Something that I just realized I never even thought about was how the contenders must feel. Yes, I've thought about it, but I never actually took into consideration that them going into this competition was changing who they were in the sense that I realize it will/do now. It is all about survival, and these teenagers are being asked to do the unthinkable: kill. They have to lie to save themselves, lie to make themselves look like the better person, trick people to gain sponsors, put on a fake facade, and then they have to go out and kill. They really have to drop everything that they believe in for survival, because there really isn't any other choice. I just realized the Hypocrisy of it. They go out, play the sweet and innocent character, and then they go and blink away someone being murdered.
Using Katniss for example, she is one of the most loving and caring people in the book. She gave up risking her life so her sister wouldn't have to be jeopardized. She is the last person I would imagine killing someone, and her first kill was only after Rue was killed, and even then I feel like it was out of anger. If the boy hadn't killed Rue, I don't think she would have hurt him unless he made the first move. The thing is, she is the last character I would ever have expected to have taken away something that is apart of someone else's life.
I know that in our life today, the need to survive pushes the envelope a lot of the times. People may say now "I would never ______ (kill someone, etc.)" but I know that it is a natural instinct that us as humans have in desperate situations. Just looking at the situation of Katniss as a character, I wonder what it takes to reach that point. I also wonder in real life, do the things you do in this desperation stick with you completely? does it necessarily have to alter your beliefs and who you are completely? I mean, what happens when someone who is trained to kill and has seen horrid images is put back into the society with the rest of us?
Using Katniss for example, she is one of the most loving and caring people in the book. She gave up risking her life so her sister wouldn't have to be jeopardized. She is the last person I would imagine killing someone, and her first kill was only after Rue was killed, and even then I feel like it was out of anger. If the boy hadn't killed Rue, I don't think she would have hurt him unless he made the first move. The thing is, she is the last character I would ever have expected to have taken away something that is apart of someone else's life.
I know that in our life today, the need to survive pushes the envelope a lot of the times. People may say now "I would never ______ (kill someone, etc.)" but I know that it is a natural instinct that us as humans have in desperate situations. Just looking at the situation of Katniss as a character, I wonder what it takes to reach that point. I also wonder in real life, do the things you do in this desperation stick with you completely? does it necessarily have to alter your beliefs and who you are completely? I mean, what happens when someone who is trained to kill and has seen horrid images is put back into the society with the rest of us?
You are completely and 100% right Alinah. I think that someone who is trained to kill, trained to survive like some of the tributes are, they just think it is okay. We are lucky to live in a safe environment nowadays, but in other countries where terrible things happen, it is just a part of life. You learn to accept the things you grow up with. Growing up in NYC, most of us don't give a second gl.ance to many of the homeless people all around the streets. We see them, and just walk right past them. People who live in, I don't know, in the suburbs somewhere out in the midwest might be shocked and horrified and immediately donate all of their pocket change. The Careers, they were thought that going into a fight to the death is honorable, that it is a sign of superior strength to kill people. Katniss and Peeta who grew up in a better environment know better.
ReplyDeleteHowever, about what you said about Katniss being the last person to kill someone...I would have to respectfully disagree. The only reason Katniss didn't kill in the first part of the games was because she knew she didn't stand a chance. She knew she didn't have any weapons, so she didn't play offense. As soon as she got her hand on those arrows,she knew that if there was an opportunity to get one step closer to going home, she would take it. She would be offensive if it meant seeing Prim and Gale again.
Like you said though, Katniss doesn't have a choice. The Capitol is forcing teens to either kill or be killed. And up until the 74th Hunger Games, 23 tributes were killed. And 1 killer survived.