blog post # 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games

The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins 

Significant Elements:

1. The reaping 

2. The dress with flames

The reaping helps reveal character traits about one of the main characters, Katniss Everdeen. The trait that is revealed is courage, as well as bravery and protectiveness. Every year, representatives from the Capitol go to each district and hold the reaping. When a child is 12, they are eligible for entry in The Hunger Games and their name is put in the reaping bowl once (1st year - 1 name in bowl). When a child is 13, their name is entered twice to represent their second year of eligibility. This pattern goes on, so when they reach their final year (18) their name is entered 7 times minimum. However, if the child wants to purchase a tesserae (a one-person supply of grain and oil for a year) your name goes in one extra time per purchase of tesserae. Katniss had taken a tesserae for each of her family members, putting her name in the reaping bowl a lot of times, leaving her little sister Prim, only in the reaping bowl once. When the day of the reaping comes "Effie Trinket crosses back to the podium, smoothes the slip of paper, and reads out the name in a clear voice. And it's not me. It's Primrose Everdeen."(Collins 20) "I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as a tribute!"(Collins 22) By Katniss volunteering herself as a tribute, she is risking her life and putting her younger sister's before hers. The Hunger Games only has one winner, and by losing, you are dead. Even knowing this, she doesn't hesitate to put herself forward. This shows how much courage she has, as well as bravery, and the protectiveness she has towards her younger sister. 

The dress with flames helps reveal the changed Katniss has experiences throughout her journey to the Hunger Games. The dress is worn for the opening ceremonies. Her stylist Cinna had designed it for her to "wow" the audience, give them something that wasn't the usual, and the crowd loved it, more importantly, Katniss loved it. It represents the new Katniss, not the poor young girl back at District 12, scavenging for food, trying to keep her family alive. Now she is "Katniss, the girl who was on fire." (Collins 67) Now she is someone memorable, someone unique. She is a courageous warrior, going to participate in the Hunger Games, fighting until death, to win the Hunger Games. 

MLA: Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

blogpost # 4 :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." 
-Nelson Mandela
MLA: "Courage Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, 2001. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.
     I don't think courage is "not being afraid" of something, like in this quote, I do think its to overcome the fear, to take on challenges and show bravery towards fear. For example, in the short story "Just Lather, That's All" by Hernando Tellez, the barber as well as Captain Torres had shown courage in different ways. The Captain had revealed at the end of the story that he did know that the barber was a rebel, but went in for a simple shave anyway. "They told me you'd kill me. I came to find out. But killing isn't easy. You can take my word for it."(Tellez 127) Even though the Captain knew there was a chance of him getting killed by the undercover rebel, he had overcame that fear and went in anyways to challenge the barbers character, and was testing his courage at the same time. Also the barber had shown a lot of courage, he knew who Captain Torres was, and what he did..to innocent people. He didn't let that fear overcome him, he overcame it, stayed calm, and fulfilled his duty as a barber. While he was giving this man a shave, he has several thoughts of what he should do, and what that would make him, he had the courage to kill him in an instant, but also had the courage to stay true to his self and his own decision and restrained himself from doing something that he'd regret. "When I recognized him I started to tremble. But he didn't notice. Hoping to conceal my emotion, I continued sharpening the razor."(124) "Yes, I was secretly a rebel, but I was also a conscientious barber, and proud of the preciseness of my profession."(125) 

The book that I am currently reading is called The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins, I'm not to far into the book yet, but I can feel the suspense and the intensity building up. I think there is a lot of courage in one of the main characters, Katniss Everdeen. She shows a number of attributes, and courage is defiantly one of them. The day of reaping, her younger sister Prim, is chosen from District 12 to participate in the Hunger Games, and knowing that the Hunger Games involves only one person living at the end, she offers herself up for a tribute to keep her younger sister safe. In my opinion, that requires a lot of courage, to basically give your life up for the sake of a loved one. An easy choice for some, being so family-oriented, but looking in a general aspect, setting yourself up for death is frightening. "..as our yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games. The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve district must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning dessert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins."(Collins 18) " "I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as a tribute!" "(Collins 22) So Katniss is now the tribute of the girls category for District 12, but her sister Prim is safe. By doing so, I think Katniss is a very courageous girl, and shows other attributes such as responsibility, respect, integrity, compassion, and many more. 

MLA: Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

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