Over the course of the story, this dynamic shifts, and the performance of her love with Peeta grows into a reality. So what has changed? For one, Gale is revealed to be not the person she thought nor, perhaps, the person he previously was. The war has made him ruthless and cold in his pursuit of his originally noble cause. Gale suggests an attack strategy that involves bombing civilians, leaving a brief pause so other civilians will think it safe to come tend the wounded, and then setting off a second bomb.
Gale, arguably, has killed her or had a role in her killing. Making up this game together is a fitting illustration of how relationships are ultimately an act of shared storytelling. While Katniss has long maintained that she loves Gale, her actions over time reveal that she and Peeta are bound together — through circumstance, compatibility and most of all shared experience. But when she kisses him, viewers know that it's mostly for the cameras, and so that the two will have a better shot at having viewer approval and therefor assistance.
By the time Katniss and Peeta enter the Quarter Quell, Katniss's feelings toward Peeta still haven't been established clearly. She kissed Gale not long before they left on their tour, implying that her loyalties lie with him. And yet, when Peeta walks into a force field and appears near dead, Katniss loses it in a way that suggests her feelings are stronger than she has let on.
The cameras come to District 12 to give an update on Katniss and Peeta before they head off on their Victor's tour of the districts.
Peeta is in his pouty, resentful phase still, but Katniss plays up their romance for the TV viewers knowing that Snow is watching--so when the two trip and fall in the street, she uses the fumble to embrace Peeta and create a romantic moment.
As soon as it dawns on Katniss that it will be between Haymitch and Peeta for who will be chosen to enter the Quarter Quell with her, Katniss immediately runs to Haymitch to beg him to take Peeta's place, should his name be drawn. It isn't how he would be treating me at all. He would be trying to get me back at any cost. Not shutting me out, abandoning me, greeting me with hostility at every turn. The implied message here is that Katniss should do for Peeta what he would do for her but after Katniss saves Peeta she does not do this.
Haymitch claims that Katniss is "punishing [Peeta] over and over for things that are out of his control" but when looked at closely is that really what Katniss is doing?
Haymitch's comment reflects Katniss' treatment of Peeta after he tried to kill her but also shows the expectations of how Katniss is expected to behave towards Peeta. Katniss is expected to romantically reciprocate and to do for Peeta what Peeta would do for her, regardless of how she feels towards him or regardless of what she wants. Katniss reflects on the fact that how she is behaving towards Peeta is not how Peeta would be treating her and that Peeta "would be trying to get [her] back at any cost.
In Mockingjay, Katniss is drawn towards both Peeta and Gale at points in the story, but the writing for the moments with Gale are weaker than the moments written with Peeta. Katniss has psychological and emotional ties to Peeta and she psychologically and physically associates safety and security with him but these romantic actions and their resulting feelings and development came while she was in the Games and are surrounded in trauma.
The space that she creates between her and Peeta is reproached and guilt-ridden seen in the exchange with Haymitch and she is no longer the Katniss she used to be. Yet while she longs for Peeta, she does not necessarily make it clear that she wants to be in a relationship or wants to pursue things with him, and her behavior towards him in Mockingjay keep him away from her. Her thoughts of him relate to what he makes her feel, what she came to associate with him i.
She wants Peeta in her life and she needs him, but she distances herself from him and from the romantic role in Mockingjay. Katniss is presented in the book as an acceptable match for Gale and Peeta because both Gale and Peeta have indicated that she is a companion that they would like to be chosen by given Gale's and Peeta's discussion as to who Katniss will "choose", and dialogue between Katniss and Gale and Katniss and Peeta.
The books lack support for Katniss making this assessment and she is reproached by Haymitch when she tries to give herself time and space to work through her emotions.
Katniss' spirit, view of life, and what she wants do not align with Gale and Peeta. Gale wants to change the current world in which they live and does not accept the world in which they live wants to fight the Capitol, active role in the Rebellion , Peeta hopes for a future in the world that exists wants to stay true to himself, wants to have children and build a life with Katniss , while Katniss wants to survive and get through life true at beginning and end of the story but with more hope at the end.
Gale and Peeta want Katniss but do not take Katniss or what Katniss wants into account. Katniss generally does not take her wants into account in the decisions shown in the book and her wants are manipulated and threatened by forces outside of her control the Games, the war, etc.
Gale is removed from the ending after his indirect involvement in Prim's death but prior to this Katniss was faced with the decision of being with a guy that she was drawn to and had history with looking out for each others' families and surviving but that she would likely have to change for and would have to take on a more active role in the Rebellion or in life for, or to be with a guy that she cared for and that she could stay as she was with but that with whom she had complicated feelings, experiences, and trauma.
Or in choosing to be with either of them, choosing to be with a guy focused on his own needs over hers based on Gale and Peeta's discussion over who Katniss will "choose" and on how they each engage with Katniss.
When Gale is removed from the story, Katniss no longer has to decide between them, decide differently, or make an active choice, and she no longer has to change or grow as a character. Katniss does not choose Gale or Peeta and goes back home to District 12 to continue her life.
But Peeta does go back to Katniss, and Katniss accepts him in her life. She comes to loves him and she does need him. Katniss later reflects "What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses.
That it can be good again. Even with rebirth instead of destruction and the promise that life can go on no matter how bad her losses, Katniss still has a complicated relationship with Peeta as supported by their dialogue and struggles, and as Katniss gives Peeta two children because he "wanted them so badly.
Katniss accepting Peeta in her life also reflects her passive choice to be with the person who did not require her to change and that provided support, safety, stability, and hope to the post-Hunger Games and post-Rebellion Katniss that she was and became. Peeta comes to be a better match for Katniss than Gale, primarily because Katniss comes to "need" Peeta and Peeta brings to Katniss' life things she does not bring herself. They both become damaged in similar ways and their damages and strengths weave together allowing them to both benefit from the relationship and support each other.
Katniss comes to be a better match for Peeta than she was before and a better match for Peeta in general. Regardless of who Katniss chose, if she were written to make a choice, Katniss would have had to compromise some aspect of herself by choosing Gale or Peeta, and she would have had to reconcile her choice to be with that partner along with her view of life and the future, as well as with the way in which either Gale or Peeta affected or influenced her.
Peeta's hope for a future in the world that exists is more aligned to Katniss' desire to survive and get through life than is Gale's desire to change the current world, and is one of the reasons that Katniss and Peeta are more of a match for each other.
Peeta's view of life is easier to reconcile to Katniss' view of life and in this regard is also beneficial and balancing as Peeta and his perspectives gives Katniss hope. By the end of the trilogy, given the changes that both Katniss and Peeta undergo, it is only together that they survive and are strong. Katniss never made an active choice in the story but passive choices could be argued to be choices; if arguing passive choices, Katniss did make a passive choice and that choice was Peeta.
Question: Do you really think that Peeta was purposefully manipulating Katniss, or that he was really in love with her? Peeta seemed to be the latter. Answer: On one hand, this question misses the point of the analysis I wrote and reduces the concepts and relationships in the book to a superficial love triangle that lacks depth.
On the other hand, this question suggests that I did not show bias against or favor towards either Peeta or Gale in the analysis and that the analysis leaves the question open as to whether I am "Team Peeta" or "Team Gale," which I think is a good thing from the perspective of making an argument. I'm not really on either of their "teams" but Katniss was written to end up with Peeta and that's what her and his character development and trajectory support in the story.
Answer: Probably not; I don't think Katniss could necessarily be argued to be living "happily" with Peeta at the end of the story but it does read as if Katniss is peaceful, resigned, and accepting of her life, relationships, and experiences. Gale wanted to be active in the changes and have a more involved role in what was going on post-war and in the future so that didn't really fit with who Katniss was and became through the Games and by Mockingjay.
The Katniss at the beginning of the story might have eventually had a future with Gale but that Katniss exists primarily as a contrast and memory to the Katniss she becomes and that Katniss ending up with Gale would have been a years-down-the-line Katniss that would still likely have a different worldview than Gale and that we wouldn't have gotten to read and that there might have been no story to.
Katniss is still similar to her previous self but with more trauma, loss, and instability so no, she probably would not have been as happy or as peaceful, settled, etc. Question: At what point did Katniss make it clear in her mind that she wanted to pursue a relationship with Gale? I've updated the article to reflect the feelings vs relationship aspect. Katniss does not make it clear in her mind that she wanted to pursue a relationship with Gail, or with Peeta for that matter.
She goes back to District 12 by herself and the "I need the dandelion in the spring" part came too late in the story for it to support clarity in her mind for wanting to pursue a relationship with Peeta. Question: If Katniss never met Peeta, how do you think her life be? Would she even be alive? Answer: Katniss' journey and who she met was deliberate and designed by Suzanne Collins. Since Peeta is so heavily interwoven into much of Katniss' trajectory, I think that Katniss' life would be a different story or would have a different backstory if she never met Peeta.
But if we follow the premise of the book, arguably, if she had never met Peeta, she would have gone hungry as he would not have been there to throw her the bread that helped her and her family to survive during a time when there were no resources and Katniss was ready to give up on life.
Given that context, Katniss might not have survived or she could have somehow made it and could have still found dandelions and learned to hunt. It's hard to answer because it's really the author of the story that gets to decide who lives, who dies, and what happens in the story.
Thank you for your response and for taking the time to read the analysis. Katniss is a flawed character but readers seem to take issue with which of her flaws are pointed out and how these flaws are argued to relate to other characters or how these are argued to relate to the actions and flaws of other characters.
That being said, this was due for an update and I edited some areas to make things more concise and to remove things that did not really add to the analysis or that detracted from the main points I wanted to communicate. Dude, this was so difficult to read. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this was meant to be an opinion piece because none of your claims are backed up by textual evidence. I agree with a few of the other commenters as well about the fact that you seriously misportray Katniss throughout this "analysis.
The last of course when Peeta comes back to District 12 to be with her and they both help one another to begin the healing process by making the book of their lost friends. Peeta asks her if she loves him and she says yes, no buts or maybes no seconded guessing or doubts.
She can finally just be with her thoughts, emotions and she not only admits but states her love for Peeta. Something they both really knew deep down but she can know undoubtedly say she loves him. View 1 comment. Melody Apr 29, PM 0 votes.
I think that she did always have feelings for him but she never really knew until there was a possibility that she could lose him. In Mockingjay she kept playing with the pearl that he gave him and hoping that he was okay. Anika Apr 25, PM 0 votes. Annna Jul 18, AM 0 votes. Well I think it was in the first Hunger Games when they were in a train for District I cried then. I was so sad because of Peeta knowing that she doesn't love him back.
But she does. Only she needs three book to see that,but Naeilyn Jun 15, AM 0 votes. The simplest solution is most likely the right one. Ockham's razor. I was terribly worried about it, 'cause this is my favorite love story, and I love Peeta so much that I can't face he's with someone who doesn't love him.
But reading these comments and thinking about love, you don't know how you fall for someone, you just do. Katniss is a very strong and brave young lady, but she's still human, she didn't know how she felt about Peeta because the things happening around her. We know he initially liked Gale, even in Catching Fire she likes Gale. But, c'mon, she later sits and stared at Peeta when he was drawing, and you can read the happiness she's feeling right there.
Later in Mockinjay, her moments with Gale are always about forgetting Peeta, and you do that kind of things when you are really in love. She's selfish, of course, but that's why she now loves Peeta. He makes her happy. You love people that makes you happy. Pauline May 18, PM 0 votes. I fumble. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread. Katherine Apr 20, AM 0 votes. In the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games and they changed the rules right after Rue died and District 11 sent the bread.
She said "Peeta. Then when they changed the rules again, and Peeta wanted Katniss to go home to be with Primrose. She could not kill him. Then when they were going back to the capitol for the 3rd Quarter Quell, Katniss wanted Haymitch to save Peeta instead. Then when Peeta went into the force field Katniss was so nervous and upset. Right after she got taken to District 13, and she was told that there was no District When she was told that they did not get Peeta out of the arena.
Does that make sense? This was sort of disappointing. Not the fact that she didn't truly realize her love for Peeta which was sad indeed , but more because she didn't make up her mind -- not really to me anyway -- about who she really wanted to be with and who she loved. She did admit at the end that she needed Peeta and not Gale In my opinion, no.
It feels as if, even though we were inside Katniss' head, we still didn't even know her thoughts very well. Mockingjay was just a bit of a blur for me. Katniss, the strong and determined character who we got to know in book one, sort of just started to fade away somewhere in Catching Fire, and definitely was gone in Mockingjay. I guess it was realistic of Katniss to start to become a bit emotionally unstable after all she had been through, but I was sort of expecting Katniss to stay the way she was in the beginning until the very end.
This series had a lot more potential than it delivered at least to me. In the first book, I thought of Katniss as sort of a hero who would make a difference the ending of book one [the berries, rebel, etc] in the world that she lived in. I thought her determination to show the Capitol that they didn't own the rest of them would keep going.
A part of determination comes from your own values Why did Katniss volunteer in the first place? It feels as though Prim was completely pushed into the shadows after the first book or so, and THAT was the biggest disappointment. Heather Sep 18, PM 0 votes. Ashley Sep 18, PM 0 votes. You'd have thought we planned it," says Peeta, giving me just the hint of a smile. Her fingers press her eyelids closed as if she's warding off a very bright light.
I look coolly into the blue eyes of the person who is now my greatest opponent, the person who would keep me alive at his own expense. Not really a quote but I found it really interesting that their were parallels to the beginning of mockingjay when peeta was gone and the end when prim was gone.
0コメント