The Games have turned Katniss' life inside out. Everything has to fit neatly into a box and form a simple, exciting narrative for the media. In the arena, Katniss and Peeta's narrative became a romance against all odds, and nothing could be permitted to get in the way of that storyline. Somewhat ironically, the Capitol's media worked <em>for</em> Katniss by helping perpetuate the idea of that romance, which is what ended up keeping her alive.

There are many kinds of courage. It takes one kind to be a competitor in the arena and fight for your life. It takes another to be a mentor for the competitors, win sponsors for them, and try to keep them alive. And it takes yet another kind of courage to deal with the aftermath, to make peace with the memories and the experience and move on. In their "own ways," Katniss, Haymitch, and Peeta all have to keep the experience they went through at a distance, so that they can go on living.

From the first page of <em>Catching Fire</em>, appearances are important for keeping characters alive and maintaining the manipulative system set up by the Capitol. In order to survive in that system, you have to look the part and pretend that everything is okay.