Primrose Everdeen!

As I read the last line of chapter one and then continued into chapter two, I tried to think of a time I ever feared for my life or felt so afraid of losing something. I tried to relate to Katniss whose sister's name had just been called. I tried to relate to Primrose who was selected to be the female tribute from district twelve. But have I ever been in such a desperate situation? The opening pages of this chapter for so powerful and emotional, I literally felt tears flowing from my eyes as I felt for this family being torn apart by these barbaric "games".

When have you felt so desperate? 

Speaking of "games", I still am trying to wrap my head around the name. "The Hunger Games". Why is the chosen name? Why are they games? For me, games are fun. I enjoy games. I choose to play games for enjoyment. Let me tell you, I would not be volunteering for these games. As for the "hunger" part, the Districts are all poor and hungry, but the games aren't meant to symbolize this. Unless I am missing something. They are symbolizing the uprising of a no longer existing district 13 who tried to overthrow the government. The games are meant to show that the government forever has control. Does this also serve as a reminder that the government can keep their citizens hungry? Or does it mean that the citizens hunger for these games as a source of entertainment? I find the name interesting and still think about why the author chose it.

My Version of "Game"

In the middle of the chapter, after Katniss has volunteered herself, the crowd salutes. They do not clap. They do not cheer. They bring their three middle fingers to their lips. A gesture, discussed in the book, occasionally seen at funerals to show admiration and say goodbye. I wonder why this is the tribute. We have our own tributes here: flowers, poems, wakes (which obviously wouldn't make sense being she is living), cards, words. This silent salute seems somewhat military-like, but even though it was just read on a page, the emotion and power of it was overwhelming.

I went to look into further detail about who may use a three finger salute. Of course, in girl scouts we had to hold up three fingers and say the Girl Scout Pledge: "On my honor....", but that is different than this. It appeared from my research that the Serbians also use a three-finger salute to signify nationalism. Finally, I found research on the "Kuhnen salute" who was a leader in the German neo-Nazi movement and used a three-finger salute to replace the Nazi salute. From this I start thinking that it would make most sense that it would be a sense of District 12 pride and support for a fellow citizen. It does not appear militant as some of the other salutes may suggest nor does it need words to accompany it such as the girl scout one.

Serbian Three Finger Salute

Delving further into the chapter, I just become further entranced by the story and the truly barbaric nature of what is happening. How is this book so popular when it is so brutal? And what is wrong with Effie Trinket? I can just picture her standing there "Happy Hunger Games!" How does no one want to hurt her? And just as I am getting more and more angry at her and finding out the other tribute and thinking we will finally move on with the games, the author does it again. This is where my re-reading comes into play once more. One moment I am standing in the square with the district 12 citizens awaiting the speech on how the Hunger Games came to be to end and the next moment I am in the mines learning of the death of Katniss' father. She goes into length about her connection the other tribute, a boy, Peeta, which I predict will be important in later chapters, and then poof! we are back in the square.

And the re-reading begins...

So far in the two chapters, I have used re-reading to an almost obscene amount to make sure I was following along and keeping up. I have tried to predict what would come next. The first chapter ended with the words "Primrose Everdeen". Without even continuing, I predicted the terror the family was now facing. The decision Katniss would face because she would stop at nothing to defend her sister. And then with the extensive coverage of the history of Peeta and Katniss, I predict there is more to their story and it will be important to the games. The only problem is, only one can live, and I am sure I will already be attached to both.

Suzanne Collins continues to keep me interested in the story and until the next chapter, I will keep thinking "why 12?", "why the "Hunger Games", "does Panem mean anything?" and lots of other questions that continually pop into my head.

This book is about what?

When I had first seen trailers about The Hunger Games I was utterly confused. I guess my prior thoughts concerning the plots of the book or movie were not even close to what the plots are. Seeing the trailer, I was left wondering, what is this series really about? It seems so dark! It seems so scary! I should read it. And then I luckily got pair with Lina, who chose it as her book for this blog. And thus my journey begins into understanding The Hunger Games.

I began as I always do, by looking at the book. What does the symbol on the cover mean? Will we be offered an explanation? Does it play a major role? Then I looked to the back of the book to read the synopsis. OMG! I had no idea that this was the plot of this book. Now, from Lina's posts and the synopsis, I am so ready to dive in and find out what is going to happen.

The first chapter was interesting in how it was set up. I found myself getting confused at times and having to go back to reread to make sure I was understanding. Was she talking about different points of time at once? It seemed like in one sentence she was discussing one moment and in another sentence she was talking about a past moment. Also, the way she introduced the notion of the actual Hunger Games was so interesting. I feel as if most authors introduce major plot points in the first few paragraphs. She used the whole first chapter to set up the stage for what the Hunger Games were, giving us ideas of it piece by piece, intertwined with other stories of Katniss's (interesting name) life. It was because of the intertwining story line, at least in my opinion, of the set up of the Hunger Games with the set up of this family's life, that I felt myself going back to make sure I was on board with what was happening.

Another major point that I noticed in chapter one was that the number 12 is important. Katniss, her family, and her friends live in District 12 in the country of Panem. You have to be 12 to participate (as if its a choice) in the Hunger Games. Why is 12 important? Lina mentioned some important events in her life that occurred when she was twelve and I too can relate to this age. The year I was 12 was a year of mixed emotions. It was a year of loss as well as the year I graduated elementary school. There was a lot going on in life and in this book, there is a lot going on in the lives of all of those turning 12 as they are now eligible to be participants in a game where they could ultimately lose their lives.

My Elementary School: Holy Rosary, Class of 2001

Ultimately I went back to reread the chapter because I felt there was so much involved that I wanted to make sure I understood the whole story. What was Panem? I now know it is a futuristic America. (That doesn't look promising for us, I guess). Why do they have these barbaric games? This is explained a little , I guess, but it still seems barbaric. The significance of twelve does not seem to be explained yet and I am hoping it will be at some point. I still have questions and I am sure the more I get into the book, the more questions I will have. But I am glad I was able to go back and reread it so I had a more competent grasp on the material before proceeding.

Are we going to Ecuador?

As always, I started chapter three by examining the title, "The Galapagos of the Periodic Table". I always try to think of the title and predict what I may be reading about in the coming pages, but this time I was stumped. My knowledge of the Galapagos is that it is an island chain off the coast of Ecuador. During my sophomore year of high school,  in Spanish class, we had to choose Spanish names and a country we would like to pretend we're from. My name was Silvia and I was "from Ecuador". This is the only reason I know of these islands existence. But what on earth do they have to do with the Periodic Table? My prior knowledge told me that most of the scientists who did work on the Periodic Table were from Europe (surprise, surprise).

As I began reading I was presented with a familiar name, Mendeleev. Yes! I know this guy. Suddenly I am transported back to my high school chemistry class. I am facing the front board and above on the bulletin board are all scientists pictures with the years they lived. Who is in the middle? Mendeleev. Anyone who has taken chemistry knows this guy. After all, he is credited with perhaps the most useful tool in chemistry, the periodic table. I was happy to have some background knowledge because the rest of the chapter that did not speak of him was new for me. Having background knowledge of this significant figure I feel helped me further understand his contributions and it also helped me delve into the works of other scientists.

Mendeleev

There it is. The picture I stared at so often during my chemistry class. Just from the picture, you could tell he was from the 1800s which gave the class an idea of when the study of elements was becoming a major thing in science. It also helped when reading this book to remember this fact and put all of the historical information into context.

There was a lot of historical information in this chapter that it was hard to absorb it all and make sense of it all the first time. Because of this, I had to go and re-read parts and look up more than I had to in previous chapters. There were names I had never heard of as well as interesting facts. I feel as if I still do not really get this book!

From this chapter, I really felt myself focus on Mendeleev. Was it because it was familiar territory? Was it because I really enjoy learning about the periodic table? It was interesting to see his version of the periodic table (shown below) because we credit the periodic table to him. Yet, look at it! It seems empty and void of anything useful compared to a modern one. This is because, as stated throughout the chapter, though he is credited with the periodic table, he was not the only one working on it, just like Darwin was not the only one working on evolution and Einstein was not the only one working on relativity.



Mendeleev's Periodic Table as published in 1869



A modern Periodic Table of Elements

 Reading this chapter really gave me a more historical overview of the study of elements. Rather than studying relationships in the periodic table, like was discussed in the previous chapter, I got to see how it actually came about. Having a little prior knowledge of Mendeleev helped, however, there was a lot of new information that I had to go back and read over to fully process. I definitely used a lot of "fix-up" thought processes this time around!

Family Tree

I never thought of columns in a periodic table to function somewhat like a family tree, linking together elements with common characteristics. Luckily, this chapter provided insight into elemental facts that I had never known, making for a more interesting read. However, by this same token, since it was new, it was harder to relate to.


As I did before and like to do for any book, I examined the chapter title. "Near Twins and Black Sheep: The Genealogy of Elements." What on earth does this mean? The first chapter title was obvious. I looked up genealogy and found the following definitions:

Definition of GENEALOGY

1

: an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or from older forms

2

: regular descent of a person, family, or group of organisms from a progenitor or older form : pedigree

3

: the study of family pedigrees

4

: an account of the origin and historical development of something

I assume the definition will be the study of family pedigrees, discussing how elements in columns are "related".

The text went into a detailed description of the elements carbon and silicon. After reading I was able to see that these are the "near twins", as their similarities make them act in almost the same manner. Having studied chemistry, I feel like I should have known this fact. Perhaps I did and just forgot. But the most interesting portion that I feel I learned was about the detrimental health affects of silicon dust, such as what appears when a volcano erupts. 

I have always been fascinated by volcanoes and reading about silicon and volcanoes, even if it were briefly transported me back to my "Dante's Peak" obsession days. It served as a reminder of why I love science, how it surrounds us, and how interesting and relevant it is, even though people may not see this. 

But back to the point of the chapter, what helped me to make most sense of the content was the thought of the family tree. 

The parents are on top and those listed below (children) are directly related to those above. This is the same notion in the periodic table. If we look at a column, such as the one with carbon and silicon, we will automatically know that, as in a family tree, there are relationships. We can expect similarities. We can predict certain actions. Just from understanding relationships from looking at a family tree, we can understanding relationships from looking at a column.

Now that I have my feet a little more wet in this book, I am looking forward to what more new and interesting facts I will learn. What I really conquered from this chapter was a new understanding of elements in columns and their genealogy. Perhaps with this analogy to a family tree in high school, I would have understood a lot more!