The Hunger Games opening

The opening of The Hunger Games provides great insight for the characters and the eventual roles they will have in each other's lives. The language used to describe Prim and her mother through Katniss' eyes shows exactly how she loves most. Katniss compares her sister's face to a raindrop, which casually discussing her mother's features in the past tense and saying "she looks younger....not so beaten down." We can see right from the start that Katniss cares for her sister very deeply, enough for her to not kill Prim's cat and learn to live harmoniously with the animal. She cares about Prim first and foremost which is a subtle foreshadow to her volunteering as tribute in place of Prim. Also, it is her interaction with Buttercup that we also see a major key element in Katniss' character. Katniss references Buttercup as "just another mouth to feed." With this, we see Katniss as someone who is practical and not very affectionate, with the exception of her sister. Later on in the book, this practicality is what ends up keeping Katniss alive during the Hunger Games and becomes a strategic advantage. One of the reasons why she distances herself from Peeta is to avoid any connection she knows she would have to severe later one. This characteristic also translates into her "I owe you" mentality that appears later on in the book. Further along in the first chapter, we're also introduced to Katniss' father and the important role he takes in her life. She describes her father as her role model, since he's the one who taught her how to hunt and has crafted bows for her. Her ability to hunt becomes another advantage that she takes into the Hunger Games.