Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
Contributed by Eusebia Cagley
Chapter 22
Summary

The monkeys retreat into the jungle, leaving Peeta, Katniss, and Finnick alone with the dying tribute from District 6. The monkey’s fangs have punctured her chest, and Katniss suspects her lungs or heart have been ruptured. Finnick stands guard and Peeta and Katniss hold the tribute while she dies.

After the hovercraft takes the dead body away, the three of them set up camp for the night. As she tries to sleep, Katniss thinks about why Finnick was willing to save Peeta but let Mags die. She again realizes she can never kill Finnick because she owes him too much.

That morning, they are eating some shellfish and enjoying each other’s company when they notice three other tributes emerging at the other end of the beach. As they get closer, they realize it is Johanna, Beetee, and Wiress. Johanna explains to them that the section of the jungle they came from was raining blood. Beetee is injured because he took a knife in the back at the Cornucopia, and Wiress keeps mumbling "Tick, tock. Tick, tock."

Wiress tries to lean into Johanna, but Johanna pushes her back down to the beach. Katniss snaps at Johanna, which angers her. She slaps Katniss and screams at her, asking her who does she think got Beetee and Wiress out of the jungle for her. Finnick grabs Johanna and repeatedly dunks her in the water to calm her down while Katniss questions what her words mean.

While Finnick has cooled Johanna off, Peeta and Katniss tend to the badly injured Beetee. After they have cleaned his wound, Katniss washes the blood off of Wiress. She continues to say "tick, tock." After she’s finished cleaning her off, they return back to camp, where Johanna and Finnick have joined them.

Johanna and Katniss take the first watch that night. Johanna tells her that Mags was Finnick’s mentor and half of his family. She also tells her that she was with Wiress and Beetee because of Katniss. According to Johanna, Haymitch said if she wanted to ally with Katniss, she’d have to have Wiress and Beetee with her. Though Katniss never told Haymitch this, she agrees with Johanna.

Wiress, who continues to mumble "tick, tock," wakes and takes watch with Katniss as Johanna goes to sleep. For a while, they sit there, watching the sun rise. But soon, Katniss realizes Wiress’ words mean something. She reflects on the different sections of the jungle, and which dangers occur there, and realizes the arena is a clock.

Analysis

Katniss and Peeta’s comfort to the morphling while she dies recalls the way Katniss held Rue as she lay dying in the first Games. Though they don’t even know her name, Peeta and Katniss refuses to leave her while she dies because they won’t let her final moments be spent in loneliness. Their attempts to let another tribute die in the midst of comfort and companionship is another example of the Capitol’s weapons being used against them. The death of a tribute is meant to frighten the others, not evoke feelings of loss or sadness in them.

Tributes are supposed to relentlessly kill one another, not respect each other until their final breath. This open display of friendship between districts is something the Capitol cannot air on television because that could possibly inspire people to come together with other districts and start more uprisings. The Games are meant to break people’s spirits, but so far, Finnick, Mags, Katniss, and the morphling have banded together to resist the sadistic nature of the Games.

Katniss is once again confused by the actions of another tribute when Johanna tells her that she got them out of the jungle for Katniss. She definitely does not trust Johanna, and though she likes Beetee and Wiress, she is weary of teaming up with Johanna. However, Johanna’s redeeming quality is that she has kept Beetee and Wiress alive, so Katniss wonders if there is more to her words than she is letting on.

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