rebellion used in Catching Fire is the mockingjay. Katniss wore a mockingjay pin in her first games, and since she the symbol of the rebellion, the mockingjay has become a symbol for the supporters of the rebellion. The mockingjay symbol is a mockery of the Capitol.
The bird comes from a jabberjay, a failed experiment of the Capitol, and a mockingbird. This symbol was unintentionally given to Katniss, but is a perfect symbol for the rebellion because it plays upon the faults of the Capitol. The strongest portrayal of this symbol is when Katniss’s dress turns into a Mockingjay. Katniss did not realize how important this symbol was to the resistance against the Capitol (Collins). Another significant symbol seen is the three finger salute. Katniss used this in her first Hunger Games in respect of Rue, a young girl from District 11 who was killed.
On her tour of the districts, Katniss pays her respects to Rue in front of the townspeople of District 11. After her speech, “Every person in the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand against their lips and extends them to me” (Collins 39). This sign of respect towards Katniss is also seen as dissent against the Capitol because this symbolizes a gesture that only District 12 uses. The townspeople did this because they respect Katniss and do not agree with the wrongs that the Capitol imposes upon them such as the Hunger Games (Collins). Catching Fire should be included in a list of works with high literary merit because the theme of rebellion is one that that is easily related to. The districts rebel because the tyrannical President Snow and the Capitol rule the districts with an iron fist. The citizens live in very poor conditions and without few freedoms. Readers agree with this theme because everyone wants to be free. The theme of fighting for a good cause against a cruel government is one that people of all races and religions can agree with, and is why Catching Fire should be included in a list of works with high literary merit.
