The Hunger Games: Chapters 6 - 18

Reading chapters 6 - 18 of The Hunger Games was more review for me. I had almost the exact same thoughts reading it through the second time, though, and here they are chapter by chapter...

Chapter 6: This chapter begins with Effie Trinket bragging about her attempts at getting Katniss and Peeta sponsors. Their chances of having sponsors went up after their stylists job well done at helping them make a grand first appearance (Having sponsors is very important for the tributes in case they need water or medicine or anything else that is not in the arena). As she's telling them this, they are being taken up in a glass elevator to their rooms which are filled with every kind of luxury. "Spoil them before you kill them"
seems to be the Capital's motto. 
Chapter 7: In this chapter Peeta and Katniss get into a little argument at breakfast, which begins as just an argument over their abilities, but then turns onto a topic that really pulls your heart strings for Peeta. We begin seeing signs of who people think the winner might be, and this really comes through when Peeta lets it slip that his mother told him that,"She's a survivor, that one" and that district 12 might finally have a winner. The fact that Peeta's own parents aren't expecting him to come out the winner (which means he would be dead) is just a really upsetting thing to know.
This chapter also includes the first training session for the tributes, where they all begin sizing up their opponents. Even more important than the training session, though, is the private session with the Gamemakers. This is the time for each tribute to show their skills. Katniss definitely shows that her ability to shoot an arrow is up to par when she shoots one, in an act of rage, and it hits the apple (in the mouth of the pig the Gamemakers were eating) spot on.  "Thank you for you consideration"
Chapter 8: After her sassy-ness towards the Gamemakers, Katniss is understandably worried about what they might do to her or her family, etc. The Gamemakers end up giving her a very high score of 11, though. It's disturbing to think that they most likely gave her that high score because they think her temper will make her more entertaining in the games. 
Chapters 9 & 10: Katniss's "spirit" and the power she has by just being herself is shown during the interview that the tributes have to do in this chapter. Whereas, Peeta shows makes himself seem very likeable, at least to everyone except Katniss, when he reveals his crush on her to the entire audience. This is when the "star crossed lovers" plan of survival is revealed to Katniss, which she isn't exactly happy about at first.
The most important moment out of these 3 chapters is the night before the games. Neither Katniss nor Peeta can fall asleep (understandably - knowing you will have to fight to survive not long after you wake makes it a tad difficult to close your eyes) and are up talking. Peeta plants the idea in Katniss's head that whether they die or not, he wants to prove that he's more than just a "piece in their (the Gamemakers) game."
Chapter 11 & 12: The Cornucopia. Blood bath zone. Either get supplies and risk being killed, or run as fast as you can away from it and have no supplies. Katniss manages to get a backpack, but the evidence of how deadly the Cornucopia is is shown with 11 canon shots that night, each signifying another dead tribute. 
Katniss is given a shock when she discovers that same night that Peeta has seemingly teamed up with the "Careers" (arrogant, aggressive, strong tributes). The cameras are everyone, catching all of their movements and reactions to everything. Never forget that these teens being killed is seen as great entertainment.
Chapter 13 & 14: When tributes have been apart for too long (or there hasn't been enough excitement - death - for a while) the Gamemakers force the tributes together. In this chapter, they decide to use fire and fire balls. While running away from this danger, Katniss gets hit in the calf but is proven to have sponsors when she is sent medicine. However, the Careers find her hiding in the tree (I'm sure the Gamemakers are very pleased with themselves). That night when they're sleeping under her tree (on account of the fact that they can't reach her), Rue - the little girl who reminds Katniss of Prim - finds her in the trees & points out a way to get rid of the Careers. Tracker Jackers. 
She manages to kill one of the Careers by dropping the Tracker Jacker nest near them, but injures herself and everyone else with their stings as well. For all this, though, Katniss has earned a bow & arrow (taken from the fallen Career) and a partner. 
Chapters 15 & 16: Katniss and her new friend, Rue, have to decided to hit the Careers where it will hurt them the most. None of them know how to hunt or get food like Katniss does, so getting rid of their supplies (Katniss & Rue decide) is the new plan. Rue's job is to distract the Careers, and Katniss takes out the supplies. Katniss manages to blow it all up by triggering the bombs they had set up to protect it all. 
Chapters 17 & 18: After the explosion, Katniss is temporarily disoriented and a little deaf in one ear from the blast. But they did it. They evened the playing field. They should be celebrating and figuring out their next step. But where is Rue? This is the chapter that killed me. 
Katniss hears Rue screaming and finds her entangled in a net one of the other tributes had thrown on her. Right as Katniss reaches her, the boy from District 1 hits Rue with a spear. Katniss immediately shoots him with an arrow and races over to Rue. 
As Rue slowly dies, Katniss sings to her in an attempt to comfort her in her last moments. 
We all know whose fault her death really is. Not Katniss's late timing. Not the boy from District 1. The Capital. They are the enemy, and Katniss realizes this. So, in another act of defiance, she surrounds Rue's body with flowers and kisses 3 fingers before holding them up to the sky for all the districts, who are being forced to watch this, to see. District 11 (where Rue was from), in return, sends Katniss a gift of bread from their district. Katniss has shown (whether she realizes it or not), for the first time, that the districts are in this together, not alone.