{"id":113,"date":"2010-12-31T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=113"},"modified":"2010-12-31T00:02:45","modified_gmt":"2010-12-31T08:02:45","slug":"mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2010\/12\/mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Catching Fire’: Chapter 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh chapter of Catching Fire<\/em>, Katniss panics at the site of the riot on Mayor Undersee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s television and meets Gale out at the lake to discuss how they are going to escape. Predictably (and unfortunately, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so frustrating), things do not go as planned. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I have a sinking feeling that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to end well. Maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be forever tained by the Star Wars<\/em> saga, because the middle part of the trilogy is always the most bleak and depressing. And actually, when I think about it\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of that way for most trilogies and series. Things invariably are worse in the middle because the characters need to move towards redemption and understanding, to resolve the epic struggle they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fighting.<\/p>\n

The way this is moving, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m dreading what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the coming pages. Because this is all happening so fast, I now feel completely unsure what this book is going to focus on. I expected the Victory Tour to comprise a large chunk of the book, with hints of a larger rebellion saved for the end of the novel. NOPE. WE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE ON CHAPTER SEVEN.<\/p>\n

So, let me first give Katniss some credit for putting the pieces together on Plutarch Heavensbee:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a funny choice, a mockingjay,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I mean, because of what happened in the rebellion. With the jabberjays backfiring on the Capitol and all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Precisely. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still unsure why it took her all this time to figure this out, considering how much time she spent in The Hunger Games<\/em> talking about them and their meaning. Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she think of them when she saw the image on Plutarch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pocket watch?
\nWhatever, she could have easily been distracted or overwhelmed with disgust, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m done focusing on it. This chapter focuses almost entirely on Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Gale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting near the lake her father would take her to when he was still alive. At first, I was glad everything didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to be working out perfectly, as Gale was visibly angry at Katniss for her engagement to Peeta. Gale, moody and irritable, is being unfair about all of this, especially not trusting Katniss. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, something bothers me about the fact that Katniss has gone through all this shit and yet he still wants to be super angry with her for trying to keep herself alive. NO JUDGING ALLOWED, DUDE, so LOSE THE \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTUDE.<\/p>\n
After some back-and-forth bickering between them, Gale finally gives Katniss the chance to explain herself. She tells him everything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened since the beginning of the novel, and this is his first response:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, you really made a mess of things,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OK, TEAM PEETA FOR SURE AT THIS POINT. I actually liked Gale a lot, but this is getting ridiculous. DUDE, THINK OF SOMEONE BESIDES YOURSELF FOR MAYBE HALF A SECOND<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n
I take a deep breath. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We run away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he asks. This has actually caught him off guard.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We take to the woods and make a run for it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say. His face is impossible to read. Will he laugh at me, dismiss this as foolishness? I rise in agitation, preparing for an argument. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You said yourself you thought we could do it! That morning of the reaping. You said\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
He steps in and I feel myself lifted on the ground. The room spins, and I have to lock my arms around Gale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neck to brace myself. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s laughing, happy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
FINALLY. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t into this whole parade of moping on his part. So, just like that, he agrees to go. He agrees without a single word of hesitation to Katniss.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m completely, entirely, one hundred percent sure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He tilts his forehead down to rest against mine and pulls me closer. His skin, his whole being, radiates heat from being so near the fire, and I close my eyes, soaking in his warmth. I breathe in the smell of snow-dampened leather and smoke and apples, the smell of all those wintry days we shared before the Games. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to move away. Why should I, anyway? His voice drops to a whisper. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH GOOD LORD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. No no no no no no. For the first time, I can totally believe that Katniss wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see this coming at all. Everything prior to this is her planning and plotting her escape. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not trying to tell Gale this because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcing her unending love for him. And yet, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how he is going to interpret it.<\/p>\n
I never see these things coming. They happen too fast. One second you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re proposing an escape plan and the next\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re expected to deal with something like this. I come up with what must be the worst possible response. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
HAHAHA OH MY GOD. Katniss, bless your heart. That is seriously pretty bad.<\/p>\n
It sounds terrible. Like I assume he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help loving me but that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel anything in return. Gale starts to draw away, but I grab hold of him. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know! And you\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6you know what you are to me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not enough. He breaks my grip. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gale, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think about anyone that way now. All I can think about, every day, every waking minute since they drew Prim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name at the reaping, is how afraid I am. And there doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to be room for anything else. If we could get somewhere safe, maybe I could be different. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Best response or best response<\/em>? How fantastic is this? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s smart, mature, and believably genuine. Katniss you are becoming an adult<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Gale buys it (and why shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he?) and the begin to discuss the logistics of telling their families. Things seem to be going smoothly until Katniss mentions that she wants to take Haymitch and Peeta with her. Gale counters that Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family most likely won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be trustworthy, and Katniss actually says she would leave Peeta behind if he chose to stay.<\/p>\n
Well, sort of.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To save Prim and my mother, yes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I answer. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I mean, no! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get him to come.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oops. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to work. Gale picks up on it and asks if she would leave him<\/em> behind if he decided to stay. Ugh, dude, grow up PLEASE. We are talking about your own government (possibly) murdering you and your families<\/em>. Can you talk a moment to think about that way more important thing instead?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maybe the president\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just manipulating you. I mean, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s throwing your wedding. You saw how the Capitol crowd reacted. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he can afford to kill you. Or Peeta. How\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s he going to get out of that one?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Gale.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, with an uprising in District Eight, I doubt he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spending much time choosing my wedding cake!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I shout.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, there goes that. Oh, now there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no hope of this conversation ending well. Gale, predictably, latches on to this. Katniss was right about his characterization and was right to observe his behavior towards the Capitol. If there was anyone who shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know this, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s him.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now incredibly important for Gale to stay<\/em> in District 12. Running away is no longer a good idea. Staying to fight a rebellion is.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You were happy enough to go before. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see how an uprising in District Eight does anything but make it more important that we leave. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just mad about\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 No, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t throw Peeta in his face. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What about your family?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What about the other families, Katniss? The ones who can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t run away? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you see? It can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be about just saving us<\/em> anymore. Not if the rebellion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s begun!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gale shakes his head, not hiding his disgust with me. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You could do so much.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He throws Cinna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gloves at my feet. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I changed my mind. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want anything they made in the Capitol.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The thing is, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right in a way<\/em>, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being a total asshole about it. I think part of his anger is at Katniss being with Peeta and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taking this argument to the extreme.<\/p>\n
Anything they made in the Capitol? Was that directed at me? Does he think I am now just another product of the Capitol and therefore something untouchable The unfairness of it all fills me with rage. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mixed up with fear over what kind of crazy thing he might do next.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Man, Gale sucks. Sorry to say it. I really wanted to like him, but the guy is kind of full of himself. OK, TEAM PEETA IT IS. Or wait, fuck it, TEAM CINNA. FUCK EVERYONE ELSE.<\/p>\n
Dejected and still afraid of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen, Katniss heads back into town, running into Peeta right before she gets home. I expected her to keep things to herself, but almost immediately she asks him if he would run away with her and briefly explains why.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really believe her at first and I think he was thinking that she was just testing him or running him along in her own way. Angrily, she jerks away from him and he sees that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s serious; that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when he makes a good point. They should probably talk to Haymitch first before they make things even worse. Given that they did that once already, I think this is a fine plan.<\/p>\n
They head to the square in town and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some huge commotion. A large crowd has gathered and what they find is not pretty.<\/p>\n
Gale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrists are bound to a wooden post. The wild turkey he shot earlier hangs above him, the nail driven through its neck. His jacket\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been cast aside on the ground, his shirt torn away. He slumps unconscious on his knees, held up only by the ropes at his wrists. What used to be his back is a raw, bloody slab of meat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH JESUS CHRIST. Why???? Were they spying on him and Katniss out by the lake? How could they have known? Oh no, oh no, NOOOOOOOOOOO.<\/p>\n
Standing behind him is a man I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen, but I recognize his uniform. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one designated for our Head Peacekeeper. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t old Cray, though. This is a tall, muscular man with sharp creases in his pants.<\/p>\n
The pieces of the picture do not quite come together until I see his arm raise the whip.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
PUBLIC WHIPPINGS. What time period are we in that this sort of public punishment is necessary? It has to be related to what just happened.<\/p>\n
Man, now I feel bad about complaining about Gale. This sucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the seventh chapter of Catching Fire, Katniss panics at the site of the riot on Mayor Undersee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s television and meets Gale out at the lake to discuss how they are going to escape. Predictably (and unfortunately, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so … 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":[32,28,24,27],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-fire","category-hunger-games","tag-catching-fire-2","tag-katniss-everdeen","tag-mark-reads-the-hunger-games","tag-suzanne-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","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=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}