Mockingjay: Chapters 19–22

by Suzanne Collins
In the last book of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss struggles to be more than just a pawn in the fight for the future of Panem.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–9, Chapters 10–13, Chapters 14–18, Chapters 19–22, Chapter 23–Epilogue

Here are links to our lists for the trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Here is a link to our lists for Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. martyr
    one who voluntarily suffers death
    “Yes. Give us a martyr to fight for,” says Boggs.
  2. dilemma
    state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options
    Seeing the cause of my current dilemma calmly pitching his tent back at our site makes me furious.
  3. rotation
    a planned recurrent sequence (of crops or personnel etc.)
    “I didn’t put you in the rotation.”
  4. provoke
    annoy continually or chronically
    “What are you trying to do? Provoke him into an attack?” he asks me.
  5. curt
    brief and to the point
    “You and me, we made a deal to try to save him. Remember?” Haymitch says. When I don’t respond, he disconnects after a curt “Try to remember.”
  6. assassinate
    murder; especially of socially prominent persons
    Realizing with shame that my fixation with assassinating Snow has allowed me to ignore a much more difficult problem.
  7. quality
    a degree or grade of excellence or worth
    Peeta’s been right about one thing: Coin and Plutarch are unhappy with the quality of footage they’re getting from the Star Squad.
  8. grisly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    With Peeta’s grisly account fresh in our minds, we crunch through the streets of broken glass until we reach our target, the block we are to take.
  9. mission
    a special assignment that is given to a person or group
    Since this is both a mission and a shoot, I’m about to ask who’s in charge, my commander or my director, when Cressida calls, “Action!”
  10. surveillance
    close observation of a person or group
    “We need to get out of here. Now. We just set off a streetful of pods. You can bet they’ve got us on surveillance tapes.”
  11. ghastly
    gruesomely indicative of death or the dead
    My head’s reeling from the ghastly events of the last five minutes—Boggs mutilated, dying, dead, Peeta’s homicidal rage, Mitchell bloody and netted and swallowed by that foul black wave.
  12. plausible
    apparently reasonable, valid, or truthful
    Why not tell them the truth? It’s as plausible as anything I’ll come up with.
  13. revenge
    action taken in return for an injury or offense
    But it must seem like a real mission, not revenge.
  14. violation
    an act that disregards an agreement or a right
    “That would be in direct violation of President Coin’s orders.”
  15. unstable
    suffering from severe mental illness
    I can think of no sane reason that Coin would send an unstable boy, programmed to kill me, along on such a key assignment.
  16. tread
    put down, place, or press the foot
    And though I tread with care, I think my instinct was right about its triggering other pods.
  17. complexity
    the quality of being intricate and compounded
    Just as the complexity of the mess I've dragged everybody into begins to overload my brain, a distant chain of explosions sends a tremor through the room.
  18. chaos
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    We watch the chaos that follows until the wave blots out the cameras.
  19. inept
    not elegant or graceful in expression
    I press my lips together at the memories of rain dripping through stones, my inept attempts at flirting, and the aroma of my favorite Capitol dish in the chilly air.
  20. conscience
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    How satisfying, how entertaining it would be for Snow to have me kill him. To have Peeta’s death on my conscience for whatever is left of my life.
  21. menace
    something that is a source of danger
    Snow congratulates the Peacekeepers on a masterful job, honors them for ridding the country of the menace called the Mockingjay.
  22. demoralize
    lower someone's spirits; make downhearted
    With my death, he predicts a turning of the tide in the war, since the demoralized rebels have no one left to follow.
  23. merely
    and nothing more
    And what was I, really? A poor, unstable girl with a small talent with a bow and arrow. Not a great thinker, not the mastermind of the rebellion, merely a face plucked from the rabble because I had caught the nation’s attention with my antics in the Games.
  24. eulogy
    a formal expression of praise for someone who has died
    She introduces herself to Panem, identifies herself as the head of the rebellion, and then gives my eulogy.
  25. resolve
    the trait of being firm in purpose or belief
    “Dead or alive, Katniss Everdeen will remain the face of this rebellion. If ever you waver in your resolve, think of the Mockingjay, and in her you will find the strength you need to rid Panem of its oppressors.”
  26. fierce
    marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions
    Up comes a heavily doctored photo of me looking beautiful and fierce with a bunch of flames flickering behind me.
  27. crucial
    of the greatest importance
    We must be moving closer to crucial targets, because the number of pods has noticeably increased.
  28. fabricate
    make up something artificial or untrue
    A pang of guilt hits me since I’ve fabricated said mission.
  29. option
    one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen
    “So, we can’t stay put. We can’t move up. We can’t move laterally. I think that just leaves one option.”
  30. noble
    having high or elevated character
    “Stop being noble! I don’t care if I die!” He turns to me, pleading now. “Katniss, please. Don’t you see, I want to be out of this?”
  31. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    Why can’t I just let him go? Slip him a pill, pull the trigger? Is it because I care too much about Peeta or too much about letting Snow win? Have I turned him into a piece in my private Games? That’s despicable, but I’m not sure it’s beneath me.
  32. asset
    a useful or valuable quality
    “Well, then you just became our most valuable asset.”
  33. alter
    cause to change; make different
    Pollux and I have worked out a plan for the next leg of our journey, and since it heads away from the hissing, I see no reason to alter it.
  34. proximity
    the property of being close together
    The screams have stopped, and in their absence my name has rebounded, startling in its proximity.
  35. discretion
    the trait of judging wisely and objectively
    Along our bank, everyone opens fire. I choose my arrows without discretion, sending arrowheads, fire, explosives into the mutts’ bodies.
  36. atrocity
    an act of shocking cruelty
    No mutt is good. All are meant to damage you. Some take your life, like the monkeys. Others your reason, like the tracker jackers. However, the true atrocities, the most frightening, incorporate a perverse psychological twist designed to terrify the victim.
  37. remnant
    a small part remaining after the main part no longer exists
    We’re all that’s left. Later, the human feelings will come. Now I’m conscious only of an animal need to keep the remnants of our band alive.
  38. rabid
    infected by an acute viral disease of the nervous system
    Peeta shakes his head. “I’m losing it. I’ll go mad. Like them.”
    Like the mutts. Like a rabid beast bent on ripping my throat out.
  39. bitter
    proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity
    And here, finally here in this place, in these circumstances, I will really have to kill him. And Snow will win. Hot, bitter hatred courses through me. Snow has won too much already today.
  40. resemble
    be similar or bear a likeness to
    “Stay with me.” His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy.
Created on Thu Jul 27 14:06:45 EDT 2017 (updated Mon Oct 01 16:38:18 EDT 2018)

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