"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. How stupid I've been to think the Capitol would just ignore me once I'd returned home. 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. And by doing so made it clear I was, in fact, mocking the Capitol. Now I've endangered Gale and his family and my family and Peeta, too, by my carelessness" (Collins 28).
This quote is the epitome of a totalitarian control to the point that the government controls more than just the people and how they live, but to the point where they control even all of the people's actions. The games had called for Peeta and Katniss to act like a couple so much that they staged a marriage even though Katniss had no intentions of ever liking Peeta... it was all just for show. One of the conflicting interests of the story is Katniss's choice of guy. Does she particularly favor Peeta after going through the games "pretending she was in love with him?" Or does her heart still lie with Gale back at home, the man who has been making sure her family has been staying safe. But the context of the passage is President Snow beginning to scare Katniss into thinking that her family may not be okay because of her choices during the games to begin to instill rebellion among television viewers.
Again, the purpose of this text is to show the paranoia that begins to run through Katniss's mind. Then again, why is she paranoid? Well, if one thinks about it, President Snow is asserting his authority in this situation. She knows that any kind of rebellion would result in some sort of event that would resemble that of District 13's fate. As the novel progresses, it is easy to see the struggle that goes on inside of Katniss's mind whether to keep her family safe, or to continue with the rebellion that is secretly starting. At this point, Katniss is just thinking "What have I done?" "I've mocked the Capitol" "I've ignored Peeta and flaunted my preference for Gale's company" meaning that the Capitol is somehow beginning to see the truth behind the act that Peeta and Katniss have been putting on throughout the games.
A recurring question of how we use language and images to manipulate people's minds comes to play yet again. It seems that Katniss and all of Panem has grown up with District 13's demise in mind which keeps them running without any sort of rebellion. As a result this instills an image in people's minds that they associate with bad occurrences, hence, the government who has planted this image in the citizens of Panem's minds, they can manipulate the citizens to do their bidding. In addition, they have these annual events called the Hunger Games, which centers around the idea that each District owes something to the Capitol in remembrance of what happened to District 13. The government has nothing to lose, only the Districts do, so they are under complete control, and there is nothing they can do about it without suffering a fatal experience.
When I read this quote it reminded me a lot of District 13 and how they use the image of it's destruction to instill into people's minds that they shouldn't begin another rebellion. This seemed to connect to the movie 2012 that I mentioned in one of my previous posts, because it seems apocalyptic as the movie was. Much like people viewed Y2K and 6/6/06, and the upcoming 12/21/12 I found that the demise of District 13 could be the equivalent to one of these natural occurrences. I still can't imagine the world spontaneously ending on any given day, although I'm sure it will happen, I hope that it is not within our lifetime. Though it must be scary knowing that your government can enact this disaster at any given time. Poor Panem...
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