Kisser buttons
This is a plastic disk inserted on the string to help with accurate target sighting. The kisser button touches the archer’s mouth at the same place every time she shoots an arrow.
Wrist slings
Typically made from leather or another strong material, the wrist sling attaches to the bow directly under the grip and loops over your wrist. Its purpose is to help ensure that you don’t drop the bow after releasing the arrow.
Even someone skilled with basic archery equipment would have a hard time with the sophisticated and unusual equipment described in the above “Scopes and Gadgets: A Partial List” box. These additional mechanisms and techniques require practice at varying distances and reaction speeds.
Added to the sophistication of the bows and arrows in Mockingjay is the fact that the bow recognizes Katniss’s voice. The “Mockingjay” bow reminds her of a flying blackbird, and the bow seems to be responsive: it vibrates. When Katniss says “good night” to the bow, it turns off its special abilities (Mockingjay, 69–70).
Voice recognition software is common today to convert spoken words into digital text. It often comes with the ability to recognize a speaker’s voice. While modern voice recognition software learns the attributes of a particular person’s vocal sounds and can recognize what that person is saying in many cases, it’s very weak in understanding what other people say.
When first using a voice recognition system, you must speak to it until it learns to recognize your voice. Sophisticated algorithms are used to create the software because everyone’s voice differs based on the shapes and sizes of our mouths and vocal chords.
One of the first real applications of Hidden Markov Models was speech recognition software in the 1970s. These models analyze each vocal signal as a static, or stationary, item; for example, a few millisecond utterance might be stored as a discrete item. In extremely simple terms, each utterance (possibly a phoneme) then has a unique statistical output distribution. Again, this is a very simplistic view of how Katniss’s bow might work.
Instead, the bow may recognize her voice using other algorithms or possibly—though unlikely—a simple neural network. Pattern matching algorithms, decision trees, and other audio techniques are possible. But most likely, the bow employs a Hidden Markov Model.
The arrows are also unlike anything Katniss has seen before. They explode, they are “razor sharp,” they cause fires. But with a simple “good night” to the bow, these features turn off (Mockingjay, 70).
Anyone who has seen Rambo remembers exploding arrows, which are also common in a large number of comic books and action films. But probably nobody can beat the Green Arrow from DC Comics, who uses all sorts of crazy arrows, such as ones containing:
Corrosive acids.
Atomic warheads.
Cryonic devices that freeze targets on impact.
Grappling hooks.
Ice cutters.
Explosives that detonate on impact.
Firecrackers.
Fire extinguishers.
Handcuffs.
Harpoons.
Boxing gloves.
Balloons.
Antlers.
Buzz saws.
Boomerangs.
Drills.
Nets that unfurl and ensnare targets upon impact.
Tumbleweeds.
Tear gas.
Umbrellas.
Smokescreens.
Peppermint sticks.
Parachutes.
Ropes.
Safe crackers.
Reflectors.
Rain.
Stunners.
And many more.
A final comment about the bow and arrow:
Archery is so central to who Katniss is and how she thinks that the bow and arrow is almost an extension of her own body. She uses the weapon without thinking—she’s so quick that she can fluidly decide to shoot, then immediately aim and hit the target. Without the bow and arrow, it would be hard to think of Katniss as the same person, wouldn’t it?
For example, when the Gamemakers drool over feasting on a roasted pig, in a grand show of rebellious behavior, she shoots an arrow into the pig’s mouth (The Hunger Games, 102). What a great moment in the book! Absolutely superb! This act shows Katniss at her best: how angry she is about the Games, in general; about the repressive nature of the Capitol on the citizens of Panem; about the frustrations of her terrible life; about how she is probably going to fight the Capitol if given half a chance. This one scene foreshadows everything to come, particularly the ultimate rebellion in Mockingjay. It’s a great example of excellent plotting and beautiful character development by the author, Suzanne Collins.
SWINGING A MACE
We’re told that in one year of the Hunger Games, tributes had only “horrible spiked maces” as weapons (The Hunger Games, 39). And as mentioned earlier, while training for the Games, tributes learn how to swing maces to protect themselves and kill their competitors (The Hunger Games, 92). Indeed, this all comes in very handy because Katniss does find maces among the many types of weapons in the Quarter Quell’s Cornucopia (Catching Fire, 271).
Anyone familiar with fighting-type video games knows about spiked maces. Remember Dynasty Warriors 2?
A mace is basically a club with a heavy ball on one end. The ball is made from stone, copper, steel, iron, or bronze, and typically has flanges, knobs, or spikes on it to inflict more damage. Maces used by people on foot—such as tributes in the Hunger Games—range from two to three feet long. Developed in about 12000 BC to kill humans, they are rarely used today. As humans learned to wear leather armor to absorb the blows of weapons, the first maces made from wood and studded with stones became less popular. But along came copper and bronze, and the maces became much more dangerous.
The early Egyptians used maces extensively as did the people of Canaan. The Egyptians eventually replaced the stone heads, which easily shattered during warfare, with copper cones. The warriors fighting for Ramses II against the Hittites used maces with bronze heads.
The ancient Romans avoided the use of maces, most likely because of armor. Also, the Roman infantry used tight formations in battle, making weapons such as short swords and spears more useful.
During the Middle Ages, armor and chain mail protected warriors from the blows of sharp weapons such as swords, spears, and arrows. Nonetheless, maces made from solid metal, particularly those with flanges, still inflicted serious injury on opponents.
Many peasants and makeshift armies used little more than maces, poles, and axes. And the Italian mercenary armies from the fourteenth century on also relied on maces as their main weapons.
Maces with pear-shaped heads were common in medieval Russia and Poland. Flanges probably came into use in twelfth-century Russia and then spread throughout Europe. The most popular mace in eastern Europe at that time had six flanges and was powerful enough to crack most armor.
Even the Inca warriors used maces with metal and stone heads. The Aztecs attached sharp stone blades to wooden clubs, a form of mace.
In Africa, the Zulu mace, also called a “knobkerrie,” is made entirely from wood, both the shaft portion and the head.
USING A SLINGSHOT
One of the most heartbreaking characters in The Hunger Games trilogy is twelve-year-old Rue from District 11, who reminds Katniss of her little sister, Prim. Rue is so tiny and fragile that she looks much younger. Katniss becomes very close to Rue during the Games and, as mentioned earlier in this book, one of the saddest part of the trilogy is when Rue dies. Among Rue’s gifts is the ability to hit targets accurately using a slingshot (The Hunger Games, 99).
We all know that a slingshot is basically a length of cord or other material that is used to throw objects such as stones. The most common way of using a slingshot is to make an overhand throw. You can also use an underhand throw, which is similar to pitching a softball; and even sideways throws, in which you swing the slingshot around your body before releasing the stone.
>
PYRAMID TRAPS AND LAND MINES
In the first book, Foxface dashes toward the pyramid, hopping over barrels and otherwise avoiding what might be killer landmines and other hazardous obstacles. The Careers have purposely set things up so someone like Foxface will think she can grab their supplies without being killed. When Katniss shoots an arrow at an apple sack, all the land mines in the area explode (The Hunger Games, 220).
Land mines are common in warfare. They include a casing, a main charge, a booster charge, a detonator, and a firing mechanism. They are triggered by all sorts of things: pressure, such as being struck by an arrow; but also sounds, vibrations, and even magnetism in some cases.
THE DARK DAYS, BOMBS, NUCLEAR MISSILES, AND RADIATION
The Dark Days in the world of The Hunger Games may have referred to nuclear warfare after the possible melting of the ice caps. My theory about The Hunger Games apocalypse is in chapter 1. There’s no way to really determine the cause of the apocalypse, but we do know that District 12 “is pretty much the end of the line” and that District 13 was leveled by “toxic bombs” (The Hunger Games, 83). As with many “end-of-the-world” scenarios, the survivors in District 13 hide underground, but in their case, the subterranean hideout is more than a mere bomb shelter: it’s a labyrinth of sophisticated machinery, agriculture, medical facilities, housing, and endless elevators to endless levels.
This concept mirrors the 1950s bomb shelter mania, in which government, schools, and families had basement facilities and underground bunkers in case nuclear war broke out. It also mirrors the underground post-apocalypse cities featured in many anime and post-apocalypse films.
After World War II, the United States created the Federal Civil Defense Administration to help people get ready for possible nuclear war. Survival literature called for suburbanites to build fallout (aka bomb) shelters. At its best, a bomb shelter had shielding from radiation and was built from concrete with walls at least twelve inches thick. Most of the fallout shelters probably wouldn’t have helped much during a massive nuclear attack.
Anime and video games are replete with post-apocalypse scenarios. Here’s a partial list, but there are plenty more. It’s possible to view dystopian post-apocalyptic anime twenty-four hours a day for months and still not see everything available.
1.
AKIRA. Post-apocalyptic Tokyo gang wars eventually lead the hero Tetsuo to the military, where he’s transformed into a machine-flesh human.
2.
EVANGELION. The Second Impact destroys Tokyo, turning it into a battleground of Angels, and several young teenagers turn into machine-flesh humans who must save humanity from the Angels.
3.
APOCALYPSE ZERO. Set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, a sister and brother battle it out to either save humanity or destroy it.
4.
HOKUTO NO KEN: RAOH GAIDEN TEN NO HAOH. Nuclear war destroys most of humanity, and warriors use martial arts to survive.
5.
DEMON CITY SHINJUKU. A boy must defeat demons in post-apocalyptic Tokyo in order to bring peace to the ravished world.
6.
ICE. A space station falls onto Earth and kills all men. The surviving women battle bioterrorism and seek to discover the truth about ICE, a technology that might enable them to bear male babies again.
7.
TOKYO UNDERGROUND. Ordinary high school freshmen encounter an underground city where Elemental Users control water, fire, magnetism, and other fundamental forces of nature.
8.
CHROME SHELLED REGIOS. Filth Monsters rage in a post-apocalyptic world that houses a mobile city inside a dome.
9.
RAHXEPHON. Aliens battle an average boy controlling a mechadroid in a post-apocalyptic world for the fate of humanity.
10.
SHINZO. Genetically engineered Enterrans attack their creators, humanity, and the few survivors are housed in a sanctuary.
11.
FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN. Monsters known as Phantoms invade the planet and kill almost all human life. A few cities are sprinkled around the Earth with barriers keeping them from each other.
12.
GIGAMESH. A terrorist attack wipes out the planet, and a brother and sister learn that their father was the terrorist.
13.
GENESIS SURVIVOR GAIARTH. After a massive war, humanity is almost wiped off the face of the Earth, with the survivors sprinkled across a barren post-apocalyptic landscape. Robots and machine-flesh creatures duke it out.
14.
Many, many more.
In The Hunger Games trilogy, we’re told that District 13’s elaborate underground city was basically in place before the apocalypse. Fearing war or complete destruction of the Earth’s atmosphere, the government leaders planned to race to their underground city and leave the people above to cope and die (Mockingjay, 17).
In the real world, Camp David (in the United States) reportedly includes a bomb shelter built by President Eisenhower. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan saw the shelter in 1959 and wrote that it was a “Presidential Command Post in the event of atomic war. It holds fifty of the President’s staff in one place and one hundred and fifty Defence staff in another. The fortress is underneath the innocent looking huts in which we lived, hewn out of the rock. It cost 10 million dollars.”3 In addition, recent articles point to a secret bomb shelter for the U.S. Congress. Built to protect both houses of Congress and supporting staff, it was beneath the five-star luxury Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Twenty-five ton steel and concrete doors secured the shelter from nuclear radiation.4
Most likely, the United States has secret underground facilities to protect government leaders. And it would be naïve to think that other nations haven’t done the same thing.
Perhaps if the nukes fly, we’ll all be dead. The only surviving humans will be a handful of government leaders. Now, there’s a cheery thought.
Bombs and missiles are standard weapons in the hands of the Capitol. It’s nothing for hoverplanes to pop into view and bomb an entire district into oblivion (Catching Fire, 145). Suzanne Collins brilliantly weaves personal horror and empathy into the narrative to make the bombings and destruction more pronounced. For example, it’s hard not to feel bad for Twill, whose husband was killed by a bomb, and Bonnie, who lost her entire family.
A non-nuclear bomb is no laughing matter. Dropped from a warplane, a single bomb can burst in the sky and then rain dozens of bombs upon a location—for the sake of the world of The Hunger Games, this might be a district, and for the sake of the real world, it could be anywhere at anytime. Inside each bomb is a fuse that is timed to detonate the actual explosion, which may include chemical and biological agents. The following appeared in Popular Science magazine way back in May 1945:5 “New chemicals and new mechanisms have been brought together in new fire bombs.” Old technology, folks, but enough to destroy entire districts in The Hunger Games.
The worst things that could happen to Katniss are to: (a) lose her family and loved ones, and (b) lose her home, that is, District 12. She does lose Prim, which acutely hurts the reader, and she does lose her home at the end of the Quarter Quells when the Capitol drops fire bombs on District 12 (Catching Fire, 391).
To keep things simple, we’ll define bombs as munitions dropped by warplanes aka hoverplanes. The aerial bombs, or fire bombs, in the World War II era were dropped on both battlefields and cities, and included in these bombs were napalm and nuclear devices. Typical aerial bombs have streamlined shapes, stabilizing fins, fuzes (as opposed to fuses), and detonators to light the fuzes. Modern bombs can be “smart,” meaning they hone in on targets with great precision; they are built with extra features such as electronic sensors, control systems, batteries, and adjustable fins.
Types of Bombs
Explosive bombs
Includes demolition bombs that destroy structures, fragmentation bombs that kill people, and general purpose bombs that do both. Also i
ncludes incendiary bombs, which are extremely deadly, as well as fuel air explosives and anti-armor bombs that are dropped in clusters with incendiary and fragmentation bombs. (Incendiary bombs are the most likely candidates for the fire bombs in The Hunger Games.)
Biological bombs
Includes pathogenic organisms.
Chemical bombs
Includes killer chemicals in the form of gas, smoke, and/or fire.
Guided bombs
Pinpoints targets, “smart” bombs.
Nuclear bombs
The granddaddy of all bombs, includes fission or fusion.
As the war erupts in the third novel of the series, the Capitol sends squads of bombers, hoping to wipe out the rebellion. Somehow, Katniss manages to hit one of these bomber hoverplanes with an arrow, and the hoverplane erupts in flames (Mockingjay, 96). It’s great entertainment but possibly farfetched that someone could shoot an arrow from the ground, hit a plane, and cause an explosion; but we buy into it because the story is good and we want to believe that Katniss is the ultimate heroine, who can do anything with her bow and arrows.
The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion Page 10