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Copywork
About This Passage
Selected for thematic weight (Peeta's articulation of the chapter's central moral question, which becomes the trilogy's defining problem), rhetorical sophistication (the chess metaphor delivered with no decoration), and the syntactic compression that makes the second sentence read as a separate, more dangerous truth.
I keep wishing I could think of a way to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then explain what you think the author most wanted the reader to notice or feel. What techniques did the author use?
Discussion Questions
- Peeta and Katniss articulate two opposed positions on identity in the arena. Peeta: 'within that framework, there's still you, there's still me.' Katniss: 'none of us are. That's how the Games work.' Examine the philosophical disagreement. Is one position correct and the other false, or are both partially true in ways that depend on what one means by selfhood? What would it take for either position to be vindicated by the events of the trilogy?
- Collins constructs the chapter as a sequence of farewells: Effie's tearful goodbye, Haymitch's final 'stay alive,' the rooftop conversation with Peeta, Cinna's quiet 'truly,' the parting touch under the chin. Examine the cumulative weight of these farewells as a craft achievement. What is Collins doing by making the chapter primarily about endings rather than beginnings, and how does the structure of the chapter mirror the structure of what is about to happen?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A formal public statement intended to be heard, recorded, and treated as binding on its speaker
Item 2
Speaking down to someone in a way that signals the speaker's assumed superiority; condescension dressed as care
Item 3
The cluster of attendants who travel with an important figure, simultaneously performing service and signaling status
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Critical Thinking
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