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9:15 a.m. - 2012-04-04
FOXFACE
My favorite minor character in "The Hunger Games" is Foxface, the female tribute from District 5.

Foxface is one of the smallest tributes and has no obvious fighting skills, but during the training Katniss suspects that she is one of the most intelligent of the contestants. Katniss briefly considers her as a potential ally, but then concludes that she would probably get a knife in the back.

Foxface chooses a strategy that emphasizes her strengths and survives longer than many of the more powerful and dangerous tributes. Avoiding direct confrontation, she keeps her distance from the other tributes--especially the highly trained careers from Districts 1 and 2--preferring to observe and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.

At the opening of the Games she doesn't even consider rushing toward the weapons stored nearest the Cornucopia, instead choosing the wiser and safer option of snatching up supplies and running for cover. She survives in part by stealing small portions of food from the other tributes, never taking so much that the theft will be obvious. She analyzes the minefield set up by the careers and navigates it successfully, stealing more supplies before Katniss sets off the explosion. At The Feast she alone is clever enough and daring enough to hide within the Cornucopia itself, dashing out ahead of everyone to make off with her prize. She knows that the other tributes won't pursue her for fear of losing their own prizes.

Foxface is brought down in part by her own cleverness, thinking to steal more food from Katniss and Peeta, but not realizing that the berries Peeta had picked were deadly nightlock. Katniss thinks that had Peeta known the danger of the berries and tried deliberately to trick Foxface, she would have seen through the ruse.

Anyone looking at the tributes at the beginning of The Hunger Games would have predicted an early death for the diminutive girl from District 5, but she used speed, stealth, cunning and calculated boldness to make fools of the other contestants until her death by poison. Had Peeta not collected the lethal berries, it's possible that Foxface's unique skill set would have enabled her to outlast her more formidable opponents. She was the ultimate underdog.

 

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