Clove's (Isabelle Fuhrman) death ranks among The Hunger Games' most violent scenes, though one element from Suzanne Collins' book would have made the film's depiction more gut-wrenching. Hailing from District 2, Clove participates in the 74th Hunger Games as one of the competition's lethal Career Tributes that's additionally comprised of tributes from Districts 1 and 4. Clove figures among the favorites to win the games eventually won by Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), though the 15-year-old knife-thrower meets a grisly end at the hands of District 11's Thresh (Dayo Okeniyi) in a sequence that is both longer and more meaningful in the book.
Toward the end of the games, the Gamemakers organize a "feast" at the cornucopia to draw out the few remaining tributes. There, Katniss encounters Clove, who launches a knife at her before Thresh arrives and slaughters her as revenge for Marvel's (Jack Quaid) killing of Rue (Amandla Stenberg). Although brutal in Gary Ross' film, Clove's demise would have been more impactful if it had fully mirrored the book's version of the event, which poignantly involves her District 2 compatriot, Cato (Alexander Ludwig).
Cato’s Presence Would Have Improved Clove’s Hunger Games Movie Death
In The Hunger Games book, Clove shouts for Cato to save her. Cato responds, but he arrives after Thresh has bashed Clove’s skull and fled the scene. When Cato sees Clove on the ground dying, Katniss notices the pain in the voice, as he "kneels beside Clove, spear in hand, begging her to stay with him." The movie also sees Clove yell Cato's name, though he never answers. Cato likely learns of Clove's death in the film from the canon instead of witnessing her final moments. In The Hunger Games book, Katniss' observation of Cato's anguish toward his ally's death adds emotion to the scene and supports the story's overarching themes.
In the book, Clove's death unearths Cato's vulnerable side, despite his stature as one of The Hunger Games' foremost villains. A well-trained 16-year-old, Cato comes across as intimidating in both the novel and the film, though Collins does well to emphasize that he and the other Careers are merely children just as susceptible to fear and grief as their younger and less formidable fellow tributes. Cato's devastation plausibly stems from losing belief that he and Clove could have won the Hunger Games together, which the film ignores. Cato's presence during Clove's on-screen death scene would have highlighted the Career Tributes' humanity.
Cato’s Response To Clove’s Death Would Have Amplified Hunger Games’ Themes
The Hunger Games differentiates Careers from other tributes in that they've trained their whole lives to volunteer for the games instead allowing the Reaping to decide their fate. However, in the end, the story makes it clear that every tribute is a victim of the Capitol. Regardless of whether they relish fighting in the arena, all 24 participants in the Hunger Games are children who President Snow (Donald Sutherland) exploits and kills for means of subjugating the districts. This reality is especially sad for the Careers, as their more wealthy districts, under the Capitol's rule, have indoctrinated them into willfully throwing their lives away.
Collins purposes moments such as Cato's reaction to Clove's death toward communicating this message in The Hunger Games book. Collins presents Career tributes as complex beings, while Ross' film adaptation portrays them more bleakly and one-dimensionally as villains. If The Hunger Games movie had extended Clove's death scene to include Cato's agonizing reaction, the sequence would have served as something much more meaningful than just one of countless brutal slayings depicted on screen.