{"id":157,"date":"2011-01-20T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T15:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=157"},"modified":"2011-01-20T10:31:10","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T18:31:10","slug":"mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/01\/mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Catching Fire’: Chapter 24"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Catching Fire<\/em>, the Gamemakers remind us that they have an unlimited imagination for things to truly ruin everything. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it. They brought Prim into the arena<\/em>? Gamemakers, I give up. I mean, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have survived the first set of Hunger Games, but I would surely take the bait and fall right into your trap and die. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also assuming I would have made it this far and we all know that would never happen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prim!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I rip through a wall of green into a small clearing and the sound repeats directly above me. Above me? My head whips back. Do they have her up in the trees? I desperately search the branches but see nothing. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prim?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say pleadingly. I hear her but can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see her. Her next wail rings out, clear as a bell, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no mistaking the source. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming from the mouth of a small, crested black bird perched on a branc about ten feet over my head. And then I understand.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a jabberjay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT?????????????????<\/strong> Wait. So Prim isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually in the arena? ONE OF THE SECTIONS IS JABBERJAYS? Ok, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually understand this one.<\/p>\n
Katniss kills the jabberjay with an arrow because WHY WOULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T YOU and tells herself that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not real, that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a trick to make her think<\/em> that her younger sister is in the arena. But what for?<\/p>\n
Finnick arrives suddenly and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only seconds later that another scream fills the jungle; he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to take off in pursuit of the voice and Katniss assumes correctly that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the voice of someone he recognizes. She chases off after him, trying to tell him not to believe the jabberjay. But when she does, he makes a point that turns the jabberjays into something far more terrifying.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not Annie. But the voice was hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I can feel my own cheeks grow pale as I understand his meaning. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, Finnick, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think they\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes. I do. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly what I think,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awful. This is so awful. If jabberjays mimic what they hear, then that means someone did something to Prim and Annie to make<\/em> them scream. That means that they probably tortured them, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but think this was designed specifically by President Snow. Then, to make matters worse, Katniss hears the voice of Gale, full of pain, and it takes Finnick everything he has to get her to leave.<\/p>\n
I catch sight of Peeta and Johanna standing at the tree line and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m filled with a mixture of anger and relief and anger. Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Peeta come to help me? Why did no one come after us? Even now he hangs back, his hands raised, palms toward us, lips moving but no words reaching us. Why?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I believed at first that they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t far enough into the jungle to hear the jabberjays. Yep, I was wrong.<\/p>\n
The wall is so transparent, Finnick and I run smack into it and bounce back onto the jungle floor. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m lucky. My shoulder took the worst of the impact, whereas Finnick hit face-first and now his nose is gushing blood. This is why Peeta and Johanna and even Beetee, who I see sadly shaking his head behind them, have not come to our aid. And invisible barrier blocks the area in front of us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a force field. You can touch the hard, smooth surface all you like. But Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s knife and Johanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ax can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make a dent in it. I know, without checking more than a few feet to one side, that it encloses the entire four-to-five-o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock wedge. That we will be trapped like rats until the hour passes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And now the true meaning of the four o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock wedge comes to light: they are trapped in a section with jabberjays that play the voices of their loved ones being tortured. Obviously, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something that can kill them directly, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a technique intended to unravel the tributes, ostensibly to drive them to be easily distracted or, even worse, merely for the expressed entertainment of President Snow and members of the Capitol.<\/p>\n
Never prepared<\/em>.<\/p>\n
When the hour is up and Peeta consoles Katniss, he actually makes a good point about the jabberjays that sets my mind at ease:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Katniss, Prim isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dead. How could they kill Prim? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re almost down to the final eight of us. And what happens then?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Peeta says.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seven more of us die,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say hopelessly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
$\"\"$ <\/p>\n
Sorry. I laughed. Anyway:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, back home. What happens when they reach the final eight tributes in the Games?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He lifts my chin so I have to look at him. Forces me to make eye contact. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What happens? At the final eight?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to help me, so I make myself think. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At the final eight? I repeat. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They interview your family and friends back home.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Peeta. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve killed them all?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not a bad point, Peeta. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still curious as to how<\/em> they got their voices for the jabberjays, but for now, I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sticking with Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reasoning. I mean, I know this set of Games is non-traditional, but they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t possibly mess with the structure of it that much. Right? Right? Guys, someone hold me while I shake with dread<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n
Beetee makes me feel better by pointing out it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely possible to manipulate a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice to sound like they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being hurt and even Johanna chimes in to remind Katniss that there would be no better way to guarantee an uprising than to kill Prim, who the whole country loves.<\/p>\n
I know I shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get attached to anyone here, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m growing to really like the five of them as a group. Obviously, I am already platonically in love with Finnick and Beetee, but even Johanna has warmed up to me as well. It sucks, because I keep feeling every moment is a chance for yet another person to die and for me to turn my head to the sky and scream WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY. And then when Johanna says that the jabberjays can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t affect her because, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one left I love,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m ready to bury my face in a pillow forever.<\/p>\n
WAIT NOT YET. Because then we learn who Annie is:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Must be Annie Cresta,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I ask.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Annie Cresta. She was the girl Mags volunteered for. She won about five years ago,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Peeta.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh, Mags. I already miss you.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember those Games much,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Was that the earthquake year?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yeah. Annies the one who went mad when her district partner got beheaded. Ran off by herself and hid. But an earthquake broke a dam and most of the arena got flooded. She won because she was the best swimmer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Peeta.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who Finnick is in love with. Are you crushed yet<\/em>.<\/p>\n
This book<\/em>.<\/p>\n
A cannon blast brings us all together on the beach. A hovercraft appears in what we estimate to be the six-to-seven-o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock zone. We watch as the claw dips down five different times to retrieve the pieces of one body, torn apart. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to tell who it was. Whatever happens at six o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock, I never want to know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
HOW DOES THIS BOOK KEEP GETTING WORSE AND WORSE<\/strong>. We have less than fifty pages to go with no solution even remotely in sight. Every single page is bleak and filled with dread and I cannot figure out what Collins has planned for me and it is just starting to hurt to read this<\/em>.<\/p>\n
(I do have to admit that this is so much fun and I do like this book more than the first, FYI.)<\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re about to settle down to our meal of raw fish when the anthem begins. And then the faces\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
Cashmere. Gloss. Wiress. Mags. The woman from District 5. The morphling who gave her life for Peeta. Blight. The man from 10.<\/p>\n
Eight dead. Plus eight from the first night. Two-thirds of us gone in a day and a half. That must be some kind of record.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It also must be something designed to show me that I AM NOT EVEN REMOTELY PREPARED FOR THE END OF THIS BOOK<\/em>. Can I expect nearly everyone else to be killed off in forty pages or so? Goddamn it, I AM HURTING INSIDE.<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brief respite from the terror of the situation as a parachute from District Three, where Beetee is from, arrives: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pile of twenty-four bite-sized rolls. They divide them up with three per person and save the other nine for the morning, to be split amongst those who survive the night.<\/p>\n
They wait until the wave crashes at the ten o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock wedge to make camp at that section of the beach. We learn that whatever is in the eleven o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock section clicks very loudly and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just going to say I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to discover what it is. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deal with insects and certainly not mutated ones.<\/p>\n
We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had much Katpee drama or character development because OH MY GOD EVERYTHING IS AWFUL, so it was about time they addressed something really, painfully obvious: Haymitch appears to have made a deal to keep the other person alive with BOTH Katniss and Peeta, and neither one knows if he is actually fulfilling their own deal.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want you forgetting how different our circumstances are. If you die, and I live, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no life for me at all back in District Twelve. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re my whole life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would never be happy again.\u00e2\u20ac\u009dI start to object but he puts a finger to my lips. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s different for you. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be hard. But there are other people who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d make your life worth living.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Remember early in this book when Peeta would drop one of these nuggets of depression and it was so goddamn irritating? Yeah, not so much anymore. I guess that, in my head, the Katpee shipping finally makes complete sense. I suppose that I always shipped Gale and Katniss because they seemed more compatible, but Gale just isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t around at all. And maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that. I can acknowledge that. But I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see Collins killing Peeta off after all of this and I really can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t picture Katniss with Gale anymore. JUST SOME THOUGHTS Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n
Peeta pulls the chain with the gold disk from around his neck. He holds it in the moonlight so I can clearly see the mockingjay. Then his thumb slides along a catch I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice before and the disk pops open. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not solid, as I had thought, but a locket. And within the locket are photos. One the right side, my mother and Prim, laughing. And on the left, Gale. Actually smiling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Peeta, you win. You just win. You win everything. Jesus christ.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one really needs me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no self-pity in his voice. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true his family doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need him. They will mourn him, as will a handful of friends. But they will get on. Even Haymitch, with the help of a lot of white liquor, will get on. I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OK COLLINS STOP IT THIS IS SIMPLY TOO SAD<\/strong><\/em>. Oh wait, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have them make out in a moment of genuine passion?<\/p>\n
I feel that thing again. The thing I only felt once before. In the cave last year, when I was trying to get Haymitch to send us food.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And what, Katniss, might that thing be?<\/p>\n
The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Writer High Five Moment<\/em>, amirite? Man, that last sentence takes me entirely out of the moment. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost too<\/em> clever for this passage and it distracts me.<\/p>\n
Still, I have to admit that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer an issue for me that Katniss and Peeta seem to be well-suited for each other. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure how I feel about that<\/em>, but I have to say that I suppose I \u00e2\u20ac\u0153buy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d their relationship now. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big moment for me as a reader of this fine book.<\/p>\n
That said, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still not a completely clear-cut relationship, and the final lines of this chapter highlight that while Katniss is sure that Peeta feels right, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still not sure about what the future holds. This is all about urgency and how she feels in the moment.<\/p>\n
But as I stretch out on the sand I wonder, could it be more? Like a reminder to me that I could still one day have kids with Gale? Well, if that was it, it was a mistake. Because for one thing, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been part of my plan. And for another, if only one of us can be a parent, anyone can see it should be Peeta.<\/p>\n
As I drift off, I try to imagine the world, somewhere in the future, with no Games, no Capitol. A place like the meadow in the song I sang to Rue as she died. Where Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s child could be safe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping this is the cataclysm for a larger discussion in the future about their relationship and not foreshadowing for Katniss being pregnant. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also nice that we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a chapter ending in unbearable cliffhangers, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just leave it here.<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I wanted to bring up and I was reluctant to do so because I wanted to do it in a way that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t center myself when it was inappropriate to do so. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m unsure if suffering from depression for years or having weird body issues entitles me to be the proper person to speak candidly about ableism and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to do my best to only center my voice in matters I think I am qualified to talk about. (OBVIOUSLY, THAT IS THE ARENA OF GIFS. DUH.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been trying to do right recently instead of making it all ME ME ME when that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pretty fucked up thing to do.<\/p>\n
So, this is a bit of an experiment and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll err on the side of caution just to be safe. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve noticed that Collins, particularly in this book, uses quite<\/em> a bit of ableist language, and I was trying to find a tasteful way to call that out. One of the things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m working on doing now is building a network of writers, authors, and social justice-y folk to contribute guest posts to Mark Reads and Mark Watches to speak on things I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I should talk about in a centering way. In the meantime, I wanted to bring this up and instead direct you to some fantastic, eye-opening resources from folks over at Feminists With Disabilities<\/a> (or FWD for short) for this series they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been creating about ableist language<\/a>. (Unfortunately, the site is no longer updating as of the New Year.)<\/p>\n
Collins uses \u00e2\u20ac\u0153insane,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crazy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the first two with an unnerving frequency in Catching Fire<\/em> and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten to a point where I feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually doing a disservice by not pointing it out. So I feel that directing to people I know are qualified to talk about ableism and being disabled is probably the best option.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious if anyone else felt these words were distracting or damaging. Feel free to talk about it in the comments after checking out the profiles on some of these words! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll do my best to wade through them and interact, since I brought this up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the twenty-fourth chapter of Catching Fire, the Gamemakers remind us that they have an unlimited imagination for things to truly ruin everything. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire.<\/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":[32,28,33,24,27],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-fire","category-hunger-games","tag-catching-fire-2","tag-katniss-everdeen","tag-mark-reads-catching-fire","tag-mark-reads-the-hunger-games","tag-suzanne-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","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=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}