The Hunger Games - Chapter Summaries

The Hunger Games - Chapter 11 Summary The tributes must wait sixty seconds before they are released. While she waits, Katniss surveys the field. She knows that if she steps off her podium she will be blown up by mines. (as we discover later) Just in front of her is a small plastic sheet. In the Cornucopia she sees a tent pack and a bow and arrows. She knows she is a fast runner and thinks she might be able to reach the bow before anyone, else but remembers Haymitch’s instructions to get away and find water. She’s preparing to run when she notices Peeta. He is looking at her and shaking his head as if telling her “no.” The gong sounds, and because Katniss was distracted by Peeta, she misses her chance. She grabs the sheet and decides to sprint to an orange backpack further in. She gets there at the same time as another boy, and while they struggle for the pack, blood sprays Katniss’s face. The boy falls down with a knife in his back.  Katniss runs for the woods while putting the backpack on, and a knife hits the pack and lodges firmly in it. She looks back to see the tributes fighting. Several already lie dead on the ground. She continues into the woods and doesn’t stop for a long time while she looks for water.

The Hunger Games - Chapter 11 Summary During the Games, a cannon sounds to mark the death of a tribute, and once the main battle is over, Katniss hears eleven cannon shots. That means thirteen tributes remain. At night they’ll play the Capitol’s anthem and project the images of the dead into the sky for everyone to see. She wonders if Peeta is alive, then checks the contents of the backpack. It contains a sleeping bag, a little food, a bottle of iodine for purifying water, an empty bottle, and some other items. Katniss was hoping for water, and she knows she won’t last long without it. There was a lake by the Cornucopia, and she’s worried it may be the only water source in the arena since it’s sure to be guarded by Career Tributes. Eventually it gets dark, so Katniss uses the tree climbing skills that were etablished earlier and makes her bed in a tree, using her belt to secure herself to a branch. The faces of the dead tributes are projected one after another in the sky, and Katniss is relieved that Peeta is not among them.

The Hunger Games - Chapter 11 Summary Someone starts a fire nearby. Katniss lies in her sleeping bag, and when it’s almost dawn, she hears several people running toward the fire. A girl pleads and then screams, and Katniss realizes several tributes are hunting in a pack. They stop a few yards from her tree and discuss why the cannon hasn’t sounded to announce the girl’s death. The voices belong to some of the Career Tributes, but another voice says he’ll go back to make sure she’s dead. It belongs to Peeta.

The Hunger Games - Chapter 11 Summary Character Development - Katniss : Key Points Katniss finds the skill, speed and luck to escape the bloodbath at the cornucopia. In so doing she makes a couple of life-or-death decisions, the first is being prepared to risk her life to get the bow, but Peeta stops her. She then risks her life again to get the orange backpack. She stops to fight a boy for the pack, further risking death, especially as the boy is then killed with a knife. She would be next but the backpack saves her, and earns her a knife. The knife becomes important to her as she can use it to cut up and prepare the food she catches; it could be used as a weapon to defend herself or attack an opponent. Most importantly it becomes the means to drop the tracker-jacker next on the Career pack later in the novel and in a moment of foreshadowing, Katniss even notices the serrated edge to the blade that would be good for sawing. Having escaped the bloodbath at the Cornucopia, Katniss’ climbing skills now also come to help save her life as she is able to make a safe and secure bed for herself up in a tree. However lack of water is becoming a real problem for her. Just as she is feeling secure she hears the Career pack discover and kill another unfortunate female tribute. They stop just under her tree and to her horror she hears Peta’s voice, who for reasons that are not explained, seems to have joined forces with the Career Tributes.

The Hunger Games - Chapter 11 Summary Character Development - Peeta : Key Points Silently Peeta warns Katniss not to run to get the bow. He seems to be acting in her best interests but next we find he has got involved with the Careers (presumably by fighting in the bloodbath) and now seems to have joined forces with them. Did he stop Katniss going for the bow because he knew she would be lethal (and a threat to him) if she got it? Our feelings towards Peta are further confused when he volunteers to go and ‘finish off’ the girl the Careers attacked. Perhaps there is more to this Bakers boy than we thought and he is not so transparent or as nice as he seemed to be after all.