The Hunger Games 2

"'Prim!' The strangled cry comes out of my throat, and my muscles begin to move again. 'Prim!' I don't need to shove through the crowd. The other kids make way immediately allowing me a straight path to the stage. I reach her just as she is about to mount the steps. With one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me.

'I volunteer!' I gasp. 'I volunteer as tribute!'

There's some confusion on the stage. District 12 hasn't had a volunteer in decades and the protocol has become rusty. The rule is that once a tribute's name has been pilled from the ball, another eligible boy, if a boy's name has been read, or girl, if a girl's name has been read, can step forward to take his or her place. In some districts, in which winning the reaping is such a great honor, people are eager to risk their lives, the volunteering is complicated. But in District 12, where the word tribute is pretty much synonymous with the word corpse, volunteers are all but extinct.

'Lovely!' says Effie Trinket. 'But I believe theres a small matter of introducing the reaping winner and then asking for volunteers, and if one does come forth then we, um...' she trails off, unsure herself.

'What does is matter?' says the mayor...'What does it matter' he repeats gruffly. 'Let her come forward.'

Prim is screaming is screaming hysterically behind me. She's wrapped her skinny arms are me like a vice. 'No, Katniss! No! You can't go!'

'Prim, let go,' I say harshly...

'Well, bravo!' gushes Effie Trinket. 'Thats the spirit of the Games!' She's pleased to finally have district with a little action going on in it. 'What's your name?'

I swallowed hard. 'Katniss Everdeen,' I say.

'I bet my buttons that was your sister. Don't want her to steal all of the glory, do we? Come one, everybody! Lets give a big round of applause to our newest tribute!' trills Effie Trinket.

To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12, not one person claps. Not even the ones holding betting slips, the ones who are usually beyond caring. Possibly because they know me from the Hob, or knew my father, or have encountered Prim, who no one can help loving. So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.

Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim's place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle finger on their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.

Now I am truly in danger of crying,..." (Collins_22-24)

In the wealthier districts, being picked tribute is an honor and what kids are trained for their whole lives. But in districts 11 and 12, it's more like a death sentence. That's why the citizens of District 12 use their gesture of thanks. They are convinced that Katniss wont make it through the Games since it's been so long since a tribute from there has one. 


I think it's very brave that Katniss is doing this for her sister. The odds were not in Prim's favor, unfortunately, especially after everything her family's been through. Katniss would not be able to make it through losing Prim if she went into the Games. I would not be able to be as brave as her. 


The purpose of this passage is to show how and why Katniss went into the games, and how she's different from all of the other tributes that come from district 12. She's doing it for the person she loves, Prim, her younger sister that she's had to care for ever since her father died. 


This shows about the present that there will always be someone that takes family really seriously and will do anything for them, no matter how selfish and careless of other people society is.