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Copywork
About This Passage
Selected for rhetorical sophistication (Cinna naming the truth about his own people before Katniss can say it), thematic weight (the question of whether self-recognition is its own form of resistance), and the syntactic compression of three short sentences delivering a complete moral exchange.
How despicable we must seem to you, he says. Has he seen this in my face or somehow read my thoughts? He's right, though. The whole rotten lot of them is despicable.
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
- Cinna is the first Capitol citizen Collins gives Katniss — and the reader — a reason to like. Examine how he is constructed in opposition to the prep team: natural hair, simple clothes, a 'light hand' with the eyeliner, a quiet voice 'lacking in the Capitol's affectations.' What is Collins suggesting through this aesthetic restraint, and how should the reader interpret a character whose decency is encoded primarily in what he refuses to do?
- Cinna admits he asked for District 12 — the least desirable assignment — and gives 'no further explanation.' The narrative offers no immediate justification for his choice. Is the absence of explanation itself a form of moral seriousness, or is Collins protecting Cinna from a question he cannot yet answer? Articulate the strongest case for both readings.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Mannerisms adopted for effect rather than springing from natural inclination; the deliberate performance of a chosen identity
Item 2
Deserving moral contempt; describing behavior so base it forfeits any claim to respect
Item 3
Theatrically showy in appearance or behavior, designed to attract attention
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Critical Thinking
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