Why do these people speak in such a high pitch? Why do their jaws barely open when they talk? Why do the ends of their sentences go up as if they’re asking a question?

Maybe you shouldn’t make that particular compliant by phrasing it as a series of questions…  Also, just every comment about the Capitol accent gets to me in this book.  It’s the standard accent.  It shouldn’t be this confusing.  It’s the only accent you ever seen on television.  It’s the way everyone in any position of power talks.  It would be like someone in the USA now complaining about an “American accent.”  Or, I guess more accurately, like someone from East Texas complaining that the cast of Friends sounds funny. 

Venia makes what’s supposed to be a sympathetic face.

Because she can’t really be sympathetic?  Look, I know these three are pretty fucked up in larger ways, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be sympathetic about how much waxing hurts.  And if it’s fake sympathy…then what does this book think she’s really feeling?  Is Venia supposed to be a sadistic waxer who is secretly chortling in glee over Katniss’s pain, but does a bad job of covering it up?

He gives his orange corkscrew locks a shake and applies a fresh coat of purple lipstick to his mouth.

First “bad” guy we’ve seen so far in this book, and his first action is put on more lipstick.

Because this book is feminist, and don’t you forget it!

It’s hard to hate my prep team. They’re such total idiots.

I really, really hate the treatment of the prep team in this book.  At every turn, they’re treated as sub-human, as being just things.  We’re supposed to forgive them for being involved in the process of the Games, but not through any logical or moral argument.  No, we’re supposed to forgive them because they just don’t matter.  They aren’t real.  They aren’t people.  They’re pets.

Fuck that.  They’re people, and they should be held to the same standards as any other adult.  On top of that, I don’t see any evidence that they’re idiots.  They have different standards and values than Katniss does, but that doesn’t make them stupid.  Fashion and beauty is not an inherently moronic field.  There’s nothing about the process that requires you to be in the barely-able-to-function IQ level.  Sure, none of them are going to come out as the next Steven Hawking, but they’re normally functioning adults.

Which means that, as normally functioning adults, they should know that killing children for entertainment is wrong.  And, as they are in possession of sound mind, I can judge them and hate them for participating.  I’m not going to call them idiots, and I’m not going to give them a pass.  I’m going to hold them to a standard, a basic standard of human decency, and they fall short of that standard.  Not because they waxed Katniss, but because they are giving implied approval to the entire concept of the Games.

I left her blue dress and shoes on the floor of my train car, never thinking about retrieving them, of trying to hold on to a piece of her, of home.

Because Katniss is a middle-class-brat who has enough possessions that she can leave some around on the floor without thinking about it.

The only concession to selfalteration seems to be metallic gold eyeliner that has been applied with a light hand.

Ah, Cinna.  He seems to suffer from the same problem America did in The Selection.  He’s being praised for his looks because he miraculously did a better job at looking pretty than all those other dumb bitches who wear too much make-up.  It’s using his appearance as a short-hand for his ‘goodness,’ but it’s not giving us anything else to base this on.  Cinna’s not making a statement here, he’s not doing any good for anyone else by dressing this way.  He’s simply likes this look, and if he preferred the look of surgically-implanted bat wings, well then he’d wear those instead.  And I refuse to base someone’s “goodness” on how well their fashion sense matches up with mine.

“I asked for District Twelve,” he says without further explanation.

No explanation, huh?  Wow, what a cheap copout.  Cinna’s this big important character who does big important things (or so the book claims; I’m still iffy on how fucking important clothes are), and yet we have no reason at all for why he’s there.  People can cry, cry, cry about the revolution and the fact that he made dresses for it, and that’s all well and good, but it still doesn’t explain why he picked District 12.  He didn’t know Katniss was going to be there or that she’d end up so important, unless he can see the future.  The only reasons I can think of are 1) he really wanted an excuse to use his fake-fire creation and 2) he had a “Challenge Accepted” mentality and wanted to show off by doing cool stuff with the suckiest district.  Again, neither of which are serving to convince me that he’s a morally good person.  They’re both valid reasons to pick 12, but they don’t tell me anything about him except that he likes his job and wants to do well at it.  (And that he likes fire.)

Chickens are too expensive, but I could make do with a wild turkey.

If by “make do” you mean “turkey is a superior bird in every conceivable way.”  And since when are chickens too expensive?  They’re dirt cheap to keep and almost take care of themselves.  Why are there not a million chickens in your district?  They’re ideal for urban environments because they can subsist on bugs and a minimal amount of vegetation.  They’re certainly easier to feed than goats.

Goat’s milk would have to substitute for cream.

If by “substitute” you mean “basically the same thing.”  Where do you think cream comes from, book?

We can grow peas in the garden. I’d have to get wild onions from the woods.

You have a garden, but you don’t understand the concept of keeping chickens or, I don’t know, intentionally growing onions?  Seriously, pluck a few of those bad boys, bring them home, and plant them next to the peas. 

And why do you have a garden?  Do you know what gardens require?  SPACE!  You live in a heavily urbanized environment with starving people all around.  The idea of a vegetable garden is not foreign to anyone, so does everyone have a garden?  Is this a sprawling place you live in, where every house has a yard, even though yards are basically a suburban concept?

And why has no one dug up that meadow you keep talking about and planted some peas there?

I don’t recognize the grain, our own tessera ration cooks down to an unattractive brown mush.

Uh, just what the fuck is tessera, anyway?  The cheapest grain I can think of on the market right now is rice, and that’s not “brown mush.”  In fact, most grains don’t “mush” unless you overcook them or grind them up.

Fancy rolls would mean another trade with the baker, perhaps for two or three squirrels.

Who the fuck trades that much meat for some airy pieces of bread?

As for the pudding, I can’t even guess what’s in it.

Pudding is traditionally a dish of the lower classes.  It’s very cheap to make and very filling.  In fact, the original version of pudding was made from grain, you idiot.  You can make it from your tessera rations and goat milk!  The hardest part about pudding is that it scorches easily, but that’s a matter of patience and practice, not money.

The most confusing thing about the pudding should be that it’s sweet instead of savory, but she already knows what sugar is, and that’s all that’s making it sweet.

Days of hunting and gathering for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for the Capitol version.

Not really.  All she’d need to hunt is the turkey and a few squirrels, and she does that well all the time if the opening chapter is to be believed.  The only thing she can’t really get ahold of is the sugar, but there’s other ways to make a pudding semi-sweet. 

What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by? What do they do all day, these people in the Capitol, besides decorating their bodies and waiting around for a new shipment of tributes to roll in and die for their entertainment?

And now we get to the big problem I have with this whole line.  Katniss here is jealous.  That’s it.  She’s upset that the haves have while the have-nots don’t.  She’s mad that the Capitol people get to laze about and eat good food, while she doesn’t.

Do you know what’s missing from all this?  SOME FUCKING ANGER OVER THE FACT THAT THEY ARE STEALING FROM THE DISTRICTS.  This is not a matter of poor resource allocation.  This is not mana from on high that just didn’t trickle down to the districts.  THE DISTRICTS ARE PRODUCING THESE THINGS AND THE CAPITOL IS TAKING THEM.  Katniss goes on and on in these books about how she just plain jealous of the Capitol, but it never seems to cross her mind that she could have these things too, that everyone could have the stupid fucking pudding, if the Capitol weren’t intentionally keeping them from the general population. 

It’s a subtle difference, but to me, it’s an important one.  It’s like the difference between saying “I want your stuff” and “I will fucking stab you in the face if you keep stealing my food.”  Katniss here is reacting as if this is the Capitol’s stuff and she wants it, not as if this is her stuff and the Capitol stole it.  (Well, fine, it’s not strictly hers.  But it’s not theirs, either.)  It, to me, speaks of a middle-class-brat attitude, of someone saying that because they want a thing, they should have it.  Katniss wants the fancy food, and she’s making sad faces at the people who have it.  She should be raging about how her people earned that fucking food, and it’s being forcibly taken from them.

“How despicable we must seem to you,” he says. Has he seen this in my face or somehow read my thoughts?

Well, Cinna, what are you going to do about it?  Oh, go on to talking about clothes.  How…completely useless.

It’s always dreadful and does nothing to win favor with the crowd.

If these costumes, which are said to be repeated year after year, are not crowd-pleasers then why are they repeated year after year?

A few hours later, I am dressed in what will either be the most sensational or the deadliest costume in the opening ceremonies.

And now we begin with the exceptionalism.  Throughout this book, Katniss is handed every possible advantage on a silver platter.  After years and years of Haymitch being a dull lump, he suddenly pulls himself together and turns into a useful mentor.  After years and years and years of her District having fatally stupid stylists, Katniss suddenly gets one that’s actually good.  She doesn’t have to earn these things.  The universe just magically arranges itself to hand her advantages that didn’t exist for previous tributes. 

But that won’t keep her from whining about it.

“With all that alcohol in him, it’s probably not advisable to have him around an open flame,” I say.

And suddenly we’re both laughing.

Because we’re still going with the idea that alcoholism is funny!

I know they have an excuse to laugh – nervous laughter and all that – but the book has no excuse for constantly bringing up his addiction, only to use it as a punch line.

Cinna climbs up before us and ignites our headdresses. He lets out a sign of relief. “It works.”

…did you not test that before deciding to light up two children with it?  Were you so concerned about making a “splash” with this fire stuff that you figured your own fame was worth the potential risk of severe burns to two children?  Why the fuck am I supposed to like this guy, again?

Oh, right, because he’s pretty and doesn’t wear too much make-up, unlike those other bitches.  Silly me, thinking I could form my opinions of someone’s character based on their actions.

At first, I’m frozen, but then I catch sight of us on a large television screen and am floored by how breathtaking we look.

It’s really amazing how much this book focuses on looks.  This whole chapter, in fact, has been about making Katniss look pretty.  And here, she’s even spending time looking in a “mirror” at herself, going on about how she looks pretty.  There’s the implication throughout these books that it’s wrong to look fake, that the other districts/tributes/stylists are wrong for putting on this parade, but then when it gets to Katniss herself, everything is okay.  See, she makes it look good.  So, when taken altogether, the ultimate message isn’t that it’s wrong to dress children up as dolls and shove them front of cameras.  It’s not the very concept itself that is bad.  No, it’s just that all those other people didn’t do it right.

Because as long as you can look awesome, all of these is okay.

Cinna was right about the minimal makeup, we both look more attractive but utterly recognizable.

Because it’s important to look pretty, but make-up is bad.  But you still have to look pretty.

No one will forget me. Not my look, not my name. Katniss. The girl who was on fire.

Yeah, but…you didn’t earn that.  That’s not your look, that’s Cinna’s look.  All you did all chapter was sit around while men made decisions for you and dressed you up like a doll.  Katniss, for the love of god, shut up, you didn’t do anything.  The fact that they are shouting your name doesn’t make you deserving of that adoration.  You are a fucking barbie doll with a bow.

So I keep holding on, but I can’t help feeling strange about the way Cinna has linked us together.

Katniss and Peeta as a united pair is also a big point in their public image, and will continue to be, but it was Cinna’s idea.  Katniss couldn’t even do that on her own.

Surely, there must be one sponsor willing to take me on! And with a little extra help, some food, the right weapon, why should I count myself out of the Games?

Huh, she came to that conclusion sooner than I remembered.  Still, I don’t understand the insistence on sponsors.  As a narrative choice, it just serves as an excuse to make her dependent on others once again.  It’s just there to justify all the time spent on pretty clothes and waving to fans.  And from the character’s perspective, it’s a really flimsy thing to hang one’s hopes on.  She’s better off being self-reliant and trusting to her own skills. 

I would make a note on how looking pretty shouldn’t matter for sponsors anyway, because it should be about picking who has the best chance of winning, but…yeah, there are people that stupid, aren’t there?  It’s still an artificial system, though.  Just because people will pick their favorites based on looks, that doesn’t mean they won’t do the same if presented with other options.  If the public were allowed to view the training sessions, they’d pick based on that.  They’ll pick based on whatever’s offered to them.  So it’s not like the book had to set things up like this, as if there’s no other way to get people interested in the tributes.  The book is intentionally choosing to focus on looks in this case.