Who is katniss everdeen in the hunger games

Katniss was just an upshot of her dystopian environment. Though she is just a teenager she become the product of caretaker in her family and also takes up much responsibility for keeping them fed. She often gets food from forage and hunting because of this she never had qualms about killing animals. She seemed to be desensitized because of this constant exposure of death. She knows that she has to put food on the table and keep her family safe.

After she volunteers to take the place of her sister in the 74th annual Hunger Games, she knows this may be more difficult than it may seem. In The Hunger Games, the main character Katniss Everdeen overcomes the life obstacle of surviving the hunger games in the capitol and in Panem with the help of her newly acquainted friend….

For she is fiercely protective of her younger sister Prim, and she volunteers to take her place in the Hunger Games to protect her. Hence, she left Katniss to take care of the family despite her youthful age..

Because of the tough conditions in District 12 starvation , Katniss has grown into a tough, unsentimental yet compassionate girl. Her sense of compassion remains intact is clear through the way she treats Rue. One places that shows Cat thinks ghosts are bad is when they hurt her sister pg. This is important because her sister means everything to her and now that her sister got hurt she thinks they want her.

Another place this is shown is when they follow her to her house and won't go away pg. Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive.

Katniss is the sixteen-year-old protagonist of The Hunger Games , and the story is told from her perspective. She is fiercely protective of her family and practical, having learned to care for her mom and little sister, Prim , after their father died in a mining accident when Katniss was just eleven.

Katniss is tough, independent, resourceful, fiery, and skilled with a bow and arrow, and yet she also has a compassionate side and deep loyalty to those she loves. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:. Chapter 1 Quotes. Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen speaker.

Related Themes: Appearances. Page Number and Citation : 6 Cite this Quote. Explanation and Analysis:. Related Themes: Love, Loyalty, and Compassion. Page Number and Citation : 10 Cite this Quote. Related Themes: Division and Control. Page Number and Citation : 14 Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 15 Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 18 Cite this Quote. Chapter 2 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : 24 Cite this Quote.

Related Symbols: Bread. Related Themes: Hypocrisy. Page Number and Citation : 32 Cite this Quote. Chapter 3 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : 40 Cite this Quote. Related Themes: Societal Inequality. Page Number and Citation : 44 Cite this Quote. Chapter 4 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : 49 Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 56 Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 59 Cite this Quote. Chapter 5 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : 65 Cite this Quote.

Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen speaker , Cinna. Page Number and Citation : 70 Cite this Quote. Chapter 6 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : 74 Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 79 Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 80 Cite this Quote. Chapter 7 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : 94 Cite this Quote. Chapter 8 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : Cite this Quote. Chapter 10 Quotes.

Chapter 15 Quotes. Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen speaker , Rue. Chapter 18 Quotes. Chapter 19 Quotes. Chapter 26 Quotes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance. Chapter 1. Katniss wakes up on the morning of the reaping to find that her little sister, Prim, Katniss rises from bed and gets dressed. She grabs her forage bag and retrieves a piece In the woods, Katniss retrieves a bow and a sheath of arrows from their hiding spot in a log Katniss recalls that when she was younger, she would blurt out criticisms of the government, frightening The only person Katniss feels that she can truly be free with is her hunting partner, Gale.

Gale refers As Katniss watches Gale, she notes that their features are so similar, they might be related. They met in the By the end of the morning, Gale and Katniss have a dozen fish, a bag of greens, and a gallon of strawberries.

On the Katniss now has twenty entries in the reaping, and Gale, who has been single-handedly feeding a When Katniss arrives Katniss attempts to comfort Prim, who is attending her first reaping. Even though the odds are Chapter 2.

Katniss remembers a time when she fell asleep while waiting in a tree for game to Katniss runs to Prim just as she is about to mount the steps and shouts that At this moment, Haymitch staggers across the stage to congratulate Katniss.

He gets out only a few words before he loses his balance and plummets off She also has a brief encounter with the District 10 Male , but runs in the opposite direction and he does not pursue her. Over the next few days, Katniss moves further and further away from the Cornucopia, though she is slowed down by dehydration.

She nearly dies of thirst before she finds a small pond to drink from, stumbling onto it while she camouflages her bright orange backpack with mud so that it wouldn't draw too much attention. The next morning, she is awoken by a forest fire created by the Gamemakers, including fireballs that are flung at her. She survives the attack but suffers minor burns and cuts on her hands and a severe burn on her calf. She goes to sleep and is woken by the sound of footsteps. Katniss is briefly chased by the Career pack, consisting of Glimmer , Marvel , Cato , Clove, the female from District 4 book , and Peeta, and escapes up a tree.

Cato tries to climb up after Katniss, but crashes to the ground because he is too heavy for the branches to hold. Glimmer also attempts to kill Katniss by shooting her with an arrow film , but she misses. The Careers realize that they are all too heavy to climb the tree, so they decide to wait for her to come down.

Suddenly, Rue appears high up in a neighboring tree and points to the tracker jacker nest above Katniss, showing her what to do with it.

The next morning before Katniss does anything, she warns Rue she is about to cut the nest down. Katniss cuts it down with the knife she got from Clove and the tracker jackers attack the Careers, killing Glimmer and the girl tribute from District 4 book.

The Careers run to the lake after being stung by the tracker jackers. Katniss is also stung and starts to run in the other direction. Katniss remembers that Glimmer had a silver bow when the Careers attacked her the only bow in the entire arena , so she goes back for it. She retrieves it from Glimmer's bloated body, but as she's about to run away, her hallucinations start occurring.

A delusional Katniss is saved by Peeta when she's unable to coordinate herself to run from Cato , who is quickly approaching. After she runs away, she blacks out from the tracker jacker venom.

When Katniss wakes up, she finds out that she's being watched by Rue, the female tribute from District She then proposes an alliance with Rue. She says Rue reminds her of Prim, in both size and demeanor.

She tries to give Rue her pin, but Rue says no, saying that that was how she came to trust Katniss in the first place, seeing the mockingjay on her pin. Katniss and Rue then plan to destroy the Careers' food and supply pile, with Katniss figuring that the Careers have had plenty of food their whole lives and that they would struggle if a direct food supply was taken away from them.

Rue provides a distraction while Katniss checks out the Career camp. She discovers that the food is protected by landmines with the help of Foxface , the District 5 tribute , and shoots a sack that spills apples onto the ground, setting off all of the landmines. Nearly everything is destroyed and due to the explosion and her relative proximity, Katniss becomes deaf in her left ear, though this injury is later surgically repaired after the games. Katniss goes to the woods, listening for Rue.

Her four note melody rings out through the woods from Mockingjays, but she suddenly cries out for Katniss. Katniss runs through the trees to find Rue entangled in a mesh net, one arm sticking out before a spear is thrown into her abdomen by the boy from District 1 , whose name is later revealed to be Marvel. Katniss shoots an arrow at Marvel's neck, killing him. Rue dies after Katniss finishes the song.

Seeing Rue dead angers her because of the fact that the Capitol enjoys watching innocent children die. To make Rue an example, Katniss picks white flowers and decorates Rue's body with them, hiding the wound and weaving them into her hair.

When she finishes, Katniss realizes how peaceful Rue looks and does the signature District 12 farewell gesture to Rue. Later, this is seen as an act of defiance to the Capitol.

She then takes Rue and Marvel's backpacks, knowing that she would have wanted Katniss to have them. By the time of the announcement that two tributes from the same district can win, Katniss's left ear is completely deafened. She cries out for Peeta , but then suddenly regrets it, realizing the potential danger. She seeks out Peeta and finds him hiding in the mud of a riverbank, totally camouflaged. He's suffering from a severe cut on his leg that Cato gave him, tracker jacker stings, and multiple burns.

She washes him off at the river, treats the burns and stings, but cannot do anything for his leg but stuff leaves into it, drawing out infection and pus. Katniss does everything she can to care for him, but he eventually gets blood poisoning.

Once Katniss and Peeta hear the news about the Feast Peeta makes Katniss promise that she will not risk her life for him saying that he wouldn't be doing him a favor either.

A feast is then announced by the Gamemakers near the Cornucopia, where Katniss will find the item she needs most, as do all of the other tributes as well: the medicine needed to cure Peeta's blood poisoning. Katniss, knowing that going to the feast will be dangerous, insists on going, though Peeta refuses to let her. Immediately afterward, Katniss receives sleeping syrup from their sponsors and tricks Peeta into consuming it by mixing the sleep syrup with berries, telling him it's "sugar berries.

The feast resulted in a fight between Katniss and Clove. First, Katniss's forehead gets cut by a knife that Clove threw at her. Then, they fight, but Clove gets the upper hand and is able to pin Katniss flat to the ground due to her weight being much heavier than Katniss. She taunts Katniss about Rue's death and Peeta's predicament. Clove tells her that Cato let her "have Katniss," but made her promise to give the audience a "good show". Just as she is about to make the first cut at Katniss' lip, Clove is hurled away from her by Thresh , the boy from Rue's district, who slams a large rock into her head after accusing her of "cutting up" Rue.

Katniss is surely afraid of what Thresh will do to her, but because of her alliance with Rue , he allows her to escape. He does not want to owe Katniss anymore and states that they are now even. She flees the feast with her life, and returns to the cave to heal both Peeta and her own wounds. While they are both recovering, they see that Thresh has been presumably killed at the hands of Cato.

During one night of rain, Katniss asks Peeta when he started loving her. Peeta tells her it was their first day of school when he heard Katniss sing the Valley Song. After the storm ended, the two went hunting.

When Katniss whistled for Peeta and he did not answer, she ran towards him and the two argue for a bit until a cannon fires. Peeta had gathered deadly nightlock berries , that he didn't know were poisonous. Katniss expects Peeta to die, but it appears he hasn't eaten any yet. They see the body of the girl from District 5 , whom Katniss nicknamed "Foxface", being taken away. A few days later, the river is found empty, as well as the ponds.

They figure out that the Gamemakers want them to go to the lake. When they make it there, they wait a few hours for Cato , the only other remaining tribute, to arrive. They are almost going to give up when he runs towards them. When Katniss sees that he is running away from a pack of wolf muttations , she and Peeta immediately ran away with him toward the Cornucopia. They reach the Cornucopia and scale it, though one of the mutts manages to injure Peeta.

Once at the top of the horn, Cato finally gets back to his senses and fights Katniss. He overpowers the duo and strangles Peeta to the edge. In a last effort, Peeta draws an X in blood on the back of Cato's hand, telling Katniss to shoot there. Katniss shoots Cato on the back of his hand and he releases Peeta. Peeta then pushes him off so he wouldn't attack them again.

Cato is later disarmed by the mutts and gnawed at, being left to suffer. After some time, Katniss decides to kill him out of pity, not vengeance. It is then announced that the rule of two tributes winning if they are from the same district has been revoked and so she and Peeta must fight to the death.

They pitifully realize that the former was just a ruse. Katniss aims her bow at Peeta when she sees he has picked up a weapon, but immediately drops it when he proceeds to throw it into the lake. Feeling guilty, she then takes out some of the nightlock berries and gives a handful to Peeta , and the two of them threaten to commit double suicide so there will be no winner. They later discover the Capitol sees this as an act of rebellion.

The plan works and both her and Peeta are crowned victors of the 74th Hunger Games. After their final interviews and dinner, they board a train that takes them home. Katniss is confused about her feelings for Peeta and becomes even more confused the closer they get to home. Soon, she and Peeta will have to leave again for the Victory Tour where the winners of the previous Hunger Games travel to each district and make various appearances and public speeches.

During much of the day, Katniss is bored with her new life, because now she has everything: money, a good home, and a constant supply of food. One day after Katniss returns. He explains to Katniss that during the last Hunger Games when she tried to commit double suicide with Peeta by eating poisonous nightlock, she ignited a possible uprising in the districts. President Snow and Katniss have a lengthy conversation about the fact that if she doesn't convince the districts that she made the decision out of temporary lovesickness, then he will personally make sure she suffers.

Katniss, now convinced she has started a fire she cannot control, tries her best to convince everyone that she and Peeta are madly in love.

When she and Peeta finally set off for the Victory Tour , everything is going smoothly and Peeta has agreed with Katniss that outside of being star-crossed lovers, they should try to be friends. When the tour arrives at their first destination, District 11, Katniss tells everyone the story of how Thresh spared her life, and how Rue became a.

After her speech, an old man whistles her and Rue's four-note tune that meant they were safe, and that signals the end of the workday in District 11 , the crowd simultaneously does a traditional District 12 gesture to show their thanks to Katniss. Soon after Katniss finishes her speech, a Peacekeeper shoots the man who whistled in the head, along with two others. Near the end of the Tour, they visit the Capitol and when she and Peeta are being interviewed by Caesar, Peeta performs a fake proposal to Katniss, which she accepts.

President Snow makes a surprise visit to congratulate Katniss and Peeta. He motions to Katniss that she was unsuccessful in convincing their love. President Snow decides to hold their wedding in the Capitol.

There is a party held in the banquet room of his mansion. Katniss there learns that in order to taste each and every dish the people of Capitol drink a clear liquid which causes them to vomit and empty their stomachs in order to continue eating and do this again and again.

This disturbs her since she had seen her mother treating emaciated children whose parents didn't have anything to afford for them, not even their medicine, and she was also poor before winning the games and had almost starved to death once.

They then travel to District Katniss suffers from nightmares throughout the night on the train, so Peeta sleeps in her bed to calm her and keeps her company.

Finally, they get back to District 12 and a huge party is thrown for them at Mayor Undersee's house. While in the mayor's home, Katniss sees on his television that there is an uprising going on in District 8. Katniss arranges a secret meeting with Gale, during which he confesses his love for her. Gale gets angry and disappointed but before he leaves, Katniss accidentally tells him there was a rebellion in District 8.

Gale then says that they could have a rebellion in District 12 as well, and he runs off to spread the news. Katniss then goes to Peeta to ask him if he would run away with her and he agrees to go with her, but while they are discussing the plans, they see that Gale is being violently whipped in the square by an unfamiliar man.

Katniss steps in to stop the man, whose name is Romulus Thread , the Head Peacekeeper but he gives her a lash across the face. Katniss gets severely hurt. Eventually, the people of District 12, including many who frequent the Hob, convince Thread to stop whipping Gale. Haymitch steps in and holds her up and shouts at Romulus since she has a photo-shoot next week. In the movie, Haymitch and Peeta step in to save her.

Purnia, a female commoner, steps in, saying the proper amount of lashes has been given. Romulus warns all of them and leaves with the Peacekeepers including Darius, a male Peacekeeper who had been hit on the head by Thread and was lying unconscious.

They manage to pick up Gale on a countertop provided by an old woman in her clothing stall. Katniss tells Leevy, a former neighbor, to call Hazelle, Gale's mother. Bristel and Thorn, Gale's crewmembers from the mine told everyone the situation.

Gale had killed a wild turkey and went to Cray , the previous Head Peacekeeper to bid for it. Cray was lenient, alcoholic, and overlooked such crimes. But he was replaced by Romulus Thread and Gale didn't have any idea about it. Expecting Cray to pay him, he went to his house and found Thread there. Gale could not say much in his defense and was punished with whiplashes.

Darius, a Peacekeeper who was unconscious had stepped in first after 20 lashes saying that it was enough but didn't do it as smartly and officially as Purnia did and grabbed Thread's arm. In return, Thread hit him on his head with the butt of the whip forming a large purple lump on his head, making him unconscious. Gale received forty lashes until Katniss showed up and he passed out at around thirty.

Katniss and the others take Gale to her mother. Katniss's mother tries to soothe the pain by giving him medicine. Hazelle also comes there and sits beside her son. Madge brings her mother's box of vials containing Morphling, a kind of medicine. Everdeen injects it into Gale. Later on that night, Katniss says she picks Gale but is still torn between him and Peeta.

Katniss has a nightmare in which Clove turns into a mutt. She wakes up with a start, shivering. The conditions in District 12 worsen. People are punished for their crimes, mines are shut down for two weeks, etc. Katniss realizes that she cannot stand to be at home, so she goes into the woods and heads to the lake.

There, she meets two women named Bonnie and Twill who have run away from District 8. They say things like they are headed to District 13 since they believe that the district was not actually destroyed and there are people living there underground, the uprising in District 8 was a planned one.

Their evidence was the fact that the Capitol always shows the same footage of a destroyed and demolished District 13 from 75 years ago, she realizes that what they said was the truth. Katniss teaches them the essentials of surviving in a forest and gives them food to eat. When the evening comes, they leave and Katniss returns to District However, she realizes that the fence to the district is now electrified and so she must climb a tree and jump from 25 feet in the air.

She lands and hurts her tailbone and heel. She returns home to tell her mother how she fell after slipping on a patch of ice, but there are two Peacekeepers there waiting for her. They are surprised to see her because they knew she was in the forest and believed she would be trapped on the other side of the fence.

They were waiting for her not to show up so they can bring her family in for questioning. Luckily, Haymitch, Peeta, and Prim were able to go along with a story to cover for her. Once she is healed, her prep team comes to help with her wedding fashion shoot, along with Cinna.

She listens to them speak of how they have not had shrimp in the Capitol for weeks and realizes that other districts are rebelling. The next night, there is a view of the photo-shoot and a voting on which was the best dress and later there is an important announcement made by President Snow: in honor of the third Quarter Quell , for the 75th Hunger Games the tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors.

Since District 12 has only three living winners, Peeta , Haymitch , and Katniss, and being the only female victor, she knows that she is now going to be forced to go back into the arena. She runs out of the house and into a basement of an empty one to scream, cry, and proceeds to shatter a window of the kitchen.

This makes her hand bleed. She makes her way to Haymitch , where he already tells her Peeta has come to visit him, and told him that Peeta wants to go back into the arena to protect Katniss. She tells Haymitch that whatever they do, she wants Haymitch to make sure Peeta comes back alive. She and Haymitch get drunk. She returns in an inebriated state to her house and sees Gale at the doorway and Katniss passes out in his arms.

She has a horrible hangover the next day and in the afternoon, she goes back to Haymitch's house, where Peeta has emptied all of his liquor and has threatened to turn them or anyone who gives them alcohol in. He tells them that they will be training for the Quarter Quell because two people will come back alive, and they begin to work out and study footage of past winners to see their competition. On the day of the reaping, Katniss is the only choice for the female competitor, and the chosen male competitor is Haymitch.

Peeta, however, volunteers to take his place. Instead of being able to tell their families goodbye, they are brought directly to the train and leave for the Capitol.

Once at the Capitol, they eat and meet their competitors. During training, Katniss befriends Wiress and Beetee Latier from District 3 , who point out the force field used to separate the Gamemakers from the tributes. In her solo performance for the Gamemakers, Katniss sees Plutarch Heavensbee , the new Head Gamemaker, and decides to tie a noose around a dummy's neck.

With berry juice, she writes the name " Seneca Crane ," the former Head Gamemaker who was hanged by orders of President Snow.

She and Peeta both receive perfect 12s, which Haymitch explains was done to make sure the other tributes are gunning for both of them. On the day of the interview, the prep team comes into Katniss' room and they start to cry; they leave one by one. Then, only Venia is left. She does the job of the whole team.

At last, Cinna comes in with her wedding gown from the photoshoot, specifically chosen by President Snow. She notes to Cinna that it's heavier than before, but he explains that he had to do some alterations and tells her not to lift her arms until she twirls on television. The interview atmosphere is different from the previous year. The tributes are speaking out against the Capitol, asking why President Snow is not stopping this if he is great and powerful.

When Katniss comes on stage with the dress on, apologizing to the crowd for not letting them see her get married. She twirls and raises her arms and the wedding dress burns away to reveal a different dress underneath. When she looks towards a television, she realizes that Cinna has turned her into a mockingjay.

Although Caesar knows what the dress represents, they play it off as the bird on Katniss' token. When it comes to Peeta's turn to speak, he lies and tells the audience that he and Katniss are already married and that Katniss is pregnant. This drives the audience to madness and hysteria.

Right before the Games are to begin, Katniss is with Cinna and steps on the plate to be taken to the arena, where she is frozen in place. Suddenly three Peacekeepers enter the room, beat Cinna , and drag him out of the room.

A frozen Katniss watches in horror but is then transported into the arena. In Mockingjay , it is revealed that Cinna was actually killed as a result of his injuries. The plate leaves her in the middle of blue water, which she realizes "is no place for a girl on fire. She and Peeta run into the jungle with Finnick , who carries his year-old district partner, Mags.

As they are walking, searching for drinkable water, Katniss notices a shimmering square and realizes that it is a force field surrounding the arena. Before she can stop him, Peeta walks into it and is repelled back, knocking Mags and Finnick to the ground. Peeta is not breathing. Panicked, Katniss begins to slap him but his heart has stopped. Finnick helps by performing CPR and Peeta is eventually resuscitated. Finnick asks Katniss how she recognized the force field. She does not want to let them know she can spot them visually, worried that the Gamemakers might do something to retaliate, so she tells them she heard it with her repaired ear.

Later that day she notices an unnatural, and poisonous fog in the distance. The mist from the fog causes blisters where it touches. When Peeta stumbles, she notices it also attacks the nerves, as his face droops and his legs stop working.

Finnick agrees to carry Peeta if Katniss can carry Mags, which she agrees to. But after a while, Katniss cannot carry Mags anymore as her legs become paralyzed. Finnick comes back and tells Katniss he cannot carry them both. Mags kisses Finnick and runs into the fog, convulsing and dying. Over time, Katniss, Peeta , and Finnick help each other as they meet different challenges in the arena.

Later, they meet Johanna Mason , whom Finnick runs to, and they hug. As Katniss and Peeta figure out what to do, they realize they cannot leave Finnick after all he has done, and go to Johanna instead.

She has Wiress and Beetee with her. Beetee has received a knife in the back, while Wiress is spinning in a circle saying "Tick tock, tick tock," repeatedly. Johanna explains that Haymitch told her to bring them to Katniss for an alliance. Later that night, when Wiress restates "tick tock," Katniss begins to realize the arena is in the shape of a clock. She also remembers Plutarch Heavensbee showing her his clock watch and saying, "It begins at midnight," as an image of a mockingjay flashed on the watch face.

Likewise, by following Haymitch's coaching and advice, she learns to manipulate the at-home audiences of the Hunger Games by playing up the supposed romance plot with her co-tribute Peeta. Once she's made into Peeta's object of love, she secures a powerful place in the hearts of the audience. It's all how you're perceived. The most I could say about you after your interview was that you were nice enough, although that in itself was s small miracle.

Now I can say you're a heartbreaker. Oh, oh, oh, how the boys back home fall longingly at your feet. Which do you think will get you more sponsors? Katniss becomes a pro at playing the game of celebrity, and at playing the audiences and sponsors of the Hunger Games. But she'll also learn that the distinctions between what's real and what's not can sometimes blur. Cinna is Katniss's fabulous stylist in the Capitol, and the image that he creates for her is designed around the concept of drumroll please FIRE!

More specifically, being on fire. Cinna accomplishes this feat through gowns that shimmer and elaborate capes that are set off in flames.

Take, for example, Katniss's getup at the inaugural event of the Games: Every head is turned our way, pulling the focus from the three chariots ahead of us. At first, I'm frozen, but then I catch sight of us on a large television screen and am floored by how breathtaking we look.

In the deepening twilight, the firelight illuminates our faces. The flaming spectacle has mass appeal and the crowd goes wild.

Katniss's girl on fire bit is a hit. But, while Katniss might literally be on fire in Cinna's dresses, we should also remember that she is on fire in other ways too. She's rebellious, for one thing. Remember when she shot her arrow through the apple in the pig's mouth during her private training sessions with the Gamemakers Chapter 7?

Or when she defiantly covered Rue's body with flowers Chapter 18? Or when she attempts a double suicide with Peeta at the climax of the Hunger Games Chapter 25? Katniss has a temper that just won't quit, and her defiance, she learns, can be a huge asset in the arena. Being on fire with her own personal brand of rebellion can be even more powerful than one of Cinna's amazing dresses.

Her defiance brands her as spectacular and appealing…and dangerous. Gale is the only person in Katniss's life around whom she can be herself 1. Katniss doesn't develop her feelings for Gale, though, because she knows her family counts on her to survive — and that life in the Seam is difficult. Her conversation with him about the need to provide for her family — and her disinterest in having children — neatly illustrates that point 1.

It's clear that Peeta has always been in love with Katniss, but Katniss won't let herself think about Peeta romantically because, well, he is her competitor — and they're supposed to kill each other. We think we might see the stirrings of some kinds of feelings when they lock lips for real Welcome to the surreal life. Also, we've heard the complaints out there from the Peeta sympathizers of the world who portray Katniss as a big old meanie heartbreaker. Let us weigh in on the matter: both Katniss and Peeta are players of this game.