Katniss Everdeen the year 2174), consisting of the Capitol and 12 subservient districts. During the yearly "Reaping" of tributes for the gladiator-like Hunger Games, Katniss's younger sister, Prim, is selected as District 12's female tribute during a public lottery. Katniss volunteers to take her place. Talking in terms of "winning the reaping", the district's Hunger Games manager Effie Trinket asks for a round of applause for Katniss, but everyone remains silent. Many in the crowd press their three fingers against their mouths and hold it out to her. Katniss describes this as an ancient sign for saying "admiration," "goodbye to someone you
Katniss Everdeen District 12, Katniss's home, the coal-mining district. District 12, in the Appalachian Mountains, is the poorest of the districts, and Katniss lives with her mother and sister in the poorest part of town, known as the Seam. Katniss's father, a coal miner, was killed in a mine explosion when Katniss was 11. After his death, Katniss's mother went into a deep depression and was unable to take care of her children. On the brink of starvation a few weeks before her twelfth birthday Katniss wandered into the richer part of town, hoping to steal some scraps from the garbage bins