Catching Fire

Catching Fire Metaphors and Similes

The Arena of the 75th Quarter Quell (Simile)

Rather than just being compared to a clock, the arena of the Quarter Quell is actually laid out like a clock. Divided into 12 wedges, a fresh horror awaits the tributes in each wedge as the hours pass.

Rue’s Family (Metaphor)

In the first novel of the trilogy, Katniss compares Rue to a small bird because of her slight frame and her ability to flit through the trees. This comparison is continued in Catching Fire, when Katniss uses the metaphor of “a flock of small dark birds” to describe Rue’s family during the Victory Tour (Collins 58).

“Even without our personal speeches to trigger dissent— needless to say the ones we gave in District 11 were edited out before the event was broadcast—you can feel something in the air, the rolling boil of a pot about to run over” (Collins 128) (Metaphor)

Here Katniss uses the metaphor of a boiling pot that’s about to overflow to describe the volatile atmosphere that’s spreading across Panem.

“Peeta makes comments like this in such an offhand way, and it's like being hit in the gut” (Collins 153) (Simile)

Although Peeta knows that Katniss does not completely return his feelings, he still does not try to hide his love for her. The quote here is from an example of this. Peeta has just told Katniss that his nightmares are usually about losing her. Katniss’s inability to reciprocate Peeta’s feelings are a source of guilt for her, and so she uses the simile of “being hit in the gut” to describe the pain that comes whenever Peeta vocalizes his feelings.

Katniss and Her Prep Team (Metaphor)

Despite their superficial, frivolous natures, Katniss’s prep team has become extremely attached to her. So when Katniss and Peeta are drafted into the Quarter Quell and Katniss’s prep team is forced to say goodbye to her, many tears are shed. Half in jest, half in seriousness, Katniss tells Cinna that she's so saturated with tears from her beauty team that he could wring her out like a rag (Collins 205).