The Hunger Games Discussion Questions #2

1. How does Katniss feel about the country of Panem? Why does she need to make her face "an indifferent mask" and be careful what she says in public? I think that Katniss is resentful of the country.  The people in the districts are pretty much indentured servants to the people in the Capital.  The people in the Districts have to subject 2 children from each district to The Hunger Games each year...Just to entertain the people in the Capital. Katniss is careful what she says in public because if she's caught commiting an act of "treason" she can be put to death at the worst and tortured is viewed as getting off easy.  
 2. Describe the relationships of Katniss with Gale, with Prim, with her mother. How do those relationships define her personality? Why does she say about Peeta, "I feel like I owe him something, and I hate owing people." How does her early encounter with Peeta affect their relationship after they are chosen as tributes? I think that she is dependant on Gale to keep her everyday life in balance. Her realtionship with her sister is more along the lines of her taking care of her and acting as sort of a mother figure for her.  Which I can see after her mother went into that deep dark depression after her father was killer.  I think her relationship with her mother is strained to say the least....when Katniss and Prim needed her most she was in a deep dark depression. I think that all of her realtionships and her life in general has forced Katniss to grow up way faster than she probably wanted too.  Being the primary provider for the family is a tough job.  Especially when you don't always know where your next meal is coming from. Katniss feels like she owes Peeta because he was abused when he helped her out in the past. He suffered pain so that Katniss and her family could eat.  I think in the beginning when Katniss and Peeta are chosen as tributes it affects there realtionship because now Katniss thinks she's come up with a way to pay Peeta back. 
 3. How does the fact that the tributes are always on camera affect their behavior from the time they are chosen? Does it make it easier or harder for them to accept their fate? How are the "career tributes" different from the others? I think that it affected their behavior in the way that they were being viewed as "play things" by the Captial. Personally, I think constantly being on camera made it harder for the tributes to come to gripes with their fate.  The "career tributes" are different in the way that they are being trained for The Games from pretty much day 1.  They usually have the upper hand when Game time rolls around too.
 4. Why are the "tributes" given stylists and dressed so elaborately for the opening ceremony? Does this ceremony remind you of events in our world, either past or present? Compare those ceremonies in real life to the one in the story.
I think that the tributes are given the stylists so that the Capital can make a mockery of the Districts.  Seriously, how many times can you dress someone up as a cow?  Though I did like what Cinna designed for Katniss and Peeta. I really don't even know how to answer the rest of this question. 5. When Peeta declares his love for Katniss in the interview, does he really mean it or did Haymitch create the "star-crossed lovers" story? What does Haymitch mean when he says, "It's all a big show. It's all how you're perceived." Why do they need to impress sponsors and what are those sponsors looking for when they are watching the Games?
I think that he meant it but Haymitch used the story to try to gain the upper hand. I think Haymitch used the story to get ahead in the games...if that's even possible.  I think what Haymitch means when he says what he says, is that to the people of the Captial, The Hunger Games are just that a Game.  One that if it isn't exciting the Gamekeepers make exciting so that the people of the Capital stay involved. The tributes need to impress the sponsors so that the sponsors will send the tribute(s) what he/she/they need once they are inside the Games. 6. Before the Games start, Peeta tells Katniss, " . . . I want to die as myself . . . I don't want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I'm not." What does this tell you about Peeta? What does he fear more than death? Is he able to stay true to himself during the Games? I think that when Peeta says this, he's letting Katniss and the reader know that he really is a decent person.  He doesn't want to be there but he is because of circumstances out of his control.  Peeta fears that the Games will turn him into some sort of monster and he would rather die than be that monster.  I think that Peeta does stay true to himself during the Games...or at least as true as someone can be in a situation like that.