Character analysis in The Hunger Games across multiple works

Hunger Games: Peeta and Katniss

In many ways, the root of The Hunger Games and its many characters lies in the experience of the author, writer Suzanne Collins. Prior to writing the successful trilogy that The Hunger Games is a part of, Collins had already written another series of novels, "The Underland Chronicles," (Green) and had worked at Nickelodeon on the children's show "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!" (Grossman). The latter fact directly influenced many different aspects of The Hunger Games, from its plot to the characterization of its two lead characters, Peeta and Katniss. For quite some time books, novels and other written works have inspired movies and television shows. What Collins did that was so enticing to many of her readers and to a larger commercial audience in general was to take the inspiration from television to write her book. In particular, the author successfully exploited the reality television show theme that dominates television sets virtually any night of the week and transformed it into a compelling novel in which the main characters are essentially in a reality television show. As such, there is a great deal of complexity in discerning the motives of these two characters, and of Katniss in particular, as both the characters and the reader are unsure if the characters are motivated by the television cameras and the viewing audience -- or by their own innate feelings. A close examination of this novel and of other sources reveals that despite the presence of a large television audience, Katniss (and Peeta, for that matter) is motivated by the sort of kindness that she has experienced in her short life.

In many ways, the crux of the characterization of Katniss involves Peeta and the crux of Peeta's characterization is found in his relationship to Katniss. The pair both stem from the 12th District, which is one of the most poor districts in the dystopian setting in which the novel takes place. The pair is similar in age and has known one other for most of their lives. This relationship is later on exploited by the pair and their coach Haymitch in the Hunger Games, in which they pretend to have romantic feelings for one another to gain corporate sponsorships, attract viewers, and to gain the favor of the political powers organizing the games and who have "dominance" (Simmons 22) over the country's districts. Still, prior to the sudden fame that they incur through the watching of the hunger games, there was a simple basis for the way this pair dealt with one another. The root of Katniss's feelings for Peeta are based on the fact that when her family was starving at one point, Peeta -- whose family owned a bakery -- gave her bread to keep Katniss's family alive. That sort of kindness and sensitivity on Peeta's part would soon be reflected by Katniss, who would never forget Peeta's generosity. The following quotation makes this point abundantly clear. "To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me I was not doomed" (2.48). This passage indicates that the source of "connection" between Katniss and Peeta is the bread he gave her and the hope and kindness that he was able to foster in Katniss (and in her family as well). Katniss has internalized that moment, which goes on to form the basis of her relationship with Peeta. More importantly, perhaps, Peeta's sacrifice and the strength to go on that it gave Katniss and her family would come to play a formative part of Katniss' character overall.

Katniss was influenced early on by the kindness and generosity of Peeta. In turn, that kindness and generosity would come to play a primary role in her motivation throughout the novel. This fact is demonstrated perhaps most dramatically in Katniss's personal sacrifice to save her sister from the Hunger Games. Katniss's sister Primrose was initially selected from District 12 to partake in the Hunger Games. Katniss was well aware of the fact that a representative from her destitute district had not won (and therefore survived) the Hunger Games in quite a significant amount of time. She knew that whoever was selected from her district to partake in these games would likely not return home alive. Yet Katniss did not hesitate to substitute herself for her sister in these games, which the following quotation readily indicates. "I reach her just as she is about to mount the steps. With one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me. "I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as a tribute!" (2. 5-6). This quotation illustrates Katniss's willingness to sacrifice herself for her own sister. Such a sacrifice is completely aligned with her characterization and the aspects of it that were formed by her long ago interaction with Peeta when he sacrificed his family's food for Katniss' family. Katniss is aware that such a sacrifice could very well result in her own death. Yet she still willingly makes it to show the virtues of kindness and generosity that were shown to her long ago by Peeta. Her motivation for doing so is quite clear. She learned the virtues of generosity, sacrifice and kindness from her own personal experience. Therefore, those qualities have formed an integral part of her characterization, and are her motivation for becoming the 12th District's tribute to the Hunger Games.

Since Katniss has witnessed the beauty and the necessity of generosity and sacrifice, she allows those aspects of her own life to govern the relationships that she has with others. In this respect Katniss is sensitive and responsible by nature, and is much more concerned with the welfare of others than she is of that of herself. Such an attitude is almost the quintessential definition of sacrifice, yet such a sacrifice is not always as dramatic as the one she made for Primrose when Katniss volunteered to attend the Hunger Games in place of her sister. But the sacrifices that Katniss makes regularly and which are her motivation for attempting to win the Hunger Games are no less vital. For instance, she cares dearly about her family and has willingly taken on the role as the provider for her parents and her sister. Katniss acknowledges this fact in the following quotation. "…I was determined to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught fish in nests, sometimes managed to shoot a squirrel or rabbit for stew, and gathered the various plants that sprung up beneath my feet…I kept us alive" (4:19). This quotation shows the lengths that Katniss is willing to go to in order to help those she cares about. She utilizes any assortment of methods to feed her family. What is most significant about this passage is that the way in which Katniss helps her family is the same way that Peeta helped her family -- by providing food. She learned that sort of sentiment, that sort of generosity and sacrifice for the good of others from Peeta. She has internalized those qualities, and they serve to motivate her to win the Hunger Games, so she can continue to provide for her family.

Still, the most convincing evidence that Katniss has learned kindness, generosity and sacrifice from her experience with Peeta is her relationship and interactions with him. In many ways, that relationship is fully formed and most cogent prior to the Hunger Games taking place since, once the games begin, the pair must pretend that they are lovers. During the training that takes place with the District 12 tributes and their assortments of coaches and handlers for the games, that relationship is on display and evinces a close, caring relationship between the pair. After all, Peeta was motivated to give Katniss and her family bread because he cares for her. Thus, he continues to care for her and to support her for most of the book -- which provides further inspiration for her to do the same thing for him. This fact is apparent in the following interaction between the pair and their Hunger Games coach, Haymitch, who asks Katniss (who is narrating the novel in the first person) in regards to her hunting ability: "And you're good?"…"I'm all right," I say. "She's excellent," says Peeta. "My father buys her squirrel. He always comments on how the arrows never pierce the body. She hits every one in the eye." (7.19-21). This quotation alludes to the "physical prowess" (Latham and Hollister 34) of Katniss. Once the reader is able to get past the disgusting imagery of shooting squirrels in their eyes, he or she is able to understand how this passage illustrates the nature of the relationship that sustains Peeta and Katniss for the majority of his book. Although Katniss is acting modest in front of her coach, Peeta demonstrates perfect confidence in her ability and supports her to the fullest. Although he only does so in talking to their coach in this passage, he continues to support Katniss throughout this tale because he believes in her. Katniss largely does the same, not only for Peeta but for all of the people that she cares about -- including her family and certain other friends she makes during the waging of the Hunger Games.

Perhaps the ultimate manifestation of the kindness and generosity that Katniss learned from Peeta and which has influenced her actions ever since is the fact that she still feels indebted to him during the competition. Granted, the pair have known each other for a long time and are linked by the fact that they both represent the same district. Moreover, they receive the same training and styling from virtually the same people in preparation for the hazardous event. Still, the fact of the matter is that in the Hunger Games there really should be no friends -- everyone is attempting to either murder one another or simply survive longer than the others, and there are additional dangers such as jackers that "attack anything that disturbed their nests" (Cook et al. 32). Yet even in this environment the benevolence that Katniss learned from Peeta emerges. She not only is able to form alliances and make friends with other competitors, but she refuses to submit to any sort of murderous tendencies regarding Peeta -- even when the pair are the only two survivors and the political interests that run the games are urging for a finale in which the alleged lovers destroy one another. Faced with what one might reason are the most hostile of circumstances, the true nature of Katniss's kindness surfaces wonderfully -- perhaps no more so than in her regard for Peeta. She states, "I feel like I owe him something," and that she feels "conflicted" (2.48) about her duty in the games to win and survive for her parents, and her tendencies to practice kindness and benevolence in an environment that is anything but. Katniss recognizes that she owes a debt of gratitude to Peeta and, despite the fact that she feels conflicted regarding this situation now, she refuses to let the competition corrupt the virtues that she learned from Peeta. She makes no earnest attempts to slay him. In fact, she does the opposite and nurses him to health when he is injured, and even contrives an elaborate means of evading the will of the political interests of the Games so that neither she nor Peeta murder one another when they are the last ones left. The sole motivation for Katniss during all of these situations is the benevolence she learned early on from Peeta's sacrifice for her and her family.