The Main Character of the Hunger Games - Essay Example

Character Analysis of the Novel Hunger Games The novel, Hunger Games starts on the day of harvesting in District 12. Katniss Everdeen, the storys narrator and heroine, is 16 years old and has straight black hair, gray eyes, and olive skin. Her father passed on in a mine explosion when she was eleven years old 11. Since then, she has been supporting her family, sister and mother, and keeping them from starving in the seam. She uses the hunting and gathering knowledge acquired form her father. She goes hunting with her friend Gale. Hunting is the first thing in her mind when she wakes up.” I swing my legs off the bed and slide into my hunting boots” (Collins 4). This essay will major on Katniss Everdeen. Being the narrator, she is a significant character in the novel. She has a strong character and is a brave girl. The reaping season is one full of stress. “After the reaping, everyone is supposed to celebrate. And a lot of people do, out of relief that their children have been spared for another year”(Collins 11).This is because a boy and a girl aged between twelve to eighteen years is chosen to act as the district’s tributes in the hunger games. Two tributes are chosen from each of the 12 districts. They fight until one of them is left alive. The winner goes back home and his district is given many gifts. During this season, Katniss’ sister, Prim is chosen, but Katniss volunteers to take her place. She becomes district 12’s girl tribute for the 74th Hunger games. Peeta, a boy Katniss age and the son of the baker, is selected as the other tribute. She remembers Peeta and the kindness he demonstrated toward her when they were children, giving her a burnt piece of bread so that she wouldnt starve. Katniss feels that she owes Peeta for saving her life when they were young. This is not a good development because Katniss is expected to kill her in the arena. Katniss bids her family and friends goodbye before she departs. Katniss and Peeta ride the train to the Capitol. On the train, Katniss experiences luxury like shes never known and gets to eat good food that she has never eaten before. They meet their escort, Effie Trinket, and Haymitch Abernathy, their mentor. They get to the training centre and meet their stylists. Katniss is pleasantly surprised when she meets Cinna, a young man who dresses simply and wears very little makeup compared with the other stylists. In a strategy that has never been used before, Katniss and Peeta are presented as a pair during the opening ceremonies. They race through the Capital in a chariot holding hands, their outfits blazing in fake flames. This incidence earns Katniss a nickname, “girl of fire”. Their entrance becomes the highlight of the opening ceremonies. After the ceremonies, the tributes begin their training. Haymitch coaches Katniss and Peeta together, per their request, and instructs them to keep their biggest strengths a secret from the other tributes. For Katniss, this means staying away from archery. Her experience in hunting makes her a pro of the use of bow and arrow. She is awarded for her skills, with a score of 11 out of 12, by the game makers during her private session. She and Peeta are asked by their mentor to remain close during training.Katniss, however is suspicious of Peeta. She thinks that his closeness to her is just but a strategy to win the games. She confirms her doubts just before the interviews when she finds Peeta asking Haymitch to coach him alone. She gets angry and feels betrayed. She accepts the betrayal since Peeta and she are not friends after all. At the interview, however, Peeta professes his love for Katniss, and the audience believes they are star-crossed lovers, trapped in an arena where their love cannot survive. Katniss is furious with Peeta for making her look weak in front of the audience and the other tributes. Haymitch and Cinna, however, assure Katniss that Peeta has given her an advantage, making her appear desirable. The 74th Hunger Games begin with the tributes rising up from below ground. They stand in a circle around the metal Cornucopia, a giant golden horn that holds supplies and weapons, meant to lure the tributes in for a bloodbath. Haymitch has instructed Katniss not to run toward the Cornucopia, but to run as far away as she can and find water immediately. Katniss thinks, “Haymitch has never seen me run. Maybe if he had he’d tell me to go for it. Get the weapon. Since that’s the very weapon that might be my salvation” (Collins 148).Upon seeing a bow and quiver of arrows, however, Katniss questions Haymitchs advice and readies herself to retrieve them from the Cornucopia, but as she does so, she sees Peeta shaking his head at her, which distracts her long enough to make her miss the opening gong that releases the tributes. She runs in just far enough to retrieve a single backpack and then takes off into the woods, where she is most comfortable. She runs all day, placing as much distance as she can between herself and the other tributes, while taking stock of her surroundings. The woods calm her, but shes unable to find water. During the first night, while sleeping in a tree, she sees that the Careers, the tributes from the wealthier districts, have formed an alliance and are hunting the weakest tributes together. She is shocked to see that Peeta is a part of their group and decides that she cant trust him after all, that he distracted her at the Cornucopia on purpose, and that he has been misleading her all along. When she sets out the next day, she still cant find water and is close to death when she finally discovers a small pond. While in the arena, Katniss constantly has to battle hunger, dehydration, the other tributes, and the Game makers, who are able to send violent fires and explosions through the woods. One night, the Careers and Peeta pin Katniss in a tree. Rue, the young tribute from District 11 hiding in a nearby tree, silently points out a tracker jacker nest to Katniss. Katniss cuts the nest loose, dropping it on the Careers and Peeta early the next morning. The tracker jackers kill the girl from District 4 and Glimmer, a tribute from District 1. Katniss gets stung a few times but is able to escape. She remembers the bow and arrows that Glimmer had. She goes back to retrieve them.Katniss joins forces with Rue, who reminds her of her little sister. Katniss destroys the career’s food. Rue disappears but Katniss appears in time to see the boy from District 1 spear Rue to death. Katniss kills him. Then she sings to Rue until shes dead and then covers his body with flowers. This memorial to Rue is seen as an act of rebellion by the Capitol; tributes from opposing districts are supposed to kill each other, not form true friendships during the Games. There are only six tributes left including Katniss and Peeta. The Games announcer declares a new rule to the Games. Two tributes can win so long as they come from the same district. Katniss goes to look for Peeta, who had been injured badly by Cato. She finds him so hurt. His leg is seriously infected. Katniss takes him to a cave where he can heal in safety and, while there, she works hard to give the audience what it wants, which is romance, knowing that satisfying them will earn their support in the form of gifts. She knows, too, that if she plays the audience right, they will get many gifts. She kisses Peeta and talks sweetly to him. They continue to flirt in the cave, but Peeta gets blood poisoning. He is properly treated and he gets better and together they go home. Despite all the challenges, Katniss wins the game and goes back home as a proud, brave winner. Works Cited Collins, .S.The Hunger Games. Print. Read More