Plants play one of the most important roles in the survival of tributes in The Hunger Games. One decision on what you can and cannot eat will either lead to diminishing your hunger and restoring your energy levels for future battles, or a sudden death due to poisonous substances within them. Plants symbolize both a tribute ally and an enemy. As read on page 62, ‘I knelt in the water, my fingers digging into the soft mud, and I pulled up handfuls of the roots,’ and soon after, ‘That night, we feasted on fish and katniss roots until we were all, for the first time in months, full.’ If it weren’t for Katniss’ ability to identify edible plant species in the situation, her family would have continued to struggle to have healthy proportioned meals. Again, later on, on page 187, it shows Katniss’ ability to identify edible plants to keep her alive, ‘I take my knife and go to work on a pine tree, cutting away the outer bark and scraping off a large handful of the soft inner bark. I slowly chew the stuff as I walk along.’ Easily, her ability to identify possible (safe) food supplies in plants is one of her biggest allies and benefits. Even when not needed as a food source, Rue shows the ability to identify plants for medicinal purposes for Katniss after she is stung by tracker jackers. Rue was then able to use those leaves to help ease the pain, reduce the swelling, and get rid of the poison from Katniss’ sting. Once introduced to the leaves which helped the stings, Katniss had noticed them as her mother, who is knowledgeable in medicines, has used them too.
On the other hand, plants are an enemy if a tribute has no or minimal knowledge about them. On pages 387-390, Foxface dies and as the cannons blow to signify her death, Peeta tries to get Katniss to climb a tree so they can attack Cato easier, as he believes Cato is the killer and is nearby due to his sense of where the cannons were shot. Katniss then explains, “No, Peeta, she’s your kill, not Cato’s.” Peeta struggles to understand how until she further explains to him that, ‘we call them night locks,’ and how they are dangerous to eat. Katniss realized Foxface must have run past and stolen some of it to eat, not knowing it would kill her. In this sense, the plant, nightlock, was her enemy which led to her death.
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