{"id":107,"date":"2010-12-29T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2010-12-29T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=107"},"modified":"2010-12-28T21:37:37","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T05:37:37","slug":"mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2010\/12\/mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Catching Fire’: Chapter 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth chapter of Catching Fire<\/em>, Katniss takes steps to apologize to two people she has wronged and her and Peeta make their first public appearance on the Victory Tour. There, in a moment of sympathy, Katniss does something that proves to us that we were never, ever prepared. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We were seriously never, ever prepared for where Collins takes this story.<\/p>\n

But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the moments that lead up to the horrifying conclusion of this chapter. Dejected, she returns to her compartment and tries to process the implications of what Haymitch has just told her.<\/p>\n

Of course, I could do a lot worse than Peeta. That isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really the point, though, is it? One of the few freedoms we have in District 12 is the right to marry whow e want or not marry at all. And now even that has been taken away from me. I wonder if President Snow will insist we have children. If we do, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to face the reaping each year. And wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be something to see the child of not one but two victors chosen for the arena?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There are like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6a billion things about this that I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t considered until I read this section. This is truly<\/em> oppressive bullshit, and it makes President Snow all the more creepy. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6forced to bear children???\u00c2\u00a0 FUCKED UP, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n
Katniss realizes how much insight this might shed on Haymitch, who chose to go it alone and never marry. Did he do all of this on purpose<\/em>? Seriously, MOAR HAYMITCH IMMEDIATELY<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Of course, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get this at all. Katniss awakes the next morning, which is a travel day, to learn she needs EVEN MORE PREPPING. Everything before this was basically preparation for the preparation. So we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re faced with yet another scene with the trio of clueless prep team members; gone is the usual whimsy, though, which is due to Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overwhelming and growing panic for her situation. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually irritated by the way she reacted to her team because I understood that Collins was writing her in a way that was a lot more real than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d come to expect. The news she just got from Haymitch the day before would be enough to unwind any of us, so to see her lash out (even if only internally most of the time) was satisfying.<\/p>\n
Katniss finally does have a public outburst, caused by Effie.<\/p>\n
At some point, the train stops. Our server reports it will not just be for a fuel stop\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsome part has malfunctioned and must be replaced. It will require at least an hour. This sends Effie into a state. She pulls out her schedule and begins to work out how the delay will impact every event for the rest of our lives. Finally I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stand to listen to her anymore.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one cares, Effie!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I snap. Everyone at the table stares at me, even Haymitch, who you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think would be on my side in this matter since Effie drives him nuts. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m immediately put on the defensive. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, no one does!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say, and get up and leave the dining car.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, ooops. I think if this had happened in the first book, I might have whined about Katniss being irritating, but I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting to sympathize a lot more easily with her predicament. I know that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been hard on her (and I still stand by what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said), but seriously\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6she participated in the Murder Games and survived after doing some terrible shit and everything is still <\/em>awful for her.<\/p>\n
Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where the chapter takes a turn for the interesting. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m complimenting this, FYI.) Peeta follows Katniss off the train and she worries he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s there to lecture her. Nope!<\/p>\n
He takes a deep breath. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look, Katniss, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been wanting to talk to you about the way I acted on the train. I mean, the last train. The one that brought us home. I knew you had something with Gale. I was jealous of him before I even officially met you. And it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fair to hold you to anything that happened in the Games. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHOA. Am I going to have to become Team Peeta here?<\/p>\n
His apology takes me by surprise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alone, Katniss. Damn, WHAT JUST HAPPENED.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing for you to be sorry about. You were just keeping us alive. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to go on like this, ignoring each other in real life and falling into the snow every time there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a camera around. So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
THIS IS SO MATURE. WHAT IS HAPPENING. WHY DOES EVERYTHING FEEL OK ALL OF A SUDDEN. Oh, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good, I thought to myself. Collins is clearly setting everything up for disaster.<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to give Peeta all the credit. Katniss is basically growing up on the pages before us because she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t draw out the apology or try to make excuses for herself.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also glad we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to deal with the frustration of their relationship, at least for now. Instead, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got two people who appear to want to make a real attempt at being friends.<\/p>\n
And this is the point where everything starts going downhill.<\/p>\n
Not the writing or anything. But this is so fucked up. First, Katniss goes to see Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s paintings and is genuinely interested to see the results of his talent. What she is not prepared for is this:<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what I expected. Larger versions of the flower cookies maybe. But this is something entirely different. Peeta has painted the Games.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Some you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get right away, if you hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been with him in the arena yourself. Water dripping through the cracks in our cave. The dry pond bed. A pair of hands, his own, digging for roots. Others any viewer would recognize. The golden horn called the Cornucopia. Clove arranging the knives inside her jacket. One of the mutts, unmistakably the blond, green-eyed one meant to be Glimmer, snarling as it makes its way towards us. And me. I am everywhere. High up in a tree. Beating a shirt against the stones in the stream. Lying unconscious in a pool of blood. And one I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t place\u00e2\u20ac\u201dperhaps this is how I looked when his fever was high\u00e2\u20ac\u201demerging from a silver gray mist that matches my eyes exactly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT THE FLYING FUCK<\/em>. Different people find an outlet for their grief or trauma or terror and Peeta chose painting. HOW SAD IS THIS:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All I do is go around trying to forget the arena and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve brought it back to life. How do you remember these things so exactly?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see them every night,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
JESUS GOD UP IN HEAVEN. Well, now we know how Peeta is coping.<\/p>\n
Can things get worse? MOST CERTAINLY. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been curious to learn what the other districts are like and we get our first glimpse at District 11 here. From the description of the huge, open fields, I imagine District 11 is somewhere in the Midwest. What I could never imagine is what surrounds<\/em> the district.<\/p>\n
We slow slightly and I think we might be coming in for another stop, when a face rises up before us. Towering at least thirty-five feet in the air and topped with wicked coils of barbed wire, it makes ours back in District 12 look childish. My eyes quickly inspect the base, which is lined with enormous metal plates. There would be no burrowing under these, no escaping to hunt. Then I see the watchtowers, placed evenly apart, manned with armed guards, so out of place among the fields of wildflowers around them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What on earth could District 11 need such security for? Why aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all the districts this heavily guarded? THIS IS SO DEEPLY FUCKED UP, GUYS. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6what the hell?<\/p>\n
Now the crops begin, stretched out as far as the eye can see. Men, women, and children wearing straw hats to keep off the sun straighten up, turn our way, take a moment to stretch their backs as they watch our train go by. I ca see orchards in the distance, and I wonder if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Rue would have worked, collecting the fruit from the slimmest branches at the tops of the trees. Small communities of shacks\u00e2\u20ac\u201dby comparison the houses in the Seam are upscale\u00e2\u20ac\u201dspring up here and there, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all deserted. Every hand must be needed for the harvest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Maybe this protection is there because the sheer size of this district. I mean, if you have a simple fence like the one in District 12, you could outnumber any guards and escape. This seems like a display of force intended to frighten people into submission.<\/p>\n
The first public appearance will be held in the square outside the Justice Building. I expected more people to be there, but I guess they need as many people working in the fields as possible. Why is this all so disturbing to me?<\/p>\n
Oh, right, because Thresh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s families are SITTING BELOW THE STAGE.<\/p>\n
On Thresh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only an old woman with a hunched back and a tall, muscular girl I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing is his sister. On Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not prepared for Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family. Her parents, whose faces are still fresh with sorrow. Her five younger siblings, who resemble her so closely. The slight builds, the luminous brown eyes. They form a flock of small dark birds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Crushing. What an unbelievably sad detail. A flock of small dark birds. Jesus Christ I HATE YOU CAPITOL.<\/p>\n
Katniss just has to make it through this appearance and appear to be gracious and wildly in love with Peeta. She actually does well by not speaking unless she has to, which is probably a good thing. We all know she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t improv at all. Peeta, however, is quite good at it.<\/p>\n
And then he hesitates before adding something that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t written on the card. Maybe he thought Effie might make him remove it. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It can in no way replace your losses, but as a token of our thanks we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like for each of the tributes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 families from District Eleven to receive one month of our winnings every year for the duration of our lives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT THE SHIT FUCK<\/strong><\/p>\n
Oh my god Peeta WHAT ARE YOU DOING. This is so noble and amazing and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m seriously going to become Team Peeta but ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T THIS LIKE THE WORST THING FOR YOU TO DO TO THE CAPITOL? Oh my god, Katniss was worrying about upsetting President Snow and PEETA UPSTAGES HER.<\/p>\n
Shit is so fucked up right now.<\/p>\n
I look at Peeta and he gives me a sad smile. I hear Haymitch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You could do a lot worse.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> At this moment, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to imagine how I could do any better. The gift\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it is perfect. So when I rise up on tiptoe to kiss him, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem forced at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is cute but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect it to last much longer than\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6oh, about thirty seconds. This book seems not to be able to have nice things<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Before they leave the stage, Katniss catches one of Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sisters glaring at her menacingly. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take her but a few seconds to realize she hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t thanked anyone, especially not Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family. In a moment of improvisation that is actually quite brilliant, she runs to microphone and says the first thing that comes to her mind.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to give my thanks to the tributes of District Eleven,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say. I look at the pair of women on Thresh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I only ever spoke to Thresh one time. Just long enough for him to spare my life. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know him, but I always respected him. For his power. For his refusal to play the Games on anyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s terms but his own. The Careers wanted him to team up with them from the beginning, but he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it. I respected him for that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH NOETRY. THIS IS BEAUTIFUL, BUT GOOD LORD. WHAT ARE YOU DOING KATNISS<\/p>\n
I turn to Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I feel as if I did know Rue, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll always be with me. Everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the Meadow by my house. I see her in the mockingjays that sing in the trees. But most of all, I see her in my sister, Prim.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d My voice is undependable, but I am almost finished. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank you for your children.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I raise my chin to address the crowd. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And thank you for all the bread.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I take it back. Katniss just displayed that her emotional range for sympathy and empathy is far greater than we had judged her for. This is simply fantastic. Really dumb and is going to end badly, but easily the best thing she has ever said.<\/p>\n
Then, from somewhere in the crowd, someone whistles Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s four-note mockingjay tune. The one that signaled the end of the workday in the orchards. The one that meant safety in the arena. By the end of the tune, I have found the whistler, a wizened old man in a faded red shirt and overalls. His eyes meet mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I can absolutely picture all of this in my head. This might be my favorite part of the whole book. CALLING IT NOW.<\/p>\n
What happens next is not an accident. It is too well executed to be spontaneous, because it happens in complete unison. Every person in the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand against their lips and extends them to me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our sign from District 12, the last good-bye I gave Rue in the arena.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WELL. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S A DISASTER NOW.<\/p>\n
The full impact of what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done hits me. It was not intentional\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI only meant to express my thanks\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut I have elicited something dangerous. An act of dissent from the people of District 11. This is exactly the kind of thing I am supposed to be defusing!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it took Katniss just one Victory Tour stop<\/em> to mess up so righteously. And I have to state it as what it is: one of the most awesome displays of righteous bad-assery ever. Even if it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t intended to be. My respect for Katniss just grew volumes.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean what she does is celebrated. The power is cut on he mic and she and Peeta leave the stage. When Katniss realizes she left her flower bouquet behind, they both go back to retrieve them and witness the inconceivable:<\/p>\n
A pair of Peacekeepers dragging the old man who whistled to the top of the steps. Forcing him to his knees before the crowd. And putting a bullet through his head.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS????<\/strong> JUST LIKE THAT? You know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so frightening about this? The fact that the effects of Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech are felt so immediately. How did they get the order to do this so quickly? Who else is going to get shot? Oh my fucking god, this is so goddamn awful. FUCK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the fourth chapter of Catching Fire, Katniss takes steps to apologize to two people she has wronged and her and Peeta make their first public appearance on the Victory Tour. There, in a moment of sympathy, Katniss does something … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,5],"tags":[21,28,33,24,29,27],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-fire","category-hunger-games","tag-awful","tag-katniss-everdeen","tag-mark-reads-catching-fire","tag-mark-reads-the-hunger-games","tag-so-fucked-up","tag-suzanne-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}