Main characters

The Hunger Games

 Katniss Everdeen — The narrator, main protagonist,
and District 12's female tribute, a strong-willed teenager trying
to survive in the Hunger Games. She lives with her little sister
Primrose (nicknamed Prim) and her mother. After her father
dies in a mine explosion, she hunts to provide for her family.
She promises her sister she will try to win the games, and she
is able to keep her promise by later winning the 74th Hunger
Games alongside Peeta Mellark.

 Peeta Mellark — The male tribute for District 12, and the
local baker is District 12's son. He is loyal and brave, and will
do whatever it takes for Katniss to survive, because he has
been in love with her since they were five years old. Katniss,
however, has to act like she's in love with him in order to get
sponsors which keeps both of them alive in the Games. Peeta
is described as being medium height, strongly built and has
ashy blonde hair.

 Cinna — Katniss' stylist. A sly and witty man, Cinna is clever

with his fingers and even smarter in his mind. His incredible
designs for Katniss help her gain popularity with the audience.
He is the most "normal" person Katniss meets from the
Capitol.

 Rue — The tribute from District 11. Small and meek. It was

not assumed that she would last long in the 74th Hunger
Games, but her knowledge of trees, plants, climbing and
hiding keeps her alive. She can leap from tree to tree almost
as if she had wings. She warns Katniss about the tracker
jacker hive, and they later become allies. She is murdered by
 the boy tribute from District 1, Marvel. Rue had dark eyes and
dark skin.

 Cato — District 2 male tribute and the leader of the Career

pack. He trained for the Games his entire life, and was
described as a "ruthless killing machine". He was extremely
strong and the tribute most likely to be crowned the victor.
Cato killed the District 4 male and the District 6 male, along
with many other unnamed tributes. He, Katniss, and Peeta
were the last three tributes to face the wolf-muttations who
later killed Cato.

 Foxface — Foxface was described as having fox-like

features, and because of that, Katniss nicknamed her
"Foxface". This red-head from District 5 is hard to catch.
Though she doesn't have brute strength or knowledge of
weapons, she could outsmart everyone in the arena. She
made it to the final 4, then died by eating nightlock that was
left out by Peeta.

 Clove — The female tribute from District 2. She was very

skilled with throwing knives, as she was the one who killed
the District 9 male. She attempted to kill Katniss with one of
her knives, but Katniss used her new backpack as a shield, so
that the knife hit the backpack instead. Clove placed 6th in the
Games, she went to the feast having Cato guarding her. She
was killed during the feast by Thresh after she tried to kill
Katniss. She was the only tribute during the 74th Games that
got close to killing Katniss, twice.

 Thresh — Male tribute from District 11. With the same brown
skin and golden brown eyes as Rue, he was extremely
resourceful and immensely powerful. His most notable act
 was that of sparing Katniss' life due to her alliance with Rue.
He died shortly after, killed by Cato.

 Glimmer — The female tribute from District 1 who was

described as beautiful, sexy, and tall, with blonde hair and
emerald green eyes. She was part of the Career pack and
was killed when a hive of angry tracker jackers was dropped
on the camp by Katniss. The District 4 female was also killed
because of the tracker jackers.

 Marvel — The male tribute from District 1, who was a strong

and ruthless Career. He killed Rue, the female tribute from
District 11, by throwing a spear through her stomach. He was
then killed by Katniss, shot in the throat by an arrow and
drowned in his own blood. He was Katniss' first direct kill (but
not her very first as she earlier killed Glimmer and a girl from
District 4 with tracker jackers).

 The District 4 female — The female tribute from District 4.

She was part of the Career pack and was killed when a hive
of angry tracker jackers was dropped on the camp by Katniss.
Glimmer was also killed because of the tracker jackers.

 The District 3 male — The male tribute from District 3. had

joined the Career pack and booby-trapped the area right
around the Cornucopia with land mines he had dug up and
then re-armed. After Katniss set off the mines, Cato killed him
by snapping his neck in a fit of rage.

 Effie Trinket — The District 12 escort, who is a happy and

bubbly person. She drew Primrose's (Katniss' sister) name
during the reaping causing Katniss to volunteer as tribute.
 She wears many different colored wigs and helps Katniss and
Peeta get sponsors in the Games. She constantly bickers and
argues with Haymitch. Very proper, she hates it when people
do not have proper etiquette.

 Haymitch Abernathy — Haymitch is Katniss' and Peeta's

mentor. He is drunk at almost any given time, with a glass in
one hand and a knife in the other. He drinks to forget the
memories of the 50th Hunger Games, which he was crowned
victor of. He won during the second Quarter Quell, when
double the tributes were required to participate in this deadly
game. He promised he would sober up long enough for
Katniss and Peeta to play the Games and help them. He
sends Katniss gifts throughout the games to help her survive,
and sometimes Katniss believes that his gifts always seem to
have good timing and there might be some kind of connection
between them.

 Gale Hawthorne — The best friend of Katniss. She and Gale

met when she was only twelve and he was fourteen. Both of
their fathers died in the same mining explosion. Gale hunts
with Katniss in the forest usually everyday, but in Catching
Fire he only hunts with her on Sundays (before the 24-hour
electric fence is put up) because he started work in the mines.
Gale calls Katniss "Catnip," a nickname that was created after
the pair first met. Katniss barely whispered her name when he
asked her what she was called and Gale thought she said
Catnip. Even though Katniss told him her real name later, he
still calls her that.

 Primrose Everdeen — The younger sister and only sibling of

Katniss Everdeen. She was originally chosen as the female
 tribute for the 74th Hunger Games, but Katniss volunteered to
take her place. She owns a goat named Lady, and a cat
named Buttercup. Unlike her older sister, Prim has a heart full
of compassion and she is a talented healer. She was named
after the Evening Primrose, as mentioned in Mockingjay.

Madge Undersee — She gave Katniss the Mockingjay pin so

she could wear it as her district token (although in the movie,
Katniss receives the pin from Greasy Sae). She was Katniss'
friend and the mayor's daughter. In Mockingjay, Madge and
her family died from the fire bombing that destroyed District
12.

Literary Techniques

The Hunger Games Irony

Peacekeepers of District 12 (Situational Irony)
The Peacekeepers are the police force of the Capitol, one of the pillars of
its strength and authority amongst the districts. They are tasked with
enforcing the Capitol’s laws and distributing justice when necessary.
Ironically, District 12’s Peacekeepers not only turn a blind eye to
trespasses against the law, but they are also complicit with and are
sometimes active participants in the petty crimes committed in District
12. For example, most of 12’s Peacekeepers will ignore hunters like
Katniss and Gale (who, under the ordinances of the Capitol, are guilty of
trespassing in the woods and poaching) because they also want fresh
meat. This is just one example of how the Capitol’s law enforcement
personnel are ironically undermining the very government they are
supposed to be bolstering.
Katniss and Peeta (Dramatic Irony)

Katniss and Peeta are a key example of irony in The Hunger

Games. They always think the opposite of what is actually true about
one another. For example, Katniss is shocked when she discovers that
Peeta knows about her prowess with a bow and arrow. She assumed that,
aside from the bread incident, she was never more than a blip on Peeta’s
radar.
The same can be said about Peeta with regards to Katniss. During his
interview with Caesar Flickerman, Peeta laments that Katniss didn’t
even know he was alive until the reaping. This is a huge misconception.
Ever since the bread incident, Katniss has subconsciously kept tabs on
“the boy with the bread," noticing his physical strength and interest in
wrestling. It is ironic that both Katniss and Peeta were so wrong in their
conjectures of how the other felt, when they are both generally
discerning in their judgments of people.

The Careers (Situational Irony)

Trained from birth to compete in and win the Hunger Games, the
Careers are an important source of irony in the novel. Year after year,
they are the favorites to win the games for several reasons. They train in
martial arts and with weapons; they never go hungry and thus are not
malnourished like the tributes from other districts; they have more free
time to increase their strength and agility; and the list goes on. Thus, it is
incredibly ironic that in the 75th Hunger Games, the qualities that would
typically give the Careers an advantage over the other tributes are the
very qualities that lead to their loss. For example, because they have
never had to hunt or forage for themselves like Katniss and Rue have,
the Careers are ill equipped to nourish themselves in the arena.
Furthermore, because they have never been malnourished and are able to
take good care of their bodies, the Careers are on average taller, bigger,
and heavier than the other tributes. While this sometimes is a benefit in
combat situations, it is a detriment in other scenarios. For example,
Katniss was able to significantly reduce the Career pack when she
climbed a tree and dumped a tracker jacker hive on them. Her smaller,
lighter size made it possible for her to climb the tree, while Glimmer’s
heavier, bigger frame prevented her from following Katniss up the tree.
Ironically, though the Careers make the Hunger Games the focus of their
lives, by training so dedicatedly for it they may be doing themselves
more harm than good.

“May the odds be ever in your favor” (Verbal Irony)

“May the odds be ever in your favor” is the slogan of the Hunger Games
and is typically directed towards potential or actual tributes. Throughout
the novel various characters recite it both seriously and sarcastically.
The phrase is an example of verbal irony, as the odds are actually in no
one’s favor. It doesn’t matter if someone lives in the rich districts of 1
and 2 or the poverty-stricken ones of 11 and 12. They all must offer up
child tributes to be killed. Tributes only have a 1-in-24 chance of
survival, and even when someone manages to win, they return to a life
trapped under the Capitol’s yoke.

Allusions
The entire Hunger Games tournament is an allusion to the Greek myth
of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Personification
The arena of the Games is treated as a living entity that interacts with the
tributes. Aside from the other tributes, it is the biggest threat and
sometimes the toughest opponent, as no one but the Gamemakers knows
what it will do next.
The Hunger Games Symbols,

Katniss’s Bow and Arrow (Symbol)

Katniss’s prowess with her bow and arrow is one of her defining
characteristics. Early on in the novel, we learn that her deceased father
first taught her archery when he was not working in the mines. Thus,
from the beginning Katniss’s bow and arrow is a symbol of her
relationship with her dad. When her father is killed in a mining accident
and Katniss must assume the role of family breadwinner, her archery
tools symbolize her independence, her ability to provide a livelihood for
her family, and the heavy responsibilities she bears. By the end of the
novel, when Katniss’s ability with a bow and arrow prove to be highly
useful in the games, they are symbolic of her fighting spirit and success
as a competitor.

Mockingjay (Allegory)
The mockingjay is a bird species formed by the mating of male jabber
jays and female mockingbirds. Katniss recounts the story of the jabber
jay and the creation of the mockingjay in Chapter 3 of the novel. The
jabber jay is a genetically altered bird that the Capitol designed during
the rebellion to spy on the rebels. The bird could listen to important
rebel conversations, memorize them, and repeat them back to Capitol
officials. After a while, rebels realized the jabber jays were spreading
their secrets and began to use them to their own advantage by leaking
false information to the Capitol. The jabber jays became useless to the
Capitol and were released into the wild to die. Unbeknownst to the
Capitol, the jabber jays were able to procreate with mockingbirds and
pass along some of their DNA. The result was a completely new species
called the mockingjay, which has some qualities of the Capitol creation.
It cannot repeat human speech, but can mimic other human sounds, like
laughter and melodies.
The Capitol did not predict or plan for ability of the jabber jay to mate
with the mockingbird and create the mockingjay. This is somewhat
shocking in the world of the Hunger Games, because the Capitol appears
to be a omniscient force that controls all things. The story of the
mockingjay is an allegory for the idea that the Capitol may not be as all-
knowing or all-powerful as it believes: it should not underestimate the
strength and will of the entities within the prism of its control.

Nightlock (Symbol)
About halfway through the Games when there are less than 10
tributes left, Claudius Templesmith, one of the hosts of the
Games, announces that the Gamemakers have made a new rule. If
the two tributes from the same District are the final 2 tributes
alive, they can both be crowned victor. This new rule turns out to
be a farce on the part of the Gamemakers, who wanted to stage a
final epic showdown between “the star-crossed lovers of District
12.” Once Katniss and Peeta have defeated all the other tributes,
Claudius announces that the new rule has been revoked and that
there can only be one winner. Rather than be a pawn in the
Capitol’s game Katniss decides to win on her own terms.
Remembering the nightlock she kept handy, she gives some to
Peeta and reasons that the Capitol would rather have 2 winners
than none at all. She is proven correct when both she and Peeta
are declared the winners of the 74th Hunger Games.

In this way the nightlock berries are symbolic of rebellion and

revolution, of fighting back against the Capitol. They illustrate that
it is possible to outsmart the Gamemakers and the Capitol as a
whole at their own game. This moment is the turning point not
only for Katniss and Peeta, but also for Panem as a whole.
     Flashback: Interruptionof the chronological order to show something
that occurred before the beginning of the story. It usually gives
background information the reader or audience needs to understand the
present action.

 Katniss has many flashbacks throughout The Hunger Games. One

example of a flashback that Katniss has in the novel is when
Peeta’s name is chosen at the reaping. Katniss is bothered by the
fact that Peeta’s name was chosen. The author uses Katniss’s
flashback to give the reader background information needed to
understand Katniss and Peeta’s connection to each other. “Our
only real interaction happened years ago. He’s probably forgotten
it. But I haven’t and I know I never will…It was during the worst
time. My father had been killed in the mine accident three months
earlier…” (Collins 26).

The Hunger Games Metaphors and Similes

Simile: comparison or two things using the words “like” or “as”.

Similes are used many times throughout The Hunger Games. For
example: “Prim’s face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose
for which she was named” (Collins 3). The similes in this sentence are
comparing Prim to a raindrop and a primrose, which explains that Prim
is beautiful.  

Primrose (Metaphor)
From the first page of the novel we learn about Katniss’s love for her
little sister. Rather than tell us explicitly, Katniss relates her feelings by
using a metaphor to describe her sister. She compares Primrose to the
actual primrose flower and says that her sister is as fresh and lovely as
the flower. In this simple yet loving comparison, we get a small sense of
the tight bond between Katniss and her sister.
The Career Pack (Simile)
Composed primarily of tributes from Districts 1 and 2, the Career Pack
is so named because their members have made the Hunger Games into a
career of sorts. In their districts they have trained since birth for the
Games, while the tributes of the other Districts struggled to acquire basic
human necessities like food and shelter. In the Games, the Careers
demonstrate a pack-like, hive-mind behavior, moving as one to eliminate
the other tributes. When they corner Katniss after the forest fire, she
thinks, “they are a closing in, just like a pack of wild dogs” (Collins
318). Given the way the Careers operate, this simile is an apt one.

The End of the Games (Simile)

After Katniss and Peeta win the Games and are swooped up by the
Gamemaker’s helicopter, the Capitol’s doctors immediately begin to
work on Peeta because he is in dire need of medical attention. Katniss
has to be forced to surrender Peeta’s unconscious body, because in her
mind the doctors are another threat trying to kill him. Despite winning,
she has not yet mentally left the Games. In the end she is physically
separated from Peeta by a glass wall and can only look on as he
struggles for his life. Katniss says that this moment of not knowing
whether Peeta will make it through is “like being home again, when they
bring in the hopelessly mangled person from the mine” (Collins 605).
She is talking about when members of District 12 come to her mother
for medical attention. Before, Katniss could never understand why the
family members of the sick person stayed and watched their dying loved
one. Now, with Peeta in the same situation, she understands that it is the
power of love that compels them to do this.


Metaphor: comparison of two things essentially different but with some
commonalities; does not use “like” or “as”.
Metaphors are another use of figurative language used frequently
throughout the novel. One of the most popular ones is “Katniss, the girl
who was on fire” (Collins 67). This relates Katniss to fire; she was not
literally on fire.
 
Venia, Octavia, and Flavius (Metaphor)
Before Katniss meets Cinna, her personal stylist for the Games, she is
plucked and manicured by a 3-person prep team composed of Capitol
citizens. Named Venia, Octavia, and Flavius, they are brightly, ornately,
and ostentatiously clothed and made up. This, paired with their high-
pitched voices and quick movements, leads Katniss to liken them to a
flock of “oddly colored birds” that are pecking around her.

Rue (Metaphor)
When Katniss first sees Rue during the younger girl’s Reaping, she is
reminded of Primrose because Rue has the same small stature. Later on
during the tribute training sessions Katniss sees Rue again and makes a
metaphor between Rue and a bird that’s about to take flight. During the
games, Rue’s ability to flitter through the treetops like an avian creature
references this metaphor.

Personification: human qualities attributed to an animal, object, or idea.

 Personification is used throughout The Hunger Games. For

example: “With both of us hunting daily, there are still nights when
game has to be swapped for lard or shoelaces or wool, still nights
when we go to bed with our stomachs growling” (Collins 9). This
personification is used to explain that even though Gale and
 Katniss hunt there are still nights when they go to bed hungry their
stomachs don’t literally growl. 

Imagery: words or phrases that appeal to the readers’ senses-smell,

sight, taste, touch, hearing. It is used to create pictures in the readers
mind.

  Imagery is used a lot throughout the novel. An example of

imagery is when Katniss finds Peeta very badly wounded and tries
to heal him during the Games. “The deep inflamed gash oozing
both blood and pus. The swelling of the leg. And worst of all, the
smell of festering flesh” (Collins 256). The words in this sentence
are carefully chosen to put a picture in the reader’s mind of how
bad the wound really was.  

 The Hunger Games Imagery

 The Seam
Within District 12 Katniss and her family live in a neighborhood
called “the Seam." Composed of the poorest of the District’s
families, the Seam is a collection of dilapidated buildings and
“black cinder streets.” The poverty and desolation contained within
the Seam are conveyed through rich descriptions of the place and
its inhabitants. For example, the men and women of the Seam are
described as having “hunched shoulders, swollen knuckles," with
nails and faces full of coal dust (Collins 10). In this way the reader
is given a clearer picture of Katniss’s place in her society.

The Reaping
The reaping is one of the most pivotal moments in The Hunger
Games. The moment Katniss volunteers as tribute in the place of
her sister she sets off a change of events that will rock her world
and change Panem as a whole. As such, Collins takes particular
care as she crafts the scene, especially with regards to the
 emotions, feelings, and actions of the characters. For example, the
instance when Effie Trinket calls Prim’s name, we don’t
simply read about Katniss’s horror. We feel it, as “every wisp of
air” is knocked from Katniss’s lungs and she struggles to inhale
and exhale (Collins 40). Another example is the image we are
given of Prim right after her name is called: her “blood drained
from her face, hands clenched in fists at her sides” (Collins 41).
Here, Prim’s fear jumps off the page and hits the reader.

Cinna’s Creations
 Cinna is Katniss’s stylist for the Games. New to the Games, he
specifically requested to be delegated to design for the District 12
tributes, despite their unpopularity. Unlike past District 12 stylists,
Cinna decides not to focus on coal, District 12’s major contribution
to Panem, but rather the element that coal produces: fire. All of his
creations for Katniss evoke fire in some way, either literally or
metaphorically. Words like “ablaze," “flames," “heat," and
“illuminate" help to paint a picture of how Cinna manipulates fire
in his clothes.
 Thanks to Cinna and his dress creations, Katniss makes a name for
herself before the Games even commence. Known amongst the
districts as the girl on fire, it is Cinna’s idea to add synthetic fire to
Katniss and Peeta’s costumes. This notoriety is crucial in the
Games because tributes vie amongst one another for sponsors. The
more famous the tribute, the more supplies and help they can
expect from those watching in the Capitol and the districts.

Tracker Jacker Hallucinations

 Another one of the Capitol’s mutations, tracker jackers are killer
wasps that were genetically modified in the Capitol’s labs. They
are bigger than regular wasps, and their stings cause lumps the size
of plums, along with vivid hallucinations. Katniss cuts down a
tracker jacker nest above the pack of sleeping Careers and Peeta,
causing the death of Glimmer. In the process Katniss receives
several stings from the tracker jackers and experiences haunting
visions. For example, butterflies “balloon to the size of houses then
shatter into a million stars," “trees transform to blood and splash
down over [Katniss’s] boots," and “ants begin to crawl out of the
blisters in [Katniss’s] hands” (Collins 340). With these horror-
filled, frantic, and frenetic illusions, Collins conveys the
seriousness of tracker jacker stings and depicts how they can be
lethal.

 Foreshadowing
When Rue fails to make it to the meeting point she and Katniss
agreed to, this is a warning to Katniss that something is amiss.