No More Owed

'Conflicting emotions cross Thresh’s face. He lowers the rock and point at me, almost accusingly. “Just this one time, I let you go. For the little girl. You and me, we’re even then. No more owed. You understand?”

I nod because I do understand.

About owing.

About hating it.'

-HG pg. 288

Katniss feels that she should always give back something from what she's gotten. I think that the Seam has a big influence to that. She was surviving on providing. Never getting. Anything good that happened to her had to be paid back. Like it says in the book, there’s always strings attached.  

Thresh let go of Katniss because she was an ally to Rue, and tried to save her. He asked if she killed the district 1 kid who killed Rue, and she said yes, and buried her in flowers. This changed Thresh’s mind because not only did Katniss help Rue, but their district sent her bread as well. I think that he felt that he had to let her go because of everything that she did. It was a small sacrifice, but meant a lot. What he did kind of reminded me of the saying ‘an eye for an eye.’ Thresh let Katniss live because Katniss helped Rue. I think that if Katniss was in the same position as Thresh, she would have done the same thing.

Back to what I said about the Seam being an influence to Katniss, on page 292, Peeta says in disbelief that Thresh let Katniss go. When she replies by saying: “Yes. I don’t expect you to understand it. You’ve always had enough. But, if you lived in the Seam, I wouldn’t have to explain.” I think that that was very shallow of her. I say this because on page 309, Peeta says that almost everything that he ate was stale because it was all so expensive.

This also goes back to when Katniss first met Peeta, and he gave her the bread. She said that she will still never stop owing him, even though she did save his life. What’s also interesting about that is the fact that Katniss says the first gift is always the hardest to pay back.

Along with that, when Katniss finds out that Thresh is dead, she says a silent goodbye for him, and thanks him for her life. She also promises that if she wins, she will do something to help his family and Rue’s. This resembles some of Katniss’s personality. That she will always give back, no matter what.

 I think that everyone in the world should reflect her behavior. No one ever seems to enjoy what they have anymore, and we all need to learn to love what we have. There should always be moments where we give back, and thank those who have given. I truly respect this characteristic.