Dr. Gaul
"Snow fell down in the cage, it fell down in the cage." You're good at games. Maybe you'll be a Gamemaker like me.
That's if the Games continue at all.
Dr. Gaul
Oh, they'll continue. With performances like young Mr. Snow's in that zoo. I came to ask your star mentor a question. What are the Hunger Games for?
They’re to punish the districts for their uprising, to commemorate the end of the war-
Dr. Gaul
"They're to commemorate"- blah, blah, blah, dull, dull, dull. Punishment can take myriad forms. Why not drop bombs, cancel food shipments, stage executions? Why games?
Shouldn’t we be asking ourselves whether or not they’re right in the first place?
Dr. Gaul
You have a problem with my Games?
Some of those kids were two years old when the war ended. The oldest of them were only eight. The Capitol is supposed to be everyone’s government now. It is supposed to protect all of us. I don’t see how making children fight each other to the death is protecting anyone.
Dr. Gaul
That sort of sympathy might interfere with your mentoring assignment.
Perhaps the Capitol students are ill-suited to be mentoring tributes. Perhaps the Game’s time has passed.
Dean Highbottom is wrong. My classmates, too. Maybe Sejanus is onto something here. Maybe we should be viewing those Tributes as human beings. I mean, you saw those kids in the zoo, they just... they just wanted to get to know Lucy Gray. If we need people to watch, we should be letting them get closer to the tributes before the Games. To make the stakes personal.
Dr. Gaul
Who will watch the Games if they care what happens to the Tributes?
Everyone. If they thought the Tribute they cared about had a chance of winning. People need someone to root for and someone to root against. We need them to invest. And if we bend a few Capitol laws, we could even have them place bets. Look, I know Lucy Gray may not win in the arena but if you give her a chance, I would bet the Plinth Prize that she can win people's attention.
Dr. Gaul
I'd like you to write up a proposal of these thoughts tonight, Mr. Snow.
Wait. You mean you might actually use his ideas?
Dr. Gaul
If it'll help the ratings, why not.
