How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Although my instinct is to run directly away from it, I realize Finnick is moving at a diagonal down the hill. He's trying to keep a distance from the gas while steering us toward the water that surrounds the Cornucopia. Yes, water, I think as the acid droplets bore deeper into me. Now I'm so thankful I didn't kill Finnick, because how would I have gotten Peeta out of here alive? (21.14)
Here Katniss admires Finnick for his basic survival skills, not his beauty or sex appeal. Katniss is a great asset to have on your side in the arena, but so is Finnick. Neither is perfect, and each of them needs the other in order to survive a little while longer.
Quote #8
By the time we pull ourselves together, I'm thinking that maybe Finnick Odair is all right. At least not as vain or self-important as I'd thought. Not so bad at all, really. (22.42)
This is some of the most honest admiration we hear in Catching Fire. Usually the masses admire characters like Katniss and Peeta because of what they're posing as: the "star-crossed lovers" who've been made up and groomed by expert media teams. In the arena, though, people's true colors come out. Finnick's popular persona is admired, but Katniss admires his real self even more.
Quote #9
He puts the chain with the locket around my neck, then rests his hand over the spot where our baby would be. "You're going to make a great mother, you know," he says. (24.89)
It's hard to know whether or not to take Peeta's admiration at face value here. Does he honestly think Katniss is going to be "a great mother" (someday), or is just playing for the audience, who thinks she's pregnant? Is this a ploy to encourage Katniss to live?