The Tribute: A Panegyrical Poem

“is 'luck in one’s circumstances - the kind of problems and situations one faces'.””

— Philo

“occurs whenever forces beyond your control have shaped 'the kind of person you are, where this is not just a question of what you deliberately do, but of your inclinations, capacities, and temperament'.””

— Philo

“, which is 'luck in the way one’s actions and projects turn out'.””

— Philo

“is 'luck in how one is determined by antecedent circumstances.'... we don't make our moral choices in a vacuum.””

— Philo

“What she seems to fear most is not that Rue will be killed by some other tribute, but rather that she and Rue will face each other as the last two survivors in the Games, forcing Katniss to sacrifice her erstwhile ally for the sake of a promise to her sister. As horrible as it sounds, Rue’s death at the hands of Marvel was good moral luck for Katniss.””

— Philo

“Consider Haymitch Abernathy, staggering through life in a nearly constant alcoholic fog. His inebriation is so incapacitating that it has probably compromised his ability to be an effective mentor to District 12’s tributes on many occasions. In fact, Katniss suspects that Haymitch’s alcoholism may have cost some of her predecessors their lives. 'No wonder the District 12 tributes never stand a chance,' she reflects while watching Haymitch drink himself into a stupor on the train to the Capitol. 'It isn’t just that we’ve been underfed and lack training. Some of our tributes have still been strong enough to make a go of it. But we rarely get sponsors and he’s a big part of the reason why.' But as justified as Katniss’s anger at Haymitch may be, we know that he didn’t choose to be this drunken wreck of a man. His character was shaped by a cruel twist of fate: his name being drawn in the 50th Hunger Games when he was still a boy. Morally, he never stood a chance.””

— Philo