The Girl on Fire!

1. Ordinary World: Katniss Everdeen is the heroine of the Hunger Games. She lived a simple life, in a post-apocalyptic world, hunting birds to feed her family and friends. The government ruled with an iron fist with hopes that the fear the instilled in their people would keep them all in check and allow society to continue to rebuild itself.
2. Call to Adventure: Katniss’s call to adventure comes on the dawn of the 74th annual Hunger Games. Her sister Primrose is called at random to fight to the death in hopes of a victory that would give extra food to her community. Fearing her sister would die, Katniss is forced to volunteer as tribute and take her place.
3. Refusal of the Call: When he family is ripped away from her and she starts to get a better sense of what she is being called upon to do, she waivers a little bit. Her friend Peta also volunteered and as a result she would be forced to kill him in the arena as well. The fear of conflict becomes so great at times that she considers giving up. Her love of her family and her district prevail, and she continues forward.
4. Meeting with the Mentor: Katniss is introduced to a previous winner of the Hunger Games. His life is in total shambles and he is almost always drinking himself under the table. When the going gets tough and the games are about to begin, he pulls himself together and gives her some last minute advice which helps her survive in the arena.
5. Crossing the Threshold: After some publicity and prepping Katniss is sent up a glass elevator and arrives on the battlefield. She can’t turn back and if she gives up, she dies.
6. Tests, Allies and Enemies: The entire arena is designed to facilitate as much killing as possible. There are boobytraps around every bush, and she is required to form alliances to help keep her alive, even with the knowledge that eventually she will have to try to kill them.
7. Approach: She arms herself with a bow, and finds places to wait out the killing as long as possible. She tries to minimize her profile in the games by doing her best to defend everyone who is being attacked. She also has to nurse Peta back to health who has unfortunately gotten the stuffing beat out of him. Mostly because he is a little man boy baby. But that is just my opinion.
8. The Ordeal: Katniss and Peta are the last two left alive. They have to decide whether to die together or live together. I an act of defiance they decide that they will kill each other, when all of the sudden the game-master says that they can both stay alive. The biggest ordeal they now have to face is becoming the golden-children of the corrupt government that literally puts its people in pit and watches them kill each other gladiator style. The political and social pressures from a side of extreme elitists as well as the guilt they feel for surviving is an even bigger ordeal than competing in the Hunger Games in the first place.
9. The Reward: The reward for Katniss is the knowledge that she just stuck it to the man on live TV in front of the entire world. She has given hope to the oppressed and gained some super fame. She gets to go home and see her family. She get’s to feel like the rebel with a cause. Until President Snow decides he wants to destroy her entire world. But that comes later.
10. The Road Back: The challenge on her journey now is to try to go home and feel normal again. She wants to act like nothing ever happened, but the events of the games haunt her. She feels the burden of guilt for being a part of something so terrible and she feels awkward going home knowing that she’s the face of the rebellion disguised as the face of the government.
11. The Resurrection: Katniss’s resurrection comes when she has to confront her demons and accept the fact that things will never be the same. The people look to her as the Mockingjay now, a bird that was genetically modified by the government (but it backfired) and now stands as a symbol of the failures of the government. She doesn’t have to face an physical death in this resurrection, but she does have to accept that her soul is now on the line. She has to figure out how to rally her people and protect them, and it takes deep emotional toll on her.
12. The Elixir: The elixir that Katniss returns with is the elixir of hope. For so long her people thought they would be held captive and starving forever. Seeing that she was able to one-up the government has given them the resolve to become unified and throw down their oppressors. As hard as it is for her, Katniss accepts her new role and prepares her people for a rebellion. To Be Continued.