The Hunger Games Monologues

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.

Seneca, why do you think we have a winner? If we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not just round up twenty- four of them at random and execute them all at once?… Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. But it is also delicate. It can get out of control. Like a fire. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. The spark is fine as long as you contain it.

War, terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child. This was the uprising that rocked our land. Thirteen districts rebelled against the country that fed them, loved them, protected them. Brother turned on brother until nothing remained. And then came the peace, hard fought, sorely won. A people rose up from the ashes and a new era was born. But freedom has a cost. When the traitors were defeated, we swore as a nation we would never know this treason again. And so it was decreed that, each year, the various districts of Panem would offer up, in tribute, one young man and woman to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage and sacrifice. The lone victor, bathed in riches, would serve as a reminder of our generosity and our forgiveness. This is how we remember our past. This is how we safeguard our future.

Welcome, and happy Hunger Games.

Go on! Shoot, and we both go down and you win. Go on. I’m dead anyway. I always was, right? I couldn’t tell that until now. How’s that, is that what they want? I can still do this… I can still do this! One more kill. It’s the only thing I know how to do, bringing pride to my district. Not that it matters.

What the hell was that!, you don’t talk to me and then you say you have a crush on me, you say you want to train alone, is that how you wanna play, huh. Let’s start right now!

I want the rebels to know I'm alive. That I'm in District 8, where the Capitol just bombed a hospital filled with unarmed men, women and children. There will be no survivors. If you think for one second that the Capitol will ever treat us fairly you are lying to yourself. Because we know who there are and what they do. This is what they do, and we must fight back! I have a message for President Snow. You can torture us, bomb us, burn our districts to the ground. But do you see that? Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!

I volunteer! I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!

May the odds be ever in your favor.

We are NOT star-crossed lovers.