Capitol News
Febuary Edition Produced By Jaxen Gemmell
Katniss Everden Where I’m From
The Sun is goING DOWN Plus an Analysis of The Song Writers Vision
Katniss Everden One On One Capitol News
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Hunger Games Beginning to end An Essay By Jaxen Gemmell
Quotes From The Story:
Prologue:
In a not-too-distant future, North America has collapsed, “Happy Hunger Games! weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war to be replaced And may the odds be by Panem, a country divided ever in your favor!” into the Capitol and 12 dis-Effie Trinket tricts. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery “Here’s some advice. to participate in The Hunger Stay alive.” Games. Part entertainment, -Haymitch Abernathy part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcast “Scores only matter if throughout Panem. The 24 they’re very good, no participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literalone pays much attention to the bad or me- ly, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katdiocre ones.” niss’ young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district’s -Portia female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. “Katniss, the girl who She and her male counterpart was on fire” Peeta, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representa-Cinna tives who have trained for this their whole lives. Capitol News 2
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KATNISS EVERDEN: 16 year-old Katniss Everden grew up in the country of Panem, more specifically district 12. Almost forty-nine years ago Panem consisted
Today there is only 12 districts because forty-nine years ago district 13 rebelled against the Capitol. In response, the Capitol dropped a bomb
of thirteen different districts providing different resources to the Capitol such as coal, food, grains, cars, medicine and many other things.
on it and district 13 was no more. Katniss does not have a father because he died in a mining accident seven years ago. Her mother was
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devastated and she ran away for a short period of time leaving Katniss all alone with her sister. Since then Katniss has never had the same relationship with her mother because her mother never took on the primary role of support to her children. During this time, Katniss has been the provider and protector of her family. She has many skills such as hunting that have kept her and her sister Prim alive. Katniss has many friends including Gale who is also a very gifted hunter and provider for his family. Q: Recently, District 12 held its annual reaping. How did you
feel when Prim was picked for the reaping?
A: I was very amazed after all she had her name entered once while some people have their name entered over 50 times. Q: During the interview Peeta said that he loved you, what were the emotions that were running through you and if it came down to a one on one during The Hunger Games what would happen? A: I was very shocked and that totally changed the way I think of him.
Q: Cinna choose to dress up district 12 tributes during The Hunger Games what would be his reasonCapitol News ing?
A: I think he choose our district because if one of us won it would be good for him to show that he took a very low ranked district and help them win The Hunger Games.
Q: After the annual Reaping ceremonies, what emotions did you feel when your mom and Prim visited you? A: Well I was very sad that I might never see them again and I knew that Prim could survive with the help of Gale Q: What were you thinking when Peeta looked across the arena at you and shook his head? A: Well at first I thought that he was telling me to run and that he would catch up with me later. But
then later I knew that he was distracting me. Wow how much I disliked him at the time. Q: How do you feel about the hunger games and the way the Capitol controls you, your family and everyone else?
A: Well I feel that the capitol is so full of itself. The way they run districts is very depressing. When I was first eligible to take part in the hunger games it made me realize that the Games are a way of showing the people that they (the Capitol) have full control of everything you do including your chance of living.
The Sun is Going Down I remember tears streaming down your face When I said, I’ll never let you go When all those shadows almost killed your light I remember you said, Don’t leave me here alone But all that’s dead and gone and passed tonight Just close your eyes The sun is going down You’ll be alright No one can hurt you now Come morning light You and I’ll be safe and sound Don’t you dare look out your window darling Everything’s on fire The war outside our door keeps raging on Hold onto this lullaby Even when the music’s gone Just close your eyes The sun is going down You’ll be alright No one can hurt you now Come morning light You and I’ll be safe and sound Just close your eyes You’ll be alright Come morning light, You and I’ll be safe and sound
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Capitol News
Song Analysis
Writers: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, and T Bone Burnett Title: In danger and silent Feat. The Civil Wars Producer: T Bone Burnett Album: Hunger Games Record Label: Big Machine Release Date: December 23, 2011 I think that the theme of the song is that there are bad things always happening around you all the time; some small, some big. Safe and sound is saying that people are always at your side ready to protect you. During the song Taylor swift says “You’ll be alright, No one can hurt you,” which is basically saying if you are going through a tough time the future is bright and ready for you. I think that the theme of this song is that there are bad things happening around you, but there is always somebody that is there to protect you, make everything Safe and Sound. For example in the song it says “When all those shadows almost killed your light.” Here it’s saying that something bad has happened to you and then it states “You’ll be alright No one can hurt you now” it is saying that even though you have been through a rough time, there is someone to take care of you and make everything alright. Hyperbole: Darling, every thing’s on fire Idiom: I’ll never let you go Personification: The war outside our door keeps raging on I think that these poetic devices in the song help to create a mental image of what is happening, because each one is descriptive or over exaggerated. This helps create the mental image because it forces you to think bigger, or to think outside the box. Instead if there were no figurative language the song would just be a plain boring song that doesn’t tell the listener or reader anything. I think the songwriter chose to do this because she wanted everyone to know what is happening in the short phrases she used. I think she got her point across in a very short time. I remember tears streaming down your face, Safe and sound is touching on the struggle to survive in the hunger games because anything can happen so very fast and at any time. With the relationship of Katniss and Peeta the song is also relating to the part in the book when Katniss finds Peeta in the woods the sleep the Katniss had that night was much safer and the sleep was also sound because of the presence of knowing that he can keep watch for a while. I believe that the song has a very deep connection in many ways with the book The Hunger Games because the song is connecting mostly with the games and how your struggle to survive is not over till the end. I also think that the book connects with Katniss’s living condition and how being the provider for her family is always “more and more difficult.” This song also talks about how war is hard to escape from and how it “keeps raging on” and things almost seem hopeless and inescapable. This plays off some situations in the book. So truly both this song “safe and sound” and the book 7 “The hunger games” are made for one other.
Katniss Everden Where I’m From I am a part of yearly reaping’s and Hunger Games I’m from bottomless coal mining pits deep in the cold rocky mountain valley Poor district 12 designed who I am To the rich Capitol now changing me to be better
I am from the difficult learning skills of trapping And the fine art of bow making I am from little wood shacks Now living in a big wood mansion
I am from Gale to Peeta From Prim to my Mother I am from tesserae and grizI am from drunken old zled frigid bread and cold wa- Haymitch to clean Effie Trinter ket To the now piping hot buns, I am from Cinna to the make and fancy tea up crew I am from the skinning of animals I am from Thresh who save my War, trading and selling life Too little Rue who made me I am from the sharp shooting feel safe with hand crafted bows and I am from big slow careers to dark wood arrows little swift tributes To the milking of goats Plus the middle people, the I am from old grungy streets ones who make a good run And barely survivable condi- I’m from moments like these tions that define you I am and What I stand for Capitol News 8
Hunger Games Beginning to End
By Jaxen Gemmell
The Hunger Games has sold over 800,000 copies in Canada and U.S.A. and there are over 2.9 million copies in print. The book has been translated into 26 different languages and rights to the novel have been sold in over 38 countries. These amazing figures show the book is popular around the world and that is why the Ministry of Education should include the book The Hunger Games in the Grade 8 curriculum. In the book The Hunger Games tributes are fighting for their lives against each other, 24 people are put in an arena to dual for their lives. The prize is that the winner of the competition gets to live; simple as that. There are two people chosen from each district and the main characters are Katniss Everden and Peeta Melark who are both from district 12. The book possesses three qualities that illustrates why the book should be included in the curriculum. One, the book captures the reader and the reader stays hooked from the beginning to the end. Two, there is great character development throughout the whole story; along with that you are always gaining knowledge of the characters traits which creates a personal connection with the characters. The third reason why I think that the Ministry of Education should include the book The Hunger Games in the grade 8 curriculum is the unpredictability, suspense and entertaining storyline.
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he first reason why the book The Hunger Games should be included in the curriculum is because the book captures the reader’s attention and interest entirely with new exciting scenes that keep the story moving. Readers will be hooked because they want to know what will happen next. Not only that, but there were multiple high points throughout the story. For example, during the competition the whole game is changed when the announcer says that there can be two winners if they are from the same district. I was shocked when this happened because it changed Katniss’s and Peeta’s strategy to win the Hunger Games. Putting the book down was not an option as it was now possible for many different outcomes, not just Katniss wining, and this made for a very interesting ending.
Another reason why the book should be included in the grade 8 curriculum is because The Hunger Games presents amazing character development. For instance, Katniss is put in many situations where her true character is shown to the reader. More specifically, when Peeta says that he loves Katniss, her reaction was the opposite of what readers would expect. Katniss simply is unwilling to accept Peeta’s love because she fears this will become a distraction to her during the game. This shows Katniss’s focus on her one goal to win and live. The drive and focus that Katniss shows are attributes students can integrate into every day situations such as presenting in front of the class. In addition the characters are entertaining because of the descriptive details the author provides. Furthermore characters actions sometimes are different from what the average reader might think for example in the book there is a scene at the end of the event when Katniss and Peeta kill the last survivor and then they think that they have won. But instead a person states over the speakers that they now have to fight each other. Earlier on in the book Peeta says that he loves Katniss, so instead of fighting her I thought that Peeta would kill himself because he would want Katniss to live on. Instead they decided to kill themselves by throwing poisonous berries in their mouths at the same time. However just before they were going to plop the berries in their mouth they were stopped by a speaker voice telling them they had both won and the games were over.
The last reason why the book The Hunger Games, should be included in the grade 8 program of study is because of the unpredictability, the suspense and entertaining storyline that the book presents. For example Katniss’s sister ends up being chosen as a competitor, instead of Katniss being sad she stands up and takes her sisters place even though she knows she could die. This shows lots of suspense because I wanted to finish reading about what happened so very badly. Another example of the way the book creates suspense is by always changing course for example during the Hunger Games there is only supposed to be one winner, but in this year there can be two. There are exceptions being made through out the story making it unique. With the story always changing it ties in nicely with the unpredictability of the whole story. This means the reader is always guessing what will happen next, which results in the book never losing the attention and interest of the readers, furthermore the book never plateaus. On top of all that the book contains a great amount of suspense, meaning the book never plateaus and there are multiple high points keeping the reader engaged in the story. In conclusion I strongly believe that the book The Hunger Games should most definitely be included in the grade 8 curriculum. Not only is the book suspenseful but also there is lots of unpredictability, and a very high entertainment factor. Along with that there is remarkable character development as the reader builds a strong bond with Katniss the main character of the story. The book instantly hooks the reader and they will not stop reading until the end of the story. I was very engaged in the story and I stayed up late a couple nights reading to find out who wins The Hunger Games.