The Hunger Games Chapter 3 Quotes

The Hunger Games Chapter 3 Quotes

How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Gale Hawthorne

Quote 1

“There’s almost always some wood,” Gale says. “Since that year half of them died of cold. Not much entertainment in that.”

It’s true. We spent one Hunger Games watching the players freeze to death at night. You could hardly see them because they were just huddled in balls and had no wood for fires or torches or anything. It was considered very anti-climactic in the Capitol, all those quiet bloodless deaths. Since then, there’s usually been wood to make fires. (3.34-35)

The Hunger Games, in which tributes fight each other to the death in front of the cameras, are an extreme example of reality television. Notice how the emphasis is on the audience’s entertainment rather than the pain and suffering of the candidates.

Quote 2

I can't win. Prim must know that in her heart. The competition will be far beyond my abilities. Kids from wealthier districts, where winning is a huge honor, who've been trained their whole lives for this. Boys who are two to three times my size. Girls who know twenty different ways to kill you with a knife. Oh, there'll be people like me, too. People to weed out before the real fun begins. (3.13)

Much like the reaping, the Hunger Games favor the rich: those who can afford the time and training it takes to compete. The Career Tributes (those who have been preparing for the Games all their lives) are therefore at an incredible advantage.

Quote 3

Finally, Gale is here and maybe there is nothing romantic between us, but when he opens his arms I don't hesitate to go into them. His body is familiar to me – the way it moves, the smell of wood smoke, even the sound of his heart beating I know from quiet moments on a hunt – but this is the first time I really feel it, lean and hard-muscled against my own. (3.28)

Katniss denies feeling romantically about Gale, but, um, we're starting to think otherwise. Why do you think she resists thinking of Gale in that special hearts and flowers way? Can she ever really think about love if she's only dedicated to her own survival? Is this why she doesn't want to have children?