Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hunger Games, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Division and Control
Love, Loyalty, and Compassion
Societal Inequality
Appearances
Hypocrisy
Summary
Analysis
Katniss begins to wake, imagining that she’s back at home and her mother is stroking her hair. However, she jerks awake when she hears Peeta’s voice saying her name instead. He’s recovered quickly since Katniss administered the medicine, and now he’s taking care of Katniss as she recovers from her wound.
Katniss finds herself missing the comfort of having loved ones to care for her at home. Peeta, however, is doing the best that he can, and he’s eager to care for her now that he’s starting to recover.
Themes
Peeta feeds Katniss, as she tells him about what happened at the feast. She tells him about how Thresh spared her life, and Peeta takes in this news with disbelief. Katniss dismissively says that she wouldn’t expect Peeta to understand how difficult it is to owe someone something—she brings up the bread that Peeta tossed her years ago as an example. Katniss asks Peeta why he did that for her, and Peeta tells her that she knows why, but he doesn’t say any more than that.
Katniss and Peeta’s biggest arguments revolve around the fact that they come from different social classes. Katniss resents Peeta for having had a cushier upbringing, and Peeta gets upset that she dismisses his ability to understand her experiences. The problem of owing someone is a particularly touchy subject for Katniss, since she still feels that she owes Peeta for his act of kindness on the day he tossed her the bread. Peeta cared enough about Katniss that it was also an act that benefited him, but Katniss has trouble believing this.
Themes
Peeta and Katniss discuss the remaining contestants, and the thought of Thresh being killed upsets Katniss greatly. She goes to sleep as Peeta keeps watch, and he wakes her in the evening to split the remaining food for dinner. He tells her about Thresh’s hideout across the lake, a field with long grasses. Peeta says that the field seems ominous, so he has stayed away, and this prompts Katniss to start mentally comparing Peeta and Gale again, as she knows that Gale would view the field as a danger as well as a source of food.
Katniss also looks down on Peeta at times because he doesn’t possess the same street smarts that she and Gale have, due to his merchant background. Katniss also finds herself caring about Thresh’s fate, since he showed some compassion for her situation earlier.
Themes
Peeta wonders what it will take to get Haymitch to send them some bread, and Katniss remembers the previous time Haymitch sent broth—when Katniss first gave Peeta a kiss. She knows that Haymitch is urging her to up the romance factor. Katniss steers the direction in a vaguely romantic direction, hinting that she doesn’t know what she would do if she were to lose Peeta, and they kiss again, but Haymitch doesn’t send any food.
Katniss understands what Peeta doesn’t—that their affectionate kisses and embraces are a show for the sponsors. She knows that the amount of food they receive from Haymitch is a direct result of how convincingly love-struck they can appear.
Themes
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Katniss insists on taking the first watch, but after three to four hours, she can’t stay awake any longer and wakes Peeta. The storm the next day prevents them from hunting again, and Katniss takes the opportunity to ask Peeta about when he first started liking her. Peeta recounts a detailed story about the first day of school, how his father had pointed Katniss out because he had been in love with Katniss’s mother, but she ran off with a coal miner because the coal miner had a beautiful singing voice. Katniss sang on the first day of school too, and Peeta fell for her then and there. Katniss realizes that Peeta might not be pretending to love her, and the thought confuses her, but she know she has to play along—she leans in for a kiss, and as soon as their lips touch, another gift from the sponsors arrives, this one bearing a feast.
Appearances in the Games are complicated because it’s not always clear which emotions and acts are genuine. Peeta’s story, in particular, sounds like the truth, but Katniss is unnerved because she’s been thinking of their relationship as an act (and the truth of his story may affect Katniss's own emotions, making what she has been playacting more real). The story of Katniss’s mother and father also demonstrates how love can break down divisions between different socioeconomic classes, and also that it inspires loyalty in others, as Peeta's father never stopped caring about Katniss's mother or, by extension, Katniss.
Themes
