Summary of the Text

hisher district will be rewarded by the Capitol. The Games are televised nationally and the whole of Panem must watch it from the beginning to the end. Coming from District Twelve, 16-year-old KatnissEverdeen volunteers as a tribute in the 74 th Hunger Games to replace her sister who had originally been chosen.Katniss is taken along with PeetaMellark, who has had a secret crush on Katniss since they were kids, and they are both mentored by an alcoholic, Haymitch Abernathy, District 12‟s only living victor. Haymitch later demands Katniss and Peeta to act as if they‟re lovers to capture the sponsors‟ sympathy because it is only from sponsors that the tributes can receive all the help needed during the Games. In the arena, Katniss does an impromptu memorial when her one and only ally is killed which is seen as an act of defiance against the Capitol. The Gamemakers later change the rules so that if both tributes from the same district survive to be the final two standing, they‟ll both be declared as victors. Katniss then teams up with Peeta; they both spare each other lives and are the final two standing from District 12 when the rule changes back so that there can only be one victor. Unexpectedly, Katniss gives Peeta some nightlock poisonous berries to commit double-suicide. It urges the Gamemakers to declare them both to be victors even though then their act is seen as a huge defiance. In the second book, Catching Fire, 9 months has passed since Katniss and Peeta were declared victorious. Everything at home in District 12 has changed, including Katniss relationship with Gale Hawthorne, her best friend and hunting buddy. Also, she and Peeta still have to pretend theyre in love because before the “Victory Tour” of the country, P resident Snow threatens Katniss that he will hurt the people she loves if she can‟t convince him and Panem‟s citizens that the nightlock action was nothing like a rebellious action. If Panem sees it merely as done because they‟re both madly in love, the Districts will not be encouraged to rebel. In the fourth chapter of the first part – „The Spark‟ of Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta‟s first stop in the Victory Tour was in District 11. It was the District where Rue and Thresh were from, so there was much for Katniss to say since Rue, who reminded Katniss of her sister, was the first alliance she had in the Games and Thresh once spared K atniss‟ life in the Games. Rue and Thresh both were killed by other tributes. After saying a scripted thank-you provided by the Capitol, Peeta gave personal comments about Rue and Thresh and how Katniss and him were indebted to them. Then he added that he would like for Rue and Thresh‟s families to receive one month of Katniss‟ and his own winnings every year for the duration of Katniss and Peeta‟s lives. A month of tribute winnings could easily provide a family for a year, which means that, as long as Katniss and Peeta live, they will not hunger. It made the crowd gasp and murmur. This attitude of gratitude has never been done before and no one knew whether that was legal or not. The ceremony continued and when it was about to end, Katniss stumbled forward because of a sudden realization that she would be accursed if she said nothing and let Peeta do the whole speech. Her impromptu speech was unexpectedly touching as she was very thankful for Rue and Thresh, and also for how District 11 sent her bread during the Games. After a long pause, someone whistled Rue‟s four-note mocking-jay tune and then, in complete unison, every person in the crowd pressed the three middle fingers of their left hands against their lips and extended them to Katniss. It was the District 12 sign of the last good- bye Katniss gave Rue in the arena. Katniss‟ speech of gratitude unintentionally provoked the districts. She had elicited something dangerous: an act of dissent from the people of District 11 when she was supposed to be defusing any kind of rebellious action as President Snow had threatened that she must do. Realizing the effects she might cause, Katniss decided to negate her speech right when her microphone was already cut off and the mayor had taken over, leading Katniss and Peeta back toward the doors. Katniss turned around as she remembered she forgot her bouquet and saw 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 put a bullet through his head. Katniss and Peeta do what they can do; Peeta even proposes to Katniss at the end of the tour, but still, the sparks of rebellion are now catching the fire and the Mockingjay pin she wears in the arena has becomes the symbol of the rebellion itself without her knowing. District by district begin to stage uprisings against the Capitol. One day, Katniss encounters some runaways from District 8 who believe that District 13 is not entirely banished but they live underground instead. These runaways are surprise d that Katniss, the rebels‟ main inspiration whom many Districts call as The Mockingjay, doesn‟t even have a clue about it. There is also this Quarter Quell which is held every 25 years which is a special edition of the Hunger Games. In this 75 th Hunger Games, the 3 rd Quarter Quell, the 24 participants will be reaped from the living past victors as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol. Katniss and Peeta come back to the arena. At Haymitch‟s urging, they agree to team up with some of the victors and later form the more skilled ones called Career Tributes. What they don‟t know is that the tributes they team up with are all rebels undercover that have planned their escapes from the arena with their alliances outside. Just before the helps come, things get mess up and make Katniss panics which causes her to blow the arena‟s force field on her own without knowing the rebels‟ plan. The book ends with Katniss, along with FinnickOdair from District 4 and Beetee from District 3 being rescued by the rebel forces from District 13. All of them have actually managed it with Haymitch and other rebels placed in the Capitol. Unfortunately, the rest of the survivors that consists of Peeta, Johanna Mason from District 7, and Enobaria from District 2 are captured by the Capitol. On the very last page, Gale comes to visit and informs Katniss that, though he got their families out in time, District 12 is now completely destroyed.

IV. Analysis

A. Power, Knowledge, and Control: Capitol

Following Foucalt‟s belief, Said stated in his book, Orientalism, that power and knowledge are inseparable. Both Foucalt and Orientalism have been highly influential in Postcolonial studies and, for some cases, the statement above makes sense. The one that has power and knowledge can control and colonize, and if we are talking about the one who has both power and knowledge,like the colonizer in Catching Fire, we are definitely talking about the Capitol. The Capitol got power because they also attained and controlled knowledge. In the Capitol‟s case, not only did they control the districts people‟s knowledge about each other, but they also seized the district people‟s rights in order to colonize the districts. These are some examples of the previous statement. First, Peeta had the scripted thank-you under the supervision of the Capitol instead of his own words Collins, p. 94. That limitation clearly shows that Capitol did control the knowledge and seized people‟s rights. The Capitol controlled the d istricts‟ knowledge for the sake of maintaining their power by seizing Peeta‟s freedom of speech because his speech was broadcasted to all of the districts. Second, Katniss had to regret her effort of expressing her personal thanks to Rue and Thresh‟s families because a powerful party sees it as a rebel encouragement Collins, p. 99. The Capitol seized Katniss‟ right by giving ultimate judgment that what she did, speaking out her gratitude, was considered rebellious, because that is how colonizers work, not allowing democratic attempts. They made Katniss regret it by seizing another man‟s right, or should we say the right of his very life, because it leads to our third example, how the old man in District 11 was killed. The man who started the unifying act was killed because his attitude was seen as a trigger of rebellion that affected district people to follow his courage and united Collins, p. 100. That powerful party, the Capitol‟s government, wouldn‟t allow freedom of speech or anything in the Districts that may threaten their power and authority. They made themselves the „highest‟ by stomping the Districts down, seizing their right to speak and even to live if they dared to stand against them. Another example of seizing Districts people‟s rights to know what happened is when they limited the information broadcasted. The Victory Tour was supposed to be broadcasted nationally from the beginning to the end, but the footage was cut off when the unifying act happened, so when the old man got shot, it was also off the record Collins, p. 99-100. If the other districts knew what happened, it would be a kind of encouragement to stand against the Capitol, according to the government. This is also evidence that the colonizer also controls the knowledge of the colonized so that the colonizer can stay in its powerful position. Thus, Said‟s statement that power and knowledge are inseparable is right in the case of the Capitol. The Capitol must obtain and control all knowledge to keep the power to colonize and their knowledge in order to maintain their advantage in colonizing; they should have the power to do so. This discussion of the link between power and knowledge leads into the focus in the next section; the main discussion being on how the districts could do an uprising against the Capitol with limited information, which is in contrast to what Said‟s theory suggested.

B. Katniss and The Districts’ Uprising