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Copywork
About This Passage
Selected for thematic weight (the rare moment when Katniss admits to actual happiness, the most striking emotional disclosure in her narration so far), rhetorical sophistication (the buildup through 'shared thoughts' and 'trust' to the surprising final clause), and the structural placement of this confession of past happiness immediately before the news that Peeta has asked for separate coaching.
He had become my confidant, someone with whom I could share thoughts I could never voice inside the fence. In exchange he trusted me with his. Being out in the woods with Gale — sometimes I was actual...
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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
- Collins constructs the chapter as two equal halves divided by the score reveal: the first half is Katniss's terror at imagined punishment, the second half is her dazed relief and the Gale flashback. Examine why the author doubles the emotional structure this way, rather than letting Katniss simply receive the score and move on. What does the doubling reveal about how survival under threat actually feels, and why a hero who survives by accident is different from a hero who survives by skill?
- Haymitch in this chapter is suddenly competent — he calms Katniss, eats real food, butters a roll, gives strategic advice about Capitol secrecy. Examine the shift from earlier appearances. Is Collins revealing a Haymitch who was always there beneath the alcohol, suggesting that competence and damage can coexist in one person, or is she using the moment to redeem him into a more conventional mentor figure? What in the chapter supports each reading?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Action driven by an immediate emotional response without intervening deliberation; here, Katniss's word for her own apple-arrow act before she has any way of knowing how it landed
Item 2
A reduction of punishment below what the offense would normally warrant; granted as mercy, strategy, or as an admission that public punishment would be more costly than ignoring the offense
Item 3
Spared from an expected punishment, with the implication that the threat has been postponed rather than removed entirely
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Critical Thinking
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