The Hunger Games — Chapter 2

Narration Prompt

Summarize the chapter's argument or narrative arc, then identify the central tension and evaluate whether the author handles it honestly.

Discussion Questions

1. Collins makes a remarkable structural decision: she interrupts the most dramatic present-tense event of the novel so far — Katniss's volunteering — with an extended childhood flashback about starvation, bread, and a dandelion. Evaluate this choice. Does the flashback deepen the dramatic moment or diffuse it? What theory of narrative does it imply — that present crises are experienced through the prism of formative memories, or that Collins simply needed to establish Peeta before the Games begin?
2. The District 12 crowd responds to Katniss's sacrifice with silence — 'the boldest form of dissent they can manage.' In a system where the Capitol controls all public expression, can silence function as genuine political resistance, or is it merely the absence of compliance? Where is the line between dissent and non-participation, and does this scene clarify or blur it?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide