Acting until it's Reality

     In the Hunger Games, it's made clear to us throughout the entire series that, while in the Games, Katniss, Peeta, and presumably all the tributes are told to act a certain way to curry favor from the audience- but, to the audience, everything they see they think is completely true. So what happens when the Games are over? All winning tributes are followed by cameras for the rest of their lives, so how can they stop pretending? The answer is, they can't. The lie that's given to them to save their life becomes their life, because what other choice do they have? To the audience of the Hunger Games, the tributes become friends, heroes to them- if it was found out that they lied, there would be outrage.
     This runs parallel to today's reality television. It's the same thing, really- think of shows like Survival, Wipeout- we like to think that the Hunger Games are a sick perversion of today's television, but we already watch people eat bugs and get hurt! It's really a very small leap to watching people kill each other. And that's acting too, really- it's a known fact that televised wrestling is all acting. We like to think that we're above seeing people kill each other and fake things about themselves, but just look at reality televison. We're really not.
      To add, the main thing I'm thinking off when I post this is Katniss faking her relationship with Peeta. In the end, before Katniss goes on an interview with Peeta, Haymitch hurriedly tells her that "Your only defense can be you were so madly in love you weren't responsible for your actions." That's where she realized that the acts she put on won't end once she's out of the Games- they'll go on until she learns to live them. Because the capitol audience loves their heros, and the heroes have to play to the audience.

Was It All a Lie?

Peeta loves Katniss. There is no question about it. I don't even think it is up for debate. 

Katniss didn't start off liking Peeta, but she ended up falling for him. Did she fall for him for her, or for the games? Personally, I think it was a bit of both.

Katniss was all about survival. Survival for her family (her sister more so than her mother, but her mother too) and for herself. At the beginning of the book, when she was on the train, she was thinking about all the possible outcomes of the Hunger Games for herself. She was thinking about what would happen to her FAMILY after she shot the arrow at the Game Makers. She thought they would hurt them, maybe even kill them. For a moment she was worried, but she realized that the Game Makers couldn't hurt her family. They couldn't hurt them without giving away what happened in her session, and they absolutely couldn't do that. 

Katniss had some serious walls put up around her. The only people who could truly penetrate them were Prim and Gale. Even with Gale, it took her a long time to let him in. Before the games, she always kept track of the boy with the bread, only because she felt she was in debt to him. Once she was put in the Games with him, she got the chance to pay back that debt, but only after he had done more for her than she had ever imagined. He saved her out of love-Katniss saved him because of the feeling that she owed him, and she would never stop owing him (and yes, a little bit of love there too towards the end). Once she let Peeta inside her walls, I think she was glad to do it. She was afraid of letting people in, possibly for the fear that they would either betray her, or she would lose them, like she lost her father. Peeta is genuinely a good guy. Everything he did in the arena he did for her out of love. Katniss' motivations had a little to do with that, but also to do with her survival. They were not whole-heartedly towards love. 

Peeta mentioned in the arena how alike Katniss and Haymitch are. They think alike. They understand each other. They both know how to survive. Peeta is ignorant of the fact that Haymitch had been communicating with Katniss with his gifts, or lack of gifts. When Peeta found out that it was all a big show, Katniss defended herself by saying she did what she had to do to keep them both alive. The trouble is, she really did develop feelings for Peeta, but since she didn't have them from the beginning, Peeta was unsure she even had them at all. 

The thing is, no matter how much Peeta wanted it to be real, and even how much Katniss may have wanted it, it couldn't have been real. Not in the arena, and maybe not even back in District 12. The capitol would always be controlling them (until Mockingjay, but they don't know that yet; don't you love dramatic irony?) so they wouldn't be able to live the free life that so many covet. Katniss mentions she never wants to have children for the risk that they would have to compete in the Games. Being in a slaughter house like the arena does something to people. Something that you can never reverse. 

This is how the Capitol controls people. Through fear. Fear is not a good way to lead, ever. People in the Capitol are shielded from the real world. They think life is just dandy. Food at the press of the button. Anything they want is at their disposal. Out in the Districts, life is hard. If they didn't hate the capitol, I would wonder about them...The capitol controls everything and everyone, and they want to keep it that way.

They wanted Katniss to kill Peeta, and the other way around. They wanted to drive two people who love each other, (yes, at this point I think they were in love) to kill each other. Anyone with any type of morals would never do that. You have to be sick to try to do that to people.

Panem is like a movie, just a fake show, a messed up horror/sci-fi show, and the Capitol is the director. The districts are the actors, who are forced to improvise. If the do one thing the director doesn't like, they're fired. Gone for good.

If things continued the way they are, Katniss and Peeta could never lead a happy life together.

****Sorry it is so late Ms.Robbins!! I didn't have internet connection on vacation, and I got home at 11:30 last night! I had it written but I couldn't post until today! :( 

Unexpected Things That I've Noticed

1) Katniss's character is actually really innocent in some matters. As in how she's uncomfortable thinking someone might view her as something other than herself. Like when Haymitch asked her to come up with an angle for her interview, she failed at everything that he suggested. Katniss can't act, and she needs to do something that inspires her. Further on in the Games, she decides that she has to put on a show for the sponsers or else she'll never survive. Whether it was intentionally or not, Katniss decided to help put together a story for the viewers.

2) Haymitch is behind everything. The first time that I read 'The Hunger Games', this was shocking to me. Even when he had been sending the gifts to Katniss with a certain timing to give her the messages of what he wants her to do, I never fully understood how smart he was. This becomes especially important in the second and third books.

3) When Clove was being killed by Thresh, she called out to Cato to help her. Just moments ago, she had been threatening to slice Katniss's lips off. I wonder if the person telling the story of the games censored that moment...? It shows that the people in the games don't necessarily want to kill each other.

4) Cato is more like a little kid. Maybe he got too much attention in District One, because I'm assuming that he volunteered for the Games. I think he was encouraged to volunteer by most of the people that he knew. He's made out to be a killing machine as he jokes around with the Careers and from his attitude about finding and killing Katniss. But why did he want to kill her? Katniss wasn't a danger to him, unless you counted her high score in training. Cato's score was lower than hers, so maybe he was jealous. I feel as if he's not used to someone doing better than him. Things have to go exactly his way, and when they don't, he gets scared and tried to hide that be doing something violent.

5) An eye for an eye. The theme appears in random places in the book. It first appears when Katniss knew she could never pay Peeta back for giving her the bread, and then again when she throws the cookies his father gave her out the window because she didn't want to owe him more than what she already did. It's there again when Peeta saves her from accidentally saying that she recognized an Avox, and when he claimed he was in love with her during his interview.

6) Glimmer had no value to the Careers. She couldn't shoot anything with the bow and arrows that she got from the Cornucopia, and she really contributed next to nothing as she fell asleep when she was supposed to be on watch at night. Yet she also had a ring with a poisoned spike as her token from her district. Where they aware that she wasn't a killer and trying to help make her into one?

7) Titus turned cannibal but he was eventually killed by an avalanche. Katniss thinks that it was Game-Maker engineered because they didn't want a cannibal to win. It made me think about what images they want victors to give. The Capitol really doesn't focus on Haymitch or any of the morphine addicts as much, which makes me think that they want the image of a happy, healthy person who is very attractive and living life to its fullest. Like how advertisements are with super models. Was it perhaps shocking to the residents of the Capitol that some of the lesser known victors became so old and decrepit?

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. 

Katniss Overlooks the Obvious [SPOILER ALERT]

           Katniss has always known who Peeta was, but has never actually known him. After they both became the District 12 tributes, they were frequently together, preparing for the Hunger Games. Katniss realizes that Peeta is a very kind person, and at first her reaction is to simply no longer have anything more to do with him, so that she won't become attached and be unable to handle having to fight him in the Games. But once she starts to notice him doing nice things for her, she instantly looks past his sincerity and assumes intentions of trying to make her an easy target once in the arena. Peeta really loves her, but it won't be until much later that she comes to realize this fully, and their love will become essential to their survival. I find this so upsetting for a lot reasons. First of all, Peeta loves Katniss, but she doesn't realize that it isn't an act. Sceond of all, Katniss pretends to love Peeta in order to survive, but he thinks that her act is sincere. Lastly,  even if they both truly loved each other, they would both know that there could only be one victor of the Hunger Games.

Love...sort-of?

The way that Peeta is described in this book is really fishy. I believe that Suzanne Collins portrays him as a character that acts as if he is a certain way, but truly feels differently. Kind of like he's being controlled. There are a couple parts in this book that did make me feel this way.

For example, on page 135 of the book, Peeta “claimed his love for Katniss” but the way he said it, and what he said afterward, it made me think that he wasn’t really lying.

He said:

“She’s just worried about her boyfriend” when clearly he knew that Katniss and Gale were just friends. Also, when Katniss apologizes, he all of a sudden turns cold instead of rejoicing the fact that he was going to live because of the love scandal.

These parts made me feel this way because I get the feeling that he kind of likes Katniss but can’t really say it because of the Hunger Games. I sort of know what happens in the end but not completely, therefore, what are your thoughts on the love scandal? 

Trust Issues.

Topic: Illusion vs. Reality

Theory: Why is Katniss Doubtful?

           

It’s still unclear in the end, but I think that Peeta truly does love Katniss. They’ve been through so much together, and yet Katniss still can’t see what’s right in front of her face. She still has doubts. She still wants to go back to her old life, when she can never get it back anymore. She still is afraid of getting hurt.

            In my illusion vs. reality part of my sheet, it mostly consisted of Katniss doubting every thought, every word, even every movement of Peeta’s. This goes all the way back to when they were kids. “Why did Peeta go through getting a beating just to give me a loaf of bread?” (pg. 31), “Why did Peeta insist on giving Haymitch a bath?” (pg. 49), and “Why did Peeta save me from Cato?” (pg. 197) The thing is; Katniss can’t trust anyone. She’s all ways been the independent type. Whether it was struggling to find food for her family, or surviving in the Hunger Games, she’s always doing it on her own, or with Gale. Gale’s reasons are already said in the book: Because they both are providing for their families, but Katniss can’t even let Peeta into her life. I feel as if even the simplest gesture, like saying ‘Hello’ would probably make her go crazy.

            The thing that gets me the most is the fact that in the end of the book, Katniss is still doubtful. For example, on page 343, when Claudius Templesmith announces that only one can be victor again, unaware, Katniss pulls out her bow and aims it straight at Peeta’s heart.

Crazy, huh? After all that they both have been through, she still can’t believe that he’s not even harmful.

My reasons for Katniss acting this way is because she is afraid. I think that she feels as if when she isn’t in charge, nothing will go right, and there’s always going to be a consequence. The motto ‘it’s better safe than to be sorry’ comes to mind when I think of her.

Now I go back to the beginning where Peeta loves Katniss. She doesn’t understand that he likes her. How can someone remember how this girl looked on the first day of school without having the hint of a crush? Its common sense! I feel as if Katniss tries to avoid all of her emotions, and completely ignore any thoughts that come to her head on her feelings. How will she get it?!