After winning the 74th Hunger Games in the previous novel,
Katniss Everdeen and
Peeta Mellark return home to
District 12, the poorest sector in the country of
Panem. On the day that Katniss and Peeta are to start a "Victory Tour" of the country, she is visited by
President Snow,
who explains that he is angry with her for breaking the rules at the
end of the last Hunger Games, which permitted both Peeta and Katniss to
win. Snow tells Katniss that when she defied the Capitol, she inspired
rebellion in the districts.
The first stop on the Victory Tour is District 11, the home of Katniss's deceased friend and ally in the Hunger Games,
Rue.
During the ceremony, Katniss delivers a brief speech to the people of
District 11, thanking them for their participants in the Games. When she
is done, an old man whistles the tune that Katniss used in the arena to
tell Rue that she was safe. The song acts as a signal and everyone
salutes Katniss, using the same gesture that she used to say farewell to
Rue. Leaving District 11, Katniss and Peeta proceed to travel to all of
the twelve districts and the Capitol. During an interview, Peeta
proposes to Katniss publicly, hoping to settle the dispute between
Katniss and President Snow and placate the growing rebellion. Despite
this, Katniss learns that their attempts of subduing revolt in the
districts have failed.
Shortly after returning to District 12, Katniss encounters two
runaways from District 8. They explain their theory that District 13 was
not wiped out by the Capitol, contrary to what the other districts have
been led to believe, and that many of its residents survive in
underground shelters. Later, it is announced that, for the 75th Hunger
Games, 24 victors from previous years will be forced to compete once
again. This is the third occurrence of the "Quarter Quell": an event
that occurs every 25th year of the Games and allows the Capitol to
introduce a twist. Knowing that she and Peeta will both be competing in
the Games a second time, Katniss decides that she will devote herself to
ensuring that Peeta becomes the Quarter Quell's victor. However, Peeta
is devoted to protecting her.
During the Games, set in a jungle with a saltwater lake, Katniss and Peeta join up with two other previous victors:
Finnick Odair, a 24-year-old man who survived the Games at the age of 14, and
Mags, Finnick's 80-year-old mentor, both from District 4. After Mags's death, Katniss, Peeta and Finnick join forces with
Johanna Mason, a sarcastic and often cruel victor from District 7, and
Beetee and Wiress,
an older couple from District 3 who are said to be "exceptionally
smart". Wiress soon proves her genius by revealing to Katniss that the
arena is arranged like a clock, with all of the arena's disasters
occurring on a timed chart. After Wiress is killed, Katniss learns of
Beetee's plan to harness lightning in order to electrocute two other
contenders. In the final chapters, Katniss directs the lightning at the
force field that contains the arena, thereby destroying the arena and
resulting in her temporary
paralysis.
When Katniss wakes up, she is being transported to District 13, joined by Finnick, Beetee, and her mentor,
Haymitch Abernathy.
She learns that Peeta and Johanna have been captured by the Capitol,
and is informed that there had been a plan among most of the contestants
to break out of the arena—Beetee had been attempting to destroy the
force field in the same way that she did. The book ends when Katniss's
best friend, Gale, comes to visit her and informs her that, though he
got her family out in time, District 12 has been bombed and destroyed.
Themes
The main themes of
Catching Fire include survival,
[2] and the conflict between
interdependence and
independence. As reviewer Margo Dill noted, "In [
Catching Fire],
Katniss and Peeta are definitely interdependent. They are both helping
each other to survive. As a matter of fact, they want the other one to
survive more than they do themselves." Dill goes on to explain how this
likely increases the chances of each character dying.
[3]
Government control is another important theme, both within the book
and throughout the entire trilogy. After suppressing the first
rebellion, the Capitol establishes rules in order to restrict and
control the citizens' lives. Examples noted by Dill include that, "the
75th annual Hunger Games have 'new' rules that cause Katniss and Peeta
to be in danger once again. More 'Peacekeepers' are placed in districts
to diminish any hope that the citizens started to have after the last
Hunger Games."
[3]
Another major theme throughout the trilogy is the media and the
influence or power that popular culture has over the emotions, wishes
and views of society. Other themes in the book include morality,
obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love, and law.
[2]
Catching Fire had a preliminary
hardcover
release date of September 8, 2009, which was moved up to September 1 in
response to requests by retailers to move the release to before
Labor Day and the start of school for many readers.
[4] It was also published as an
audiobook on the same day.
[5] Advance reading copies were available at
BookExpo America in New York City,
[6] and were sent out to some booksellers, and offered as prizes in
Scholastic's "How Would You Survive" writing contest in May 2009. An eBook version was also published on June 3, 2010.
[5] Catching Fire had an initial print of 350,000 copies,
[4] a number which had grown to over 750,000 by February 2010.
[7] The release of
Mockingjay, the third novel of the series, followed on August 24, 2010
