Summary and Analysis
Part 1:
Chapter 3
Summary
After meeting with President Snow, Katniss concludes that she cannot fail in convincing Panem of her love for Peeta or all her loved ones will suffer. Unwilling to tell her mother the true nature of Snow's visit, Katniss lies and says President Snow always pays a visit to each victor to wish them luck, but it isn't televised, which explains why they weren't expecting his visit. She determines that Haymitch is the only person she can tell the truth to because she trusts him.
Venia, Octavia, and Flavius, all members of her Victory Tour prep team, arrive and chastise Katniss for not taking better care of her physical appearance leading up to the Tour. Once deemed presentable by the team, Katniss joins Cinna in the living room, where she stops herself from telling him about her visit with Snow.
Effie Trinket, the escort assigned to District 12, guides Katniss outside so that she and Peeta can greet each other to kick off the Victory Tour. Remembering Snow's words, Katniss puts on a happy face for the cameras. She and Peeta embrace and share a romantic but playful kiss — their first in many months. Peeta, though he is still hurt by Katniss' feigned affections for him, won't expose her secret in front of all Panem. Katniss is touched by his effort to protect her.
After the group says their goodbyes and boards the train for their Tour, Katniss tells Haymitch about Snow's threats to her and her family. Haymitch tells her she not only has to get through the Tour, but she must pretend to be happy and be a model Games victor for the rest of her life. Every year when Katniss and Peeta mentor for the Games, their romance and lives will be revisited. Katniss realizes she will have to marry Peeta in order to keep her and Gale's families alive.
Analysis
Katniss' hatred of the Capitol grows stronger throughout this chapter as she is determined to survive yet another one of President Snow's "games." Just as Katniss' motivation to win the Games derived from Prim, her family remains her main concern. Though she has won the Games and secured a lifetime supply of food and wealth for her mother and Prim, she still feels the need to protect them, as is demonstrated when she lies to her mother about the true purpose of President Snow's visit. She also shoulders more responsibility for herself when she decides that asking Prim and her mother for advice would only burden them, similar to when she took it upon herself to be the sole provider for her family after her father's death.
After spending years distancing herself from her mother and refusing to accept her help or affections, Katniss has started mending her broken relationship with her mother. The Games taught Katniss that sometimes things happen to people that they are unprepared to deal with. The threat President Snow has made to her family and friends allows Katniss to relate to her mother like never before and understand the crushing weight of fear and depression because she knows her mother has experienced them, too. Ironically, the Games have helped Katniss mend the broken relationship with her mother. Her relationships with her mother, Gale, and others will be important sources of both comfort and fear for Katniss throughout the novel.
This chapter introduces the theme of society versus the individual. Katniss knows Snow will carry out his threats if she fails in her mission, and she knows it is up to her to protect everyone. She cannot rely on anyone else to help her defeat Snow; she decides she has no choice but to take on this task alone. It seems Katniss has many enemies who will challenge her as she tries to save everyone. Snow, Peacekeepers, and the people in the Capitol will all try to work against Katniss as she tries to convince the world of her love for Peeta.
This chapter also presents another one of the story's themes, trust. Katniss has to decide who she can confide in and who is really a friend. It will be imperative for her to learn how to carefully choose her friends and allies. The scene in which she runs through her list of loved ones to decide who to tell foreshadows that Katniss will have to make similarly important decisions throughout the course of the novel.
Haymitch and Katniss' discussion at the end of the chapter is significant because it shows that Katniss realizes that the Games' effects on her are not over; they will never be over for her. The Capitol's forcing her to marry Peeta and live a fake happily-ever-after means she will forever be a pawn in the Capitol's sick and twisted Hunger Games — games of manipulation. The Capitol has destroyed her relationships, invaded the woods, and now taken away her free choice. She will be enslaved to the Capitol for the rest of her life, having to play along with the propaganda in order to appease Panem. When she comes to this conclusion, it confirms what she has felt all along: The Games have only just begun.
The motif of fire is very present in this chapter. Katniss, the girl on fire, has sparked uprisings in the districts. She must help the Capitol extinguish the fire of rebellion or she will be burned by the disastrous consequences.