The Girl Who Was on Fire (17 page)

Back in District 12, Kat toggles back and forth between wearing her preferred hunting gear and Cinna’s clothes, which her mother believes are more appropriate to her status, but as Kat heads out on the Victory Tour she is once again placed at the mercy of her stylist and his team.

During the tour, she sees her mockingjay emblem, her token from the first Games, everywhere. Katniss’ pin, which depicts the bird in flight connected to a ring by its wingtips, mocks the Capitol. As the unintended offspring of the Capitol’s genetically enhanced jabberjays and wild mockingbirds, the mockingjay is a symbol of strength, adaptability, and triumph over oppression, the perfect representation of the bold and defiant District 12 tribute.

It’s also the perfect representation of a nation ready for change, and after Katniss wins the Games, the little bird adorns belt buckles, watches, silk lapels, tattoos, and more. Some likely wear the symbol only because it is associated with their heroine. For others, however, it shows they’ve joined the rebellion. Unlike most other fads—Snooki’s poof, I <3 Boobies tees, and Silly Bandz—the mockingjay trend holds a powerful message of political solidarity. The public tells Kat, “We’re behind you. We believe in you. We’re ready to follow, and continue what you started.”

When Katniss is forced to return to the arena for the Quarter Quell, she knows Snow plans to get rid of her. Once again, Cinna steps in to make a fashion statement. Kat’s opening ceremony outfit is meant as a warning to the President. Despite his wishes, Kat will not go quietly; Snow shouldn’t underestimate her a second time, and the other tributes should fear her. To convey Kat’s indomitable strength Cinna bypasses the softer touches and subtle messages in her opening ceremony outfit. Her makeup is dark and shadowed and her fitted black jumpsuit glows like burning embers. The pièce de résistance is a crown, marking her as a victor, which burns an angry red. Seeing herself in a mirror, she thinks, “Katniss, the girl on fire, has left behind her flickering flames and bejeweled gowns and soft candlelight frocks. She is as deadly as fire itself” (
Catching Fire
).

Initially Cinna’s designs are meant to capture the audience’s attention and turn them into avid Kat supporters. Further down the line, the importance of that goal intensifies as Kat’s involvement in the Games turns political in nature. When it comes to melding fashion with politics, no one better understands the power clothes hold than Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin.

Fashion insiders analyzed, criticized, and praised their campaign wardrobes the way pundits did the candidates’ views on hot
button issues. Obama was praised for wearing youthful, affordable designers. By staying away from the staid, conservative look so many first ladies bow to, she not only looked spectacular, she seemed a tad rebellious for bucking the age-old tradition in a way that also complemented her husband’s message of change. On the other side of the runway, Palin was crucified in the media for her exorbitantly priced attire. From her rimless glasses to her designer power suits, her carefully constructed image was meant to project smarts and strength, marking her as a worthy running mate for John “Maverick” McCain. Instead, her lavish threads marred the small-town, “Joe Six-pack” everywoman reputation she’d tried hard to cultivate. After all, how many average American women can afford to spend $150,000 on clothes? For both ladies, matching their clothes to their message was the difference between success and failure, and their outfits spoke louder than words.

After the Quarter Quell announcement and a few weeks before the Games begin, Cinna has the foresight to design a black uniform that Kat describes as being “at first glance utterly utilitarian, at second a work of art” (
Mockingjay
). The carefully crafted outfit keeps Kat safe with its layers of body armor and reinforcement over her heart, but the precise tailoring, swoop of the helmet, curve of the breastplate, peek-a-boo sleeves, and hidden weaponry make this final outfit by Cinna starkly attractive as well. But the most important outfit Cinna designs in his short career, the one that propels Panem into rebellion and signs his death warrant, is Katniss’ Quarter Quell interview outfit.

Coco Chanel once said, “In fashion, you know you have succeeded when there is an element of upset.” Cinna more than succeeded with his greatest creation. When the victors give their pre-game interviews to Caesar for the Seventy-fifth Games,
many of them voice their upset at being chosen to compete again. Their heartfelt pleas wreck the crowd. Then comes Kat’s turn. Dressed in her bridal gown as dictated by President Snow, she tells the audience she’s so sorry they won’t be able to watch her wedding, but she’s pleased she can, at the very least, share the dress with them—a dress that, unbeknownst to Kat, Cinna has secretly modified. The white silk gown with floor-length sleeves and millions of pearls was voted on by the people of Panem. Now it stands as a tragic, romantic symbol of star-crossed lovers who will never have their happily ever after, a frilly testament to wishes never fulfilled, a painful reminder to every Panemian of what they too have lost. As the audience contemplates her sad fate, Katniss begins to twirl and her dress catches fire! She spins faster and faster as smoke and flames engulf her. Pearls clatter to the floor, silk darkens and burns away. When she finally stops turning, the dress has been transformed. The design is the same as her wedding gown, but Kat now stands covered in coal-colored feathers. Her draping sleeves resemble wings, her veil a crown of down. She stands before the audience as a beautiful mockingjay. The ultimate symbol of resistance. Without words, Cinna fans the spark of defiance Kat’s single act of insurgence in the first Games lit in the districts. Her fiery transformation from broken bride to mighty mockingjay is a call to arms, a battle cry for independence, and a stand against oppression. With lace and feathers, pearls and veil, a war is begun.

“Don’t worry,” Cinna tells Kat in
Catching Fire
, fully knowing what he has done and what it will cost him. “I always channel my emotions into my work. That way I don’t hurt anyone but myself.”

Despite the danger his daring design places him in, Cinna makes his voice heard. Perhaps writer Eric Hoffer said it best
when discussing creativity, “Discontent is at the root of the creative process ... the most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.” Discontent with the Capitol leads Cinna to commit a crime of fashion. Without question it also brings about his creative best. Through his work he helps rid the world of Snow’s dictatorship, and like many renegades, he dies for his cause. In the end, Kat shouldn’t be given all the credit for starting the revolt. She might be the flame, but Cinna is the torch.

TERRI CLARK
feels blessed to demonstrate her passion for young adult fiction as both a teen librarian and author. For as long as she can remember she’s been fascinated with the paranormal, so it’s little wonder her stories are a bit edgy and twisted.
Sleepless
(HarperTeen) is about a teen who is stalked in her dreams by a killer and her short story in the
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
(HoughtonMifflin) anthology delves into mind-reading. Terri was also a contributor to the non-fiction anthology
Flirtin’ with the Monster
(BenBella Books). Her next paranormal,
Hollyweird
(Flux), will be released in 2012. You can visit Terri online at
www.TerriClarkBooks.com
and at
www.facebook.com/terriclarkbooks
.

 

 

The Hunger Games series is littered with characters who have experienced severe physical and mental trauma, from Katniss’ mother to Haymitch and the other Hunger Games victors to Katniss herself. No one ever uses the term Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but, says Blythe Woolston, the indicators are all there. Woolston explains how PTSD works, why the design of the Hunger Games makes the disorder almost inevitable for those who survive it, and how Katniss, Peeta, and the others may eventually be able to heal.

 

 

T
he Hunger Games trilogy gave me bad dreams. Actually, the books provided images, feelings, and ideas that my brain used as ingredients to brew up nightmares about children’s bones floating in a river of red dust and creepy lizard mutts lurking in the storm drain outside my front door. My brain is good at that sort of thing. But dreaming wasn’t the only business my brain was doing while I slept. It was also forming memories. That is why I remember Greasy Sae’s concoction of mouse meat and pig entrails, Prim’s untucked shirt, and, of course, Katniss, the girl on fire.

You probably remember why Katniss called Prim “little duck.” It’s a detail that’s important to the story. But—unless you share my personal fascination with mice and nasty-bad soup—Sae’s recipe isn’t stashed in long-term memory. That’s because every individual has a unique brain in charge of selecting information and forming memories. Depending on our previous experiences, we notice some things and ignore others. In the process, we build an ever-more-specialized system for dealing with the world. We can donate a kidney or a chunk of liver or a pint of blood to someone else and those cells have a good chance of being useful, but the brain and the memories in it can’t be transplanted. Brains are weird, custom-made, do-it-yourself projects.

The Hunger Games is an especially good series to read with the brain in mind. Nightmares, memories, and hallucinations are an important part of the story—and all of those things are brain business. Why does Katniss behave as she does? I think the answer to that question depends upon understanding her
brain, not her heart. In order to understand Katniss and her choices, we have to understand how a brain makes sense of the world and what happens to a brain when it’s plunged into the senseless world of the Games! arena.

We’ll start with brain building, focusing on the way the newborn brain makes sense of the self, the physical world, and the social environment. With that foundation, we can look at the way memory happens, both in normal situations and in traumatic circumstances. The Hunger Games is a frightening experience that bends, breaks, and shatters minds. When we look at the tributes individually, their behaviors reflect the damage done. Finally, we can look at healing, the ways that damaged minds might mend—at the way that Katniss and Peeta move forward at the conclusion of the book.

Compared to the heart, which is pumping like a pro before the umbilical cord is cut, the brain is a late bloomer. A newborn heart can move blood all the way to a baby’s hand, but that hand won’t be under meaningful control by the brain for weeks or months—maybe years. Forging the brain/body connections required to become an expert archer like Katniss is a project beyond most of us at any age, but even walking, something most of us
can
do without conscious effort, requires an impressive network of nerves to relay sensory inputs and responses.

Delayed development isn’t the only way that the brain differs from the rest of the body. Bones or muscles have to
add
cells to mature, but the maturing brain
subtracts
cells, weeding out an
overabundance of neurons. The result is an ever-more efficient network. Scientists refer to this process as pruning.

This “less is more” approach also drives the brain’s first encounters with the world. It has to sift through a “blooming, buzzing confusion” of sensory impressions.
¹⁸
If you take a moment to notice all the things you usually don’t—like the pressure of clothing against your skin, the multitude of hums and whispers in the air, and the motionless things at the edge of your peripheral vision—you realize that awareness is as much about deciding what can safely be ignored as paying attention to useful kernels of information.

Babies are dedicated researchers, and the world is their laboratory. An infant begins by discovering the self, making the connection between mind and body—essentially learning to use the equipment. It takes trial and error to discover how to do complicated tasks like focusing the eyes and “finding” the hands. Once the hands and eyes are coordinated, exploration of the physical world progresses rapidly. Splashing around in a bath provides information about the nature of water and the power of the body to move things. Chucking a toy to the floor is an excellent test of gravity, and, after gravity has been proven reliable, it becomes a social experiment. How many times will someone pick it up and give it back? All of this activity is about discovering the self, the physical environment, and the social world. Once that foundation is laid, learning new things and responding in creative ways to new situations becomes possible—as long as we have a system to store and access experiences. That system is memory.