The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion (31 page)
Read The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion Online
Authors: Lois H. Gresh
Later, Katniss is relieved to learn that Thresh has been killed by another tribute. Now, she won’t be burdened by the dilemma of what to do should the two of them be forced to fight for their lives (
The Hunger Games
, 307). Had she faced the identical dilemma in
Mockingjay
, after she’d hardened more to the thought of killing people, she might not have reacted in the same way. Instead, she might have had no qualms whatsoever about killing Thresh. But we’ll never know because he dies in
The Hunger Games
.
Even Peeta sees how Katniss is changing over time. (Obviously, he changes quite a bit, as well, but in other ways—for details, see chapter 12, “Medicines and Poisons,” and chapter 13, “Muttations and Other Hybrids.”) Sometimes, they work together, as in killing Cato during their first Games (
The Hunger Games
, 340). Here, she’s working
with
him, not against him, and she’s killing with great regret and only because she has no choice if she’s to survive. He’s doing the same thing.
Sometimes, she thinks he’s out to kill her (
The Hunger Games
, 143), but then he begs her to kill him so she may live (
The Hunger Games
, 343), which totally confuses her. She swings back and forth about Peeta, whether she trusts him, and whether she loves or fears him. It’s common for people to swing back and forth, wondering about their boyfriends, girlfriends, and spouses. Love? Hate? The most passionate teenage lovers often end up breaking up for reasons they don’t even understand. And it’s not limited to teenagers. Adults who have been married for a long time and have children together break up far too frequently, as well, and they rarely understand the true reasons, either. Luckily, most of us don’t have to thrust our romances into the horrors of a killing arena, where we have to wonder whether our potential mates are out to kill us or save us.
By the end of
Catching Fire
, Katniss kills other tributes, hoping their deaths will save Peeta (
Catching Fire
, 377). No wonder poor Peeta’s confused. It’s tough to understand why he is so kind to her in face of her often brutal treatment of him. How many guys hang in there, trying to win a girl’s heart, when she keeps stringing him along, wondering if she’s in love with somebody else? How many guys would put up with it—making their intentions to marry and love forever clear, making their utter devotion clear, while the girl isn’t sure how she feels about some
other
guy? Toss the entire killing concept into the mix, and it’s explosive. Does she want to kill him? This
goes far
beyond the question,
Will she ever love him?
But on the other hand, Peeta subjects Katniss to far more complex emotions: after all, he ends up thinking she’s a nonhuman mutt who should be killed (
Mockingjay
, 190)! No wonder poor Katniss is confused. He sums things up well when he tells her, “These last couple of years must have been exhausting for you. Trying to decide whether to kill me or not” (
Mockingjay
, 270).
Eventually, Boggs wants Katniss to kill Peeta (
Mockingjay
, 280). Luckily, she still has enough self-control and remains Katniss of
The Hunger Games
at heart. She remains moral and decent.
Nonetheless, one of her conditions for taking on the role of Mockingjay is that she gets to kill President Snow (
Mockingjay
, 38). At this point, the reader figures she’s now a killing machine as contrasted to the earlier Katniss we saw in
The Hunger Games
.
When in charge of Squad 451, not only does she want to be on the front lines, she’s determined to kill Snow (
Mockingjay
, 256). Much to the shock of the reader, she votes “yes” for the symbolic Hunger Games that will pit Capitol children against each other. As mentioned earlier in this book, Katniss probably votes “yes” as a ploy to push President Coin into thinking that she is on her side. This way, Coin will be easier for Katniss to assassinate. Katniss may be a killing machine at this point, but she retains her core personality: She does not really advocate another Hunger Games. Rather, she wants to get rid of Coin, who is as deplorable as Snow.
Given the same circumstances, many of us might do the same thing.
War and battle do crazy things to people. We’ve all heard about post-traumatic stress syndrome, for example, in which battle-weary soldiers become depressed, can’t sleep, can’t function, and don’t think normally anymore. They are transformed by war into people who barely resemble the soldiers who left home before the battle.
Clearly, Katniss’s suicidal tendencies and drug addiction as
Mockingjay
winds down are evidence of something akin to post-traumatic stress syndrome. She’s lost the will to live. She’s lost the ability to view herself as anything more than a terrible person. She takes drugs to zone herself out so she doesn’t have to remember who she’s killed and what she’s done. Contrasted to her innate bravery and determination—she is a very strong person—she cannot live through war without breaking down in the end. She’s traumatized to the point of total numbness.
Her behavior is very common for child soldiers, as described by the United Nations:
Child soldiers are among the saddest victims of conflict: they rarely emerge from military service with a sense of their own worth and identity. Worse, they often experience violence that leaves them physically or psychologically scarred. Facing a difficult adolescence, many turn to drugs, alcohol and anti-social behaviour.
16
Consider Haymitch, who becomes an alcoholic after winning his Games. He can’t live with himself and he’s lost everyone close to him, so he drowns his memories, guilt, and misery in liquor.
Consider Peeta, who is psychologically scarred, not only due to the horrors of the Games, but also because he’s been poisoned to become mentally ill. The Capitol steals his memories and replaces them with his worst fears along with outright falsehoods.
AD
1525–1600
AD 1525, Thomas Müntzer preached all over Germany and Switzerland that the end of the world was imminent, so the peasants should revolt and kill everyone who was rich, powerful, or otherwise in control. Along with some 8,000 peasants, Müntzer went up against swords, cannonballs, and burly military men. It was indeed the end of the world for Müntzer. He was tortured and beheaded.
AD 1528, Hans Hut and tens of thousands of followers predicted that the end of the world would occur on May 27, 1528. He died in prison.
AD 1532, Viennese bishop Frederic Nausea (yes, that was his real name, I’m not making it up) proclaimed that the world would end in 1532. His reason? People kept telling him about the strangest things—bloody crosses alongside comets streaming across the sky, multiple suns, bread falling from heaven—and he believed it all.
AD 1533, Michael Stifel, a math geek, went wild with his calculations and determined that the world would end in October.
AD 1534, Jan Matthys, who took control of the town of Munster, claimed that the world would end on Easter and only Munster would survive. When the apocalypse didn’t come, all the Catholics and Lutherans he had tormented came back to town and killed him.
AD 1555, Pierre d’Ailly wrote in AD 1400 that 6,845 years had passed since creation, and the end of the world would come in the 7,000th year.
AD 1583, astrologer Richard Harvey calculated that the apocalypse would occur at noon on April 28, 1583. He wasn’t alone with this prediction. As with all other precise doomsday calculations, it only goes to show that you should always check your math.
AD 1584, astrologer Cyprian Leowitz calculated that the apocalypse would occur this year.
AD 1600, Martin Luther claimed that the world would end by the year 1600.
P
eeta doesn’t know what’s real versus what’s just in his head. He’s been shot up with tracker jacker poison. But quite often, throughout The Hunger Games series as well as in real life, the line between real and not real blurs and blends to the point where people don’t know the
truth
. Modern public relations departments wouldn’t exist if the truth were mandatory. Advertising companies would fold. The government would simply collapse. Let’s face it, the world
runs
on hype. And for many of us, we can’t tell the difference between most hype and real substance.
How many people watch reality television programs? Is the “reality” true to life, or is it fictionalized? Let’s look at a few news reports and viewing numbers:
“During the [
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
] season 4 premiere, the reality TV show’s often exaggerated drama managed to drag 4.1 million people in front of their television sets.”
1
“
Kourtney & Kim Take New York
pulled in 3 million viewers on Sunday night, beating
Kourtney & Khloe’s
old record from last season, which premiered to 2.6 million viewers.”
2
PRESS PAUSE
. These reality television viewing numbers come from spin artists, people who write about celebrities. So how real are the numbers? Do we know for sure?