Katniss Everdeen is a god damn rebel

Character Analysis: Katniss Everdeen

Katniss is a god damn rebel. Whether you call her an angsty teen with an attitude or someone who just wants to survive she has ignited a fire in the people of Panem. The districts are under the rule of the capitol, a dictatorship under the vicious rule of president snow. Katniss and Peeta are the first victors in the same Hunger game match, a tournament where two competitors from each district are pitted against each other in a last man standing arena of death. But what she did, forcing the game makers to keep both her and Peeta alive showed weakness in the Capitols “unbreakable” reign.

This rebellion fire, and the overwhelming feeling to be a truly good person and to do what’s right overshadows the fear that strike the hearts of other district citizens. They needed a leader to stand up against the Capitol and President Snow, and the people of Panem found their perfect candidate. She speaks powerfully, and is a courageous young woman who finds herself doing these heroic actions everyday, almost as if she can’t help it. When on the victory tours, at district eleven, Katniss and Peeta caused a riot. By Peeta giving the districts families a month of their earnings every year, he had committed to something that hasn’t been done before, that was probably not even possible. Before they headed off, Katniss spoke her mind, thanking the families and their selected children for the sacrifices they had made. She said without them, she would have been killed and that they will not be forgotten(Collins 60). This may be something that would seem normal in a situation like this, but for the people of Panem these were words that no one would have expected to come out of a victor's mouth. Her true and kind words give these people hope of a better tomorrow, and terrify the capitol which only makes them more merciless.

It seems like her rebellion status is something she naturally can’t help and that the people of Panem have created. After Romulus Thread, the new head Peacekeeper enters District 12, and decides to punish Gale for his poaching by lashing him in the middle of the town square, she can’t help but run into the middle of the beating to protest. Being hit in the face herself it causes Haymitch as well as Peeta to intervene and question the head peacekeepers authority causing a question of authority that is something of a myth in Panem(108). These actions that she wish she could’ve run away from seem to fade away however after The Capital announces that for the 3rd Quarter Quell, two victors, one man and one woman, from each district will be chosen to participate in the 75th Hunger Games. Leaving Katniss to be the only woman to be chosen for District 12 (173).

At this point it starts to settle in more and more, she starts to realize she's in deep at this point, and there's no escaping Presidents Snow’s punishment. During their final day of practice before the Games begin, each contestant is supposed to showcase their skills to the game makers. Naturally following her rebellious tendencies, and her hatred for the Capitol, She macgyver's together a dummy being hung from a noose that reads Seneca Crane, the previous game master that had ultimately been executed due to letting both Peeta and Katniss live(237). The Capitol has ended up creating its biggest threat, and in turn has attempted to destroy it but is outsmarted through every move only making her more of a revolutionary leader than a suppressed rioter.

During the final minutes of the 3rd Quarter Quell as the last victor's fight for survival, Katniss shoots 

an arrow into the force-field that surround the arena breaking cracking the roof of the dome that 

begins to break apart above their heads, what she believes to be her last rebellious actions towards 

the capitol as one of the Capitol's hovercraft's begins to scoop her up to what she thinks will be her 

death(380). Even in what she believes to be her final moments she decides to sacrifice herself, what 

she intended for this game was to keep Peeta alive, and even in her final moments attempts to save 

him while also blowing up the Capitols actions in their face. When someone's true emotions are to 

show, moments before death, Katniss Everdeen shows to be a selfless human being, only caring for 

the good of the ones who are closest to her.

Luke D. Prompt 6

Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne, and Elizabeth B. Parisi. Catching Fire. Vol. 2. NY: Scholastic, 2009. Print. The Hunger Games.