Part 1
What is the name of the protagonist of The Hunger Games?
Katniss Everdeen
Who is Prim, and why is she important to Katniss’s decision at the reaping?
Primrose (Prim) Everdeen is Katniss’s younger sister; Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s place when Prim’s name is drawn.
What is Panem?
Panem is the future nation built on the ruins of North America, ruled by the Capitol and divided into districts.
What crucial action does Katniss take when Prim’s name is called at the reaping?
Katniss volunteers as tribute in Prim’s place.
What central theme is introduced by Katniss volunteering for Prim?
Sacrifice and familial love
showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.
iridescent
What district does Katniss live in, and what is its main industry?
District 12 - coal mining
Describe the relationship between Katniss and Gale before the reaping.
Gale Hawthorne is Katniss’s hunting partner and close friend; they rely on each other and share survival responsibilities for their families.
What are the Hunger Games and why were they created (official Capitol reason)?
The Hunger Games are an annual televised event where one boy and one girl from each district fight to the death; officially created as punishment and as a reminder after the districts’ failed rebellion.
Who is selected as the male tribute from District 12?
Peeta Mellark
What does the mockingjay symbol begin to represent in Part 1?
Unintended resistance and hope — a small emblem that links Katniss to her father and later becomes a symbol beyond District 12.
behavior, speech, or writing that is artificial and designed to impress.
Affectations
What item from home does Katniss keep and later wear as a token into the Games?
mockingjay pin
How does Peeta first show kindness to Katniss before the Games?
As a child, Peeta gave Katniss burned loaves of bread, an act that kept her family alive.
Describe life in the Seam (part of District 12) as shown in Chapters 1–9.
The Seam is poor, with food shortages, hard physical labor, closed shutters on reaping day, and people who take risks to hunt in the woods for survival.
What is Katniss’s first major public moment on the train and at the opening ceremonies?
She and Peeta appear in Cinna’s flaming costumes; Katniss becomes known as “the girl on fire.”
How is “appearance vs. reality” shown in the Capitol scenes?
The Capitol’s glamour, stylists, and shows mask cruelty; tributes are made to look beautiful and perform roles that may hide their true situation and feelings.
talk long-windedly without making very much sense.
Blather
Who is Haymitch Abernathy and what problem makes him a complicated mentor?
Haymitch is District 12’s only living victor who becomes Katniss and Peeta’s mentor; he drinks heavily and is unreliable at times, yet he has experience and influence.
What does the three-finger salute from the crowd mean when Katniss volunteers?
It is a District 12 gesture of thanks, admiration, and farewell — a quiet act of solidarity and respect.
What kinds of public control and surveillance are highlighted in Part 1?
The Capitol uses the Games, cameras, Peacekeepers, and the reaping ceremonies to monitor, humiliate, and control district populations.
What important choice does Katniss make during her private session with the Gamemakers?
She shoots an arrow at a pig on the Gamemakers’ table (skewering the apple), a bold act that risks punishment but also helps her stand out.
Identify an example from Part 1 that shows how power operates through fear and entertainment.
The reaping and the televised Games transform punishment into a spectacle that normalizes violence and reminds districts of Capitol dominance.
involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring
Arduous
Explain how tesserae affect the reaping odds for poor families in District 12 (use evidence from Part 1).
Tesserae are grain-and-oil rations a family can trade for by adding extra entries of a child’s name into the reaping; poorer families take more tesserae, increasing their children’s chances of being chosen.
Analyze the tension between trust and strategy in Katniss’s early interactions with Peeta and Gale.
Katniss trusts Gale from long experience but is suspicious of Peeta’s kindness and his motives after his public confession; she must weigh emotional ties versus survival strategies while being aware that alliances can be strategic and performative.
Explain how the Capitol uses spectacle (e.g., fashion, ceremonies) to exert power and distract the districts.
The Capitol turns the Games into entertainment through stylists, flamboyant costumes (the “girl on fire” effect), televised ceremonies, and media commentary that glamorize tributes and mask oppression, fostering distraction and complacency.
During the training sessions, what advice does Haymitch give Katniss and Peeta about public behavior?
Haymitch orders them to act friendly and stick together in public to gain sponsors and public sympathy.
Analyze how survival and morality begin to conflict in Katniss’s choices up to Chapter 9.
Katniss’s actions—poaching, lying about feelings, and volunteering to save Prim—show survival often requires morally ambiguous choices; she must balance personal ethics with protecting loved ones and ensuring resources.
(of a feeling, especially love) not returned or rewarded
Unrequited