If anything of this book is glaring, it's the theme of survival. Everything is about fighting through, just one more day, one more wound, one more step. Not only to they fight for their lives in the arena, but they also take up the battle for their independence from the Capitol. It begins to rear its head slowly but surely, morphing from the shadow that was implanted in the first book to the beginnings of full-blown anarchy. When Katniss breaks through the barrier and shatters the Games, it is not her first act of rebellion, but possibly the greatest. She had begun the movement when she refused to kill Peeta, and here she was solidifying that sense of not playing by the rules.
Lingering under this, however, is the sense of interdependence versus independence. In the first book, Katniss was the independent heroine, running around the brush with a bow and a bad attitude, able to take care of herself and helping Peeta simply because she wanted to, and not because she needed to. It's evolved, and perhaps not even in a good way - they bounce off each other so often that you can't even tell they're doing it anymore, trading items, making other tributes promise to look after them, shutting down at the mere thought of losing the other half. Many say that love is a good thing, that it makes you stronger; but what happens when it cripples you? In the Arena, you need to be so alert, so sharp, and if you're constantly looking out for another person, all you do is draw the higher risk that both of you will die. The fact that it's changed so much since The Hunger Games speaks of the fact that maybe not all shifts in relationships are for the better.
by: Alex Legault
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