But I have never seen President Snow. He attends celebrations in the Capitol. Period.

If he’s made the journey all the way from his city, it can only mean one thing. I’m in serious trouble.

Yup.  That’s toooootally the only thing that could mean.  Because, psh, it’s not like his the tyrannical leader of an oppressive government that tons of people in the districts would love to stab in the face.  Nope.  There is no possible reason why he might have traveled for other Tours and just no one saw it.  That’s unpossible.  The far more likely explanation is that Katniss is the center of the god damn universe. 

The sadest part is that’s pretty much how this plays out.

A shiver goes through me when I think of the proximity of my mother and sister to this man who despises me. Will always despise me.

WTF Katniss?  The man has never said a word to you.  The only appearance we had of him in the last book was when he handed them two crowns at a ceremony, and Katniss randomly decided that he had snake eyes.  There was no mention that Snow, in particular, was gunning for her, just that ‘the Capitol’ was mad at her (while simultaneously cheering in the streets, because this book does not understand how words work).  This right here is the first one-on-one interaction we’ve had with him, and all he’s done is sit in a study and read a book.

But Katniss has Magic Mary Sue Knowing Powers and is in no way an unreliable narrator, so it turns out that he really does hate her, because subtlety is for other books.

Because I outsmarted his sadistic Hunger Games, made the Capitol look foolish, and consequently undermined his control.

So, in this book (and the next) we get this weird thing where rulers exist in a vacuum.  Look at that.  It’s not his government’s control over the country; it’s his.  It’s not Games that are kept running through the combined tolerance of everyone in the city, no, they’re his Games.  Even though he didn’t invent them, and most likely he has no hand in the running of them, all the blame for the Games is being put on his shoulders, as if he’s the only person actually responsible for anything the government does.

I mean, yes, he’s still a bad guy for going along with all this horror.  But so is everyone else.  Remember, the last book tried to keep the blame away from everyone, from the prep team and Cinna and the audience and even the game-makers, the fucking game-makers, ensuring that no one was held accountable for the Game’s existence and running.  But now here’s a convenient antagonist, and for some reason he’s going to take full possession of all the bad shit that happens.

President Snow smiles and I notice his lips for the first time. I’m expecting snake lips, which is to say none. But his are overly full, the skin stretched too tight. I have to wonder if his mouth has been altered to make him more appealing. If so, it was a waste of time and money, because he’s not appealing at all.

See, we know that Snow is going to be the big, bad, main antagonist, because this book likes to equate looks to goodness.

He’s the fucking president of the whole god-damn country.  He should have a cosmetic doctor who knows how to do this work without fucking it up.  The only reason to have him be ugly here is to show off that he’s a bad guy.

And she’s like a dog on a bone with that snake analogy, isn’t she?  It’s not like he even has a snake motif; she just randomly started thinking ‘snake’ and ran with it.

Well, it’s all on the table now. Maybe that’s better. I don’t do well with ambiguous threats. I’d much rather know the score.

Very reasonable reaction.  Although it does beg the question of what the fuck Snow is doing.

“If the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, had had any brains, he’d have blown you to dust right then. But he had an unfortunate sentimental streak. So here you are. Can you guess where he is?”

Much hullabaloo is made over Katniss ‘tricking’ the Capitol, but here we have textual proof that she just tricked one dude.  The government would have been fine with both of them dying.  And why wouldn’t they?  They only reason they ‘had’ to have a victor was because Katniss randomly declared it so.

Given that Snow doesn’t give a fuck if they’d both died, and given that these are apparently ‘his’ games, he could easily fix the problem by just saying “yeah, no, you don’t get to do that” and murdering them both on television.

Instead he’s going to make Katniss kiss on TV, because apparently he thinks that’ll work better.

And you were pretty good, too, with the love-crazed schoolgirl bit. The people in the Capitol were quite convinced. Unfortunately, not everyone in the districts fell for your act,” he says.

Why will no one tell me why this is supposed to be important anyway?

In several of them, however, people viewed your little trick with the berries as an act of defiance, not an act of love.

Seriously, book, THOSE TWO THINGS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.

“There have been uprisings?” I ask, both chilled and somewhat elated by the possibility.

“Not yet. But they’ll follow if the course of things doesn’t change.

Snow is an idiot.  Why on earth would tell someone – a girl who can fan the flames if she wants – these matters of national security?

I’m taken aback by the directness and even the sincerity of this speech. As if his primary concern is the welfare of the citizens of Panem, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Katniss knows this, because she has Knowing Powers and can automagically tell what Snow’s motivations are.  I mean, it’s not like he’s really concerned about keeping the place together and preventing the wipeout of mankind.  That is also unpossible, because as we covered, he’s the only person in his entire government.  Therefore, if the government is evil, that’s because he wills it to be so.

“Why don’t you just kill me now?” I blurt out.

“Publicly?” he asks. “That would only add fuel to the flames.”

“Arrange an accident, then,” I say.

“Who would buy it?” he asks. “Not you, if you were watching.”

So, let’s go over the gist of what Snow has told her so far:

1.       The country is on verge of open revolt.

2.       You can push the whole mess over the edge.

3.       I can’t kill you.

SNOW, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Granted, he does threaten to kill Gale or her family, but they can hide. 

If we’ve been watched since, what have they seen? Two people hunting, saying treasonous things against the Capitol, yes. But not two people in love, which seems to be President Snow’s implication. We are safe on that charge.

Yes, thank god they haven’t seen you act like you’re in love.  All they’ve seen you do is COMMITT TREASON and BREAK VARIOUS LAWS BY HUNTING.

Seriously.  They have footage (we assume) of her actively breaking the law while talking smack about the Capitol.  Want to squash an uprising?  Play that at her kangaroo trial right before you execute her.  Then it’s completely legitimate and you get to send the message of “defy us and die.”  Right now all they’re sending, even with her performance, is “defy us and we’ll let you live in a mansion with a boyfriend.”

In fact, you want to know the best thing of all to defuse the situation?  THE FUCKING TRUTH.  Tell everyone that their love story was an act.  Tell the districts that this shining symbol of their revolution was really just a Capitol puppet, dancing for the amusement of the rich audience, not them.  Tell them that both of them living was just for the sake of good television.  Tell them that every part of their lives, even the parts they thought were defiant, are really just for the entertainment of their masters.  That even when they think they’re striking back, they’re not, it’s all been orchestrated. 

That’s how you crush spirits.

I waited [in the woods] at least two hours. I’d begun to think that he’d given up on me in the weeks that had passed. Or that he no longer cared about me.

Katniss, did you think that the only reason Gale came to the woods was for you?  Because, as I recall, he does it to support three younger siblings.  If he’s not there, it’s not because he hates you.  It’s because he either got paid extra for whatever reason or because something worse than no food needs to be dealt with.

Then suddenly, as I was suggesting I take over the daily snare run, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. […]  Then he let go and said, “I had to do that. At least once.” And he was gone.

So, it seems that both of Katniss’s love interests are intent on being creepy this book.  I mean, it’s not as bad as Peeta’s “kiss me or die” routine, but still.  Gale believes that she’s in a relationship with someone else, and that makes him sad.  So instead of getting the fuck over it (or talking to her about it) he decides that he just really, really wants a kiss anyway and he’s going to haul off and take one by force.  Katniss doesn’t get a say in the matter before, during, or after the fact.

Feminism!

Also, wow, that was a really fucking long flashback just to say that Gale molested her in the woods.

Gale acted as if the kiss had never happened. Maybe he was waiting for me to say something. Or kiss him back. Instead I just pretended it had never happened, either.

And then he compounds it by being even more of a jerk and refusing to discuss the matter.  So, here we have a boy who thinks he can take whatever physical favors he wants, doesn’t see it as a matter important enough to discuss, and doesn’t show any hint of feeling bad about it afterwards.  And Katniss is going to hang out with him in complete isolation in the woods. 

Yeah, that’s a great thing to be calling ‘sexy’ and ‘romantic’ to impressionable young girls.

This all flashes through my head in an instant as President Snow’s eyes bore into me on the heels of his threat to kill Gale.

Instant for you, but it took me so long to read through that mess that I almost forgot the original scene.

I don’t even know if this is “wrong,” in as much as you can call any narrative choice wrong, but it bugs the ever-living shit out of me.  I’m going to treat things as if they happen as fast as I read them.  If I have to break from the flow of things to read a flashback, then it feels like an actual break, and furthermore, it feels like Katniss just sort of sat there staring off into space for several minutes.  Flashbacks should either be very short, or not in the middle of a ‘tense’ moment full of murder threats.  (Furthermore, how did all that detail manage to fit in a ‘flash’?  I tend to think of ‘flashes’ of memory as being impressions or short moments.)

Maybe I didn’t know about the potential uprisings. But I knew they were angry with me. Instead of acting with the extreme caution the situation called for, what have I done? From the president’s point of view, I’ve ignored Peeta and flaunted my preference for Gale’s company before the whole district.

It really is amazing how much the book is forcing the romance down our throats.  In spite of all the things that could be going on, in spite of everything that should be the focus, Katniss’s main concern is that she hasn’t be kissing up to the right boy.  Oh, sure, they try and justify it by saying it’s for the sake of keeping the peace or what-not.  However, a justified trope is still a trope. 

If you’ve found a way to justify focusing on romance, then all that means is that you actually put forth effort to write a book that focuses on romance.  Which is all well and good if you want to write a romance novel, but not when there’s a rebellion we should be focusing on.

“I know. I will. I’ll convince everyone in the districts that I wasn’t defying the Capitol, that I was crazy with love,” I say.

The only way to not be defying the Capitol was to be doing what they wanted.  Like, by definition.  Motivation has nothing to do with it.

So, imagine this for a moment.  Katniss doesn’t act convincing.  She ignores Peeta until the cameras are on her, then gets super-cheesy and hangs all over him.  The moment the cameras are off, she plays with her iPhone or whatever.  But she gets decked out in sumptuous outfits and jewels and consistently pretends (or, fuck it, is) pleased with that.  She acts like a spoiled brat.  She stuffs herself with food.  She flirts with the Captiol staff (but only the Captiol staff, bonus points if they’re high ranking).  She acts like a complete dunce and overemphasizes her new riches and the attention she’s getting. 

Now, instead of a girl in love, you have the image of an airhead who would do anything for treats from the very same government and culture that most districts hate.  Loving on Peeta only in front of the cameras makes it clear that such is all just for the benefit of the television audience.  While we’re at it, spread around the rumor that it was the gamemaker’s idea to do the love story.  There, now no one has any reason to think she defied anything, because how could she?  She’s clearly a lapdog getting showered in treats.  It must have all been a trick.

The idea should be to discredit Katniss and prevent the district people from identifying with her, not turning her into an even better noble martyr.  And if she failed at that, well, that would make for a much better example of her character.  Having her fail to make proper kissy-faces isn’t saying much, but having her fail to act happy in the face of oppression is much different.