Chapter 6 Summary
After Katniss’s underwhelming performance, Haymitch calls a meeting. Even President Coin is invited. Haymitch shows Katniss’s performance and points out that it will not work. However, he goes on to ask everyone to share a moment when Katniss’s actions were moving. After a moment, the people in the room share their memories, such as when Katniss sang to Rue after she died. Haymitch points out that the common theme of these moments is that they were unscripted. Haymitch proposes that they begin sending Katniss into combat situations with camera crews, and President Coin reluctantly agrees. The public thinks that Katniss is pregnant, but they will say that she lost the child in her escape from the previous Hunger Games.
After the meeting, Katniss and Haymitch talk to each other. Katniss expresses her anger that Haymitch did not save Peeta. He expresses his shock that Katniss ever left Peeta’s side during the Quarter Quell. With that out of the way, Haymitch explains that they will have to work together once again. He will accompany Katniss on her missions and will send her instructions from the hovercraft.
Katniss’s first mission will take her to District 8, which has just been raided. Along the way, she talks to Boggs, whom Katniss at first took as one of Coin’s lackeys. However, she finds herself liking him as he explains some of the history of District 13. When Katniss asks why District 13 never came to the aid of the other districts, he points out that they have only recently recovered the strength to launch attacks. They did not build the underground complex, and so even now they struggle to keep things running. Given their population problems, it seems that things have not been easy for the hidden district.
Before she can leave, Katniss meets with Finnick, who wants to go into combat with her. However, Finnick is still in his hospital gown. Katniss tells him to go see Beetee in the armory to see a trident that Beetee has designed for him. Before he leaves, Finnick rips off his hospital gown and teases Katniss that the sight of him in his underpants is “distracting.” When they reach the Hangar, Flavius complains that Katniss is not wearing as much makeup. Sadly, few people are born camera ready, though she points out that Gale is quite handsome in his uniform. Katniss and Gale feel uncomfortable until Boggs jokes that she should not expect anyone to be too impressed with Gale since they just saw Finnick in his underwear.
Finally, Katniss meets with Plutarch. He explains that District 2 is still allied with the Capitol, but the other districts are still in revolt. District 2 has been better supplied than District 12 ever was, and they even volunteered to become Peacekeepers. He also outlines the goal of the rebellion: to create a republic with representational democracy. Haymitch jokes that representational democracy only ever worked in books, but Plutarch argues that it has happened in the past, so why not again? Finally, he gives Katniss a pill called “nightlock” in honor of Katniss’s first Hunger Games victory. The pill is to be taken only if she is captured.
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