Symbolism In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is based on the novel written by Suzanne Collins. A year after winning the 74th Hunger Games, where Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark tried committing suicide by eating poisonous berries because they would rather die together then to face off and try to kill each other. With both Katniss and Peeta declared the winners, it is fueling a possible uprising. After this, Katniss and Peeta realize that they have started a revolution and continue to show people their undying love for eachother; however, President Snow doesn’t believe their lie and tries to make the people see this throughout the film. So before Katniss and her partner Peeta go on a victor’s tour, where they go to all the districts to make a speech, President Snow goes to tell Katniss that he is always watching her by showing her footage of her and her old

Katniss symbolizes defiance of the Capitol and the rebellion working to bring it down, though she isn’t even aware of the full extent of this symbolism for much of the novel. At the end of the Hunger Games, Katniss defied the Capitol’s rules by threatening to commit suicide with Peeta. The Capitol intended for there to be only one victor, but Katniss forced them to accept two or lose both. It’s not until she meets the refugees from District 8 in the woods, however, that Katniss and the reader begin to see that people in the districts did, in fact, take her act as a gesture of outright rebellion against the Capitol. It’s the first inkling Katniss has of her status as a figurehead of sorts. Further hints crop up that Katniss, in some way, represents defiance of the Capitol, like the mocking jay costume Katniss’ designer creates for her. As Haymitch explains, Katniss is the mocking jay, meaning she herself is the symbol of the rebel movement working to bring down the